Minorcan Burials at Mission Nombre de Dios

The presentation will be given by Elizabeth Duran Gessner the director and one of the founders of the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association, focused on the preservation and interpretation of historic Tolomato Cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida. She has worked on the development of other historical resources in St. Augustine including Mission Nombre de Dios, the Cathedral Basilica, and the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Ms. Duran has worked with digital history projects, including the recently-launched La Florida Project run by Dr. Michael Francis of the University of South Florida.

Meet at the Pilgrimage Center under the covered area outdoors at 10 AM. There will be a walking tour of the cemetery after the talk.

HISTORY

In 1777 some 600 people of Minorcan, Spanish, Greek, and Italian backgrounds (referred to collectively as “Minorcans”) arrived in St. Augustine, increasing the town’s population by more than 50 percent. They were refugees from a failed agricultural colony established by Alexander Turnbull at New Smyrna, in 1768.