What's Behind the Oaks at Bosque Bello, Old Town's Cemetery Now Bound for the National Register?

What is the oldest grave in Bosque Bello that anyone can still identify? The Amelia Island Genealogical Society says it belongs to Peter Bouissou de Nicar, a French soldier, and dates from 1813. The City of Fernandina Beach says the Spanish established the cemetery in 1798. That leaves the burial ground's first 15 years with no grave that can be identified today.

The gap matters because of what is happening at 1321 N. 14th St. this fall. The state has signed off on Bosque Bello's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. Next Saturday, costumed presenters will stand at graves across the cemetery and tell the stories of the people buried there. The cemetery under review is more than a sealed relic. The city still runs it, still keeps its burial records, and still plans for its future. Bosque Bello is the place in Old Town where Fernandina's history is being recorded and added to at the same time.

A city cemetery since at least 1857

The city describes Bosque Bello as about 29 acres split into two parts, which it calls the "ancient" and "new" sections. Magnolia Street runs between them, according to the city's 2025 request for proposals on the cemetery's preservation. If you have driven up North 14th Street toward Old Town, you have passed both sections.

Friends of Bosque Bello writes that the city has owned and operated the cemetery since at least 1857, based on city plats. That means the city has run it for about 169 years. The city also treats it as an active cemetery. Its FAQ sends visitors to an online grave-search site where they can look up a name and use a "Locate Map" tab to find the plot, and it says the database is updated daily.

Friends of Bosque Bello, a volunteer group, formed in 2018 to advocate for and organize restoration, maintenance, documentation and improvements in line with the master plan the city adopted. Its list of focus areas covers both preservation and future use:

• Monument preservation
• Site security
• Grounds and monument maintenance
• Tree-canopy management
• Grave documentation
• A columbarium

A group that is restoring 19th-century markers while also planning a columbarium is caring for a cemetery that is still being used. The National Register nomination comes from that same mix of preservation and ongoing use.

What the state approved, and what comes next

The Fernandina Beach News-Leader reported that the Florida Department of State's Division of Historical Resources approved adding Bosque Bello to the National Register of Historic Places, and that the application now goes to Washington. The story ran in August 2026 under the headline "Bosque Bello Cemetery closer to National Register of Historic Places." As of early October, the federal listing is not final.

The city and the Amelia Island Fernandina Restoration Foundation prepared the nomination together, according to the city's RFP 25-01. That document gives the best written description of what makes the cemetery historically significant, and most of what it lists can be seen from the paths:

• A canopy of oak and cedar hung with Spanish moss
• Epitaphs written in more than one language
• Grave markers made of tabby and brick
• Graves outlined with shells and bottles
• Wrought-iron fences around family plots

Taken together, the list describes Fernandina's history. Multilingual epitaphs fit a town that went through Spanish, British and American rule. Tabby, a building material made with shell, fits the coast. The shell- and bottle-lined graves are personal touches that families added themselves.

Saturday's graveside stories

The Amelia Island Museum of History is holding the 4th Annual Graveside Chronicles on Saturday, October 10, 2026, in cooperation with the Amelia Island Genealogical Society. The first tour starts at 9 a.m., the last one leaves at 4 p.m., and each runs about 90 minutes. The city calendar shows the event running until 5 p.m., but the 4 p.m. departure is the one that matters if you want to join a tour.

Tickets are $25 per person, timed and sold online only. They went on sale September 1, so check the museum's event page for remaining times before you plan around a particular slot. The museum warns that because of Bosque Bello's terrain, the tour may not work for wheelchair users or people using walkers.

The first three years all followed the same format:

Three years at eight stops each comes to 24 tour stops in a cemetery the city puts at roughly 29 acres. The 2026 listings promise stories of Fernandina's notable residents but don't say who will be portrayed this year. In 2024, Amelia Island Living highlighted Amos Latham, whom it called the island's first lighthouse keeper. The organizers have far more stories to choose from than one Saturday can cover.

The event listings don't include parking instructions. Bosque Bello's address is 1321 N. 14th St.

Reading the stones on your own

You don't need a ticket to visit. The cemetery is open to anyone with a free afternoon, and you can plan a self-guided walk with tools that are already available:

1. Pick up the walking guide. The Amelia Island Welcome Center gives out a free Bosque Bello walking guide for self-guided visits.
2. Search for a name before you go. Through the city's FAQ, you can reach the grave-search site and use the "Locate Map" tab to find a specific plot.
3. Use Magnolia Street to orient yourself. It divides the old section from the new one, which tells you which side to start on if you are looking for 19th-century markers.

The genealogical society's records for the original section name several people worth looking up before a visit.

• Peter Bouissou de Nicar, the French soldier whose 1813 grave is the oldest identifiable one
• Amos Latham, a Revolutionary War patriot and lighthouse keeper
• The Sisters of St. Joseph
• Major Ferdinand Charles Suhrer
• The Traeye family
• Lt. Edward John Kent Johnston
• Arthur Steil, a saloonkeeper
• Sollecito Salvador, a figure in the shrimping industry
• Domingo Acosta, a postmaster

These names cover nearly every chapter of Fernandina's past. There is a soldier from the town's colonial years, a lighthouse keeper from its earliest period of U.S. navigation, a saloonkeeper and a postmaster from its working downtown, and a shrimper from the industry that still marks the riverfront. The city has also published short interpretive profiles of John Waas and Nathaniel Borden, both Fernandina businessmen, and of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Reading a profile before you visit makes the grave easier to recognize.

The museum also runs a separate Ghost Tour. It meets at the cemetery behind St. Peter's Episcopal Church downtown, not at Bosque Bello. The museum's page for that tour was published in 2021, so confirm its current schedule and prices with the museum before you go.

If you want to help instead of just visiting, Friends of Bosque Bello is the volunteer group working on documentation, maintenance and the master plan. Its website is the place to start. Grave documentation is on its list of focus areas, and the National Register nomination depends on that kind of careful record-keeping.

Tabby and brick markers and wrought-iron fences age the same way Old Town's historic houses do, slowly and in ways that are easy to miss until someone points them out. Chad Feuerhahn's background in home inspection means he notices those materials when he walks through a historic property. If Saturday's tour has you curious about how Old Town's older buildings have held up, Chad Feuerhahn is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.