Stage Stand Cemetery

Stage Stand Cemetery. . , Stage Stand was a stopping place of the mail wagon run by the U.S. Army during the 1800’s. It became a cemetery by chance. , , The Seminole wars lasted intermittently from 1818 until 1858. During that time American settlers moved in to hunt and cull cedar and pine from the forests. , , Circa 1830 mail came from Fort Brooke (now Tampa) along the old Indian Road (now US-19) to Stage Stand to Lee’s Mound (now Rock Crusher) to Brookeville before returning to Fort Brooke. The Homosassa Strand, just a rough shelter bordered by the farm of the Harrell family, they were squatters hoping to settle and own land. When the Harrells did not come one morning for mail call, neighbors traveled through their woods to seek them out. The Indians had murdered most of the family and scalped them. One boy survived, he was out duck hunting. , , Neighbors helped bury the family on a knoll just south of the Stage Stand. , , In those days, grave markers were simply a large stone, unetched with dates or names. That practice continued for many decades and they are still in place today.