Introducing James Falana

Author: Lois O. Gray

James Sebastian Falana is the only occupant of the Falana plot with a headstone.  Earlier sources say that his wife & daughter should also be there, but nowadays no headstones remain to justify the assertion.

Mr. Falana was a descendant of the Minorcans who came to Florida in the 1700s.  He lived and worked most of his life in Jacksonville as a bar pilot. 

What intrigued my interest in this person was that he lived at the time of the 2nd Industrial Revolution. His birth and death dates were 1843 to 1916 while the beginning and ending dates for what historians call the revolution were 1870 to 1914. 

We marvel at all the inventions we have seen in our lifetimes, but his time was no less momentous.  From the bridge of his pilot boat, he would have seen structural steel becoming the most important building material for ship - replacing wood and iron.  He would have seen the introduction of the internal combustion engine as the newest way to power ships, railroads, and machinery of all kinds. 

His wife might have requested that newfangled washing machine to relieve her from the drudgery of hand laundry.  They both might have enjoyed going to the silent movies which came along during their lifetimes.   

A telephone might have become more than just a luxury for them at home and in his business. He would definitely have marveled over the telegraph that could send messages across oceans at lightning speed. Radio would have been a necessity to him and all his neighbors and friends.  How else would they have kept up with local, national and world events in small town Jacksonville? 

He and wife probably shook their heads in wonderment at all the miraculous things that were becoming available. Just a listing of some of the amazing inventions and developments that occurred between 1870 and 1914 would have boggled his mind just as television, space travel, the internet, cellphones, and computers have created wonder and excitement in all of us. 

Mr. Falana lived in a time of great changes, exhilarating, unsettling and sometimes genuinely scary.  Advances & Inventions during the 2nd Industrial Revolution included: 

Factory Assembly Lines
Skyscrapers 
Bicycles 
Cameras 
The Ferris Wheel 
Roller Coasters 
Sewing Machines
Elevators and Escalators 
The Vacuum Cleaner 
Electric lights 
Refrigerators 
The phonograph 
Typewriters 

Can’t we hear him saying,” What will they think of next?”  

Just as we say so often today! 

May 6 - Flag Raising Ceremony

On Saturday, May 6, 2017, at 9 AM, there will be a flag raising ceremony at the Historic St. Nicholas Cemetery.
.
Members of our local Daughters of the American Revolution will host the ceremonies and present a flag that has flown over our nation's Capitol.

.
Our local Boy Scout troop will do the honors of raising the new flag & properly disposing of the old.
.
Representatives of the Woodmen of the World LI Society, who so generously donated the cemetery's flag pole in 2009, will also participate. 
.
Come join these wonderful civic organizations and your St. Nicholas neighbors in honoring our country's flag. 

PS - And bring a folding chair if possible.

All Gone!

Thanks to Dan Durbec, Environmental Programs Coordinator at City of Jacksonville's  Clean it Up, Green it Up! initiative. 

Dan has been a tremendous help to our neighborhood efforts to "clean it up and green it up" in our own Historic St. Nicholas Cemetery.

Thanks to one and all for producing these piles and to Dan for getting rid of them. Jobs Well Done!

Cemetery Stone Cleaning

PLAN B 

This product was recommended to me by the gentleman from the local archaeological group, The Cowford Archaeological Research Society.  He was with us at the recent cemetery cleanup. He mentioned to me several times that his members have used this product on cemetery stones on multiple occasions and found it did a great job.

Like the part about requiring no scrubbing, rinsing or pressure washing. In addition, it can be purchased locally at half the price of D/2.

So…. I and a few other volunteers are going to spray try this stuff on a few stone and watch for the final results which may take up to a month to complete.

If the results are good - we'll spray the other stones. If not -  we can go back to Plan A - purchase the D/2 and use it instead - including the scrubbing part. 

Watch this Space for the results for updates.

Interesting Reading

Link to read the material: https://goo.gl/MaAROP

One of the slab stones in the Platt family plot has been broken in two. I asked Emily (our helpful archaeologist from the recent cemetery talk) for suggestions on a repair. She recommended this meaty preservation guide. The recommendations concerning  a repair start on page 90.

I have some funds given anonymously for stone cleaning. I imagine it would be proper to spend some of that on repairs as well. Any takers?

Cleanup Report

 What a turnout! What a neighborhood! More than 40 people showed up at the cemetery at 8 AM this morning. 

The manly men with their power tools made short work of the massive magnolia dead-fall. Don't you love the sound of chainsaws in the morning?! 

The ladies raked leaves, bagged leaves, trimmed bushes and sago palms and dragged the cut timber and all those bags of leaves to the street. And the  children happily participated in cleaning headstones after we all thoroughly enjoyed the presentation in stone restoration and cemetery archaeology given by Emily Jane Murray, the Public Archaeology Coordinator for the Florida Public Archaeology Network out of Flagler College. 

Thank You Emily!

We will get the city to pick up the huge piles of debris the first part of the week.

Exciting upcoming event at the cemetery: A Memorial Day Flag Ceremony.

May 20th @ 9 AM.   Watch this space for details.