CAYO COSTA CEMETERY, Caya Costa Island, Lee County, Florida

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Southwest Florida
Pioneers Historical Society, (caloosa@tampabay.rr.com).

USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as
this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot
be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. This file
may not be removed from this server or altered in any way for placement
on another server without the consent of the State and USGenWeb Project
coordinators and the contributor.

***********************************************************************     
     
Notes: Cayo Costa Cemetery began as a final resting place for members 
of the Padilla family. The island is remote and the only other 
option would have been to transport the deceased to the mainland. 
The burial markers that exist today are not representative of who is 
buried at Cayo Costa Cemetery. The wooden markers used in earlier 
times have rotted and washed away.

There are tales that the cemetery was not always a burial 
ground. In the late 1880’s bodies of Cuban sailors washed ashore at 
Dead Man’s Cove and the people of Cayo Costa buried them at the same 
place they had buried their own. It is believed that Torivio “Pappy” 
Padilla was buried in the old cemetery and Captain Peter Nelson was 
the first to be buried at the new location.

Lore has it that in the 1950’s and ‘60’s folks dug up the 
graves in the old cemetery looking for treasure and moved any 
markers that were still standing. The Island has since been 
purchased by the State of Florida and it is now a state park. The 
Parks Department has charge of the cemetery.

COLEMAN, Eugene Dykes, b. Jan 6 1902 d. May 4 1925, "Gone, But Not Forgotten"
COLEMAN, Walter Ashley, b. Sep 7 1884 d. Aug 1943, "A Good Father"

DARNA, Jake, No Date, "Infant"

JOHNSON, Fanny Coleman, b. May 12 1860 d. Oct 13 1927

NELSON, Capt. Peter, b. No Date d. Sep 7 1919, "Age 80 Years", "Founder of Alva,FL", "Native of Denmark", "Charlotte Harbor ship pilot"

PADILLA, John Lorence, b. Dec 10 1882 d. Mar 10 1938, s/o Torovia Jose and Juanita Perez Padilla, unmarked
PADILLA, Tarovia, b. No Date d. 1910