The Cosmo Historical Preservation Corporation

Preserving the Gullah Geechee Heritage

Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of Central and West Africans and they have traditionally lived along the coasts of southeastern North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Florida.

The African presence in Northeast Florida dates back to the 1500s and included people from many different African societies. The mixing of these diverse African peoples over time created the unique, creole Gullah Geechee culture which has retained many African cultural expressions.

The culture has been preserved and sustained in long-standing, once-remote coastal Gullah Geechee communities like Cosmo which are part of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.

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Home of Amanda Williams. Her son Emery Williams stands near the porch having a conversation with his mother.

Log cabin served as the Old "Juke" joint for the residents of the Cosmo and Arlington area.

Jacksonville Journal

Cosmo Landmarks

Alexander Memorial United Methodist Church

The center of community life revolved around Alexander Memorial United Methodist Church. Originally founded as Alexander African Methodist Episcopal Memorial Church in 1878, the first settled pastor was Rev. John Wilson from 1878-1888. Services were initially held in homes until a new structure was erected on the present site in 1900. That building was later razed and replaced with a white, rectangular, meeting-hall type, wood-frame structure that was dedicated in 1930.

The Church of Living God and the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Inc.

The Church of Living God and the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Inc. was founded in 1903 by Mother M.L. Tate and Bishop F.E. Lewis. It was not until 1935 that the late Bishop S.M. Jewel and Evangelist Mary L. Bartley came to Cosmo to teach the way of the holiness religion. Church services were first held in the home of Elder Dennis Bartley and Elnora Bartley. The first building used for services was an old schoolhouse donated by the pastor, Elder Dennis Bartley. The present temple was dedicated to the members in June 1946. Since its dedication to the community, the building has been renovated several times. There have been many pioneers who worked hard over the years to ensure the success of the church. Six of the past ministers came directly from the Cosmo area.

Jacksonville, Mayport, and Pablo Beach Railroad

Chartered in 1886 by Alexander Wallace, the Jacksonville, Mayport, and Pablo Beach Railroad (JM&P) played an important role in the early development of Cosmo. Developed by logging interests in Arlington Heights, the railroad officially opened on May 17, 1888, connecting Arlington with Mayport. On its inaugural run, the train broke down during its return to Arlington, earning it the moniker "Jump, Men, and Push". In 1892, the railroad was extended from Arlington, over the Arlington River, to South Jacksonville tying in with Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. At its height, the railroad included stations in Cosmo and the former nearby communities of Idelwilde, Mt. Pleasant and Greenfield Plantation. Although used at times to deliver mail by handcars, the JM&P ceased operations in 1895. After its tracks were removed, it became known as the "tram" road. The "tram" road eventually became McCormick Road, connecting Arlington with Mayport Naval Station.

Cosmo (McCormick) Cemetery

Dating back to the late 19th century, Cosmo Cemetery is located along a portion of the original Fulton Road. Prior to the construction of Fort Caroline Road, Fulton Road was a major Cosmo thoroughfare, used to transport turpentine to the wharfs along the St. Johns River in nearby Fulton. Also known as McCormick Cemetery, the one-acre, private burial ground associated with the family of the original Cosmo settlers, John Benjamin McCormick and William Henry Elliot. McCormick and Elliot migrated to Mandarin, Florida from Horry County, South Carolina in the early 1850s, prior to acquiring land in the Cosmo area after the civil war. By 1884, Fulton had grown to a population of 100 residents. During its height, the community was home to a post office, general store, church, school, and cemetery. Fish processed, fruits and vegetables grown in Fulton were shipped to local and Northern markets. Fulton survived as a small rural fishing camp community economically tied to neighboring Cosmo, that was home to oyster, fish, and crab processing businesses into the 1960s. Redeveloped into residential subdivisions, the Fulton Landing Boat Ramp on Fulton Road is a surviving landmark of this once thriving Gullah Geechee community.

Fulton Landing Boat Ramp

The nearby community of Fulton was established in 1883 on the St. Johns River by Robert Fulton Cutting, a wealthy financier and philanthropist known as "the first citizen of New York". Located on a former antebellum shipbuilding plantation, the 475-acre property was also rumored to have once been the location of a Native American village named Homoloua. Developed with a focus on the economic prosperity of the former enslaved, Fulton included an Episcopal mission that was part of a a chain known as the Missions of the Upper St. Johns. Other missions were established at Mandarin, New Berlin, Pilot Town and Mayport.

By 1884, Fulton had grown to a population of 100 residents. During its height, the community was home to a post office, general store, church, school, and cemetery. Its riverside businesses shipped processed oyster, fish, and crab, as well as fruits and vegetables to local and Northern markets into the 1960s.

Palm Springs Cemetery

Like many African American communities during the era of segregation, the people in Cosmo, Mayport, and the beaches created the Palm Springs Cemetery in part to provide deceased family members with a dignity in death they were often denied in life. When originally laid out, the cemetery was in an open, rural area, with primary access via a small dirt road that ran to the east. Sometime prior to 1970, the main entrance was redirected to Fort Caroline Road on the west. Despite this, the burial ground still conveys its largely informal mid-20th century appearance.

In total, there are roughly 150 known burials, with the oldest known marked burial dating to 1942. The burial are all relatively simple, with no large monuments, elaborate statuary, or mausoleums. As many of the people in the community were historically unable to afford conventional mass- produced markers, there is a relatively high concentration of one-of-a-kind, improvised markers made from easy to obtain materials such as concrete with everyday items such as marbles, rocks, glass, and shells incorporated into them in a decorative manner. The cemetery also contains a number of U.S. military veteran headstones, which are primarily white marble monolith markers.

There are sections of the cemetery with unmarked interments, clearly visible as indentations in the ground. These were usually never marked or had markers made of materials such as wood that have since deteriorated.

Detail view of Cosmo from 1898, showing distinctive finger-like land ownership patterns extending from Mill Cove.

(source: J. Francis Lebaron, "Duval County, Fla.," (1898) in Library of Congress)