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The Historic Cemetery At The Ghost Town Of Orleans

December 18, 1992

Used with Permission

The approximate location of Orleans is in section 35, R19E, T19S, as shown on the Citrus County range map.

The town has been gone for decades and no traces of it exist today. The cemetery is located east of the town site in the Withlacoochee State Forest beside Trail 10. Trail 10 is found at county route 581 approximately 3 miles south of the intersection of state route 44 and county route 581.

Enter the trail off county route 581 and proceed about a mile to where the paved section of the road ends and the sand begins.

About 100 yards along the sandy section there is a turnoff on the left with a barricade set up to keep cars out. Walk in about 200 feet and on the left there is a post and wire fence which surrounds the burial area. The area is approximately 30 x 30 feet and overgrown.

We found only four legible headstones one of which lay on the ground next to its pedestal and was cracked in numerous places. The cracked stone, found in the northeast corner, was for ________________ Blackmun, who died on _________ 1893. Nearby was a monument for ________________ Cota, a young man who died on _________ 1893.

In the southwest corner there appeared to be a family plot; the McAtees. A young mother and a child. The child's stone is loose and is a small cube. The mother's monument is intact. They too passed away in 1893. There are also two pedestals in the McAtee area but the stones are missing.

Ed Kohl      
Citrus County      
Historical Society