BRANDON, Fla. \u2014 A small cemetery in Brandon is marking a major milestone while preserving the name of a community many no longer recognize.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Limona Cemetery in Brandon celebrated its 150th anniversary on Monday
\nThe five-acre burial ground holds the remains of early pioneers who settled the area long before it became known as Brandon, when the community itself was called Limona
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Mark Proctor, chairman of the Timberley Trust, said preserving sites like this is crucial as history continues to disappear
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Historians\u00a0said understanding sites like Limona Cemetery helps explain how the region developed<\/p>\n
Limona Cemetery celebrated its 150th anniversary on Monday. The five-acre burial ground holds the remains of early pioneers who settled the area long before it became known as Brandon, when the community itself was called Limona.<\/p>\n
Tucked away from busy roads and modern development, the cemetery serves as a lasting reminder of the region\u2019s earliest days. Many of those buried there helped shape what would become eastern Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n
Mark Proctor, chairman of the Timberley Trust, said preserving sites like this is crucial as history continues to disappear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to have a reflection of the past,\u201d Proctor said. \u201cSo much history is lost these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Timberley Trust helps preserve the legacy of the Mosley family, early settlers who arrived in the 1880s. Members of the family are buried at Limona Cemetery, and their former homestead is now a designated historical site undergoing preservation.<\/p>\n
According to Proctor, Limona was the first incorporated community east of Tampa. Both the town and the cemetery were established on January 12, 1876.<\/p>\n
Another influential figure laid to rest at the cemetery is Judge Joseph Knapp. Mike Crouch, secretary of the Limona Cemetery Association, said Knapp was one of the area\u2019s earliest settlers and the man who gave the community its name.<\/p>\n
\u201cJudge Knapp is buried right here,\u201d Crouch said.<\/p>\n
Before Brandon\u2019s growth reshaped the area, Limona was a thriving railroad town. While the name has largely faded from public memory, Crouch said the cemetery has endured as a physical link to that past.<\/p>\n
\u201cLimona was a thriving railroad kind of town prior to the development of Brandon,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people aren\u2019t familiar with the Limona name, but this cemetery persists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Historians said milestones like the 150th anniversary offer an opportunity to reconnect with local heritage. Dr. Lori Collins said understanding sites like Limona Cemetery helps explain how the region developed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really gets us back to our roots,\u201d Collins said. \u201cAnd helps us understand how this area developed and where everything came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those who maintain the cemetery, the anniversary is about more than remembrance \u2014 it\u2019s about ensuring the stories of Limona and its pioneers are not forgotten by future generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRANDON, Fla. \u2014 A small cemetery in Brandon is marking a major milestone while preserving the name of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[767,1011,1013,274,770,276,1190,2200,4029,115,135,137,136,278,2032,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-116049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-human-interest","10":"tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","11":"tag-app-top-stories","12":"tag-community-news","13":"tag-hillsborough-county","14":"tag-human-interest","15":"tag-instagram-bn9","16":"tag-jeff-van-sant","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-tampa","19":"tag-tampa-headlines","20":"tag-tampa-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-trending-topics","23":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}