City: Haines City   County: Polk   Year: 2023
Location: 601 North 5th Street

In 1914, workers in the local lumber and turpentine industries organized under Deacon J.B. Anderson to form Mt. Zion Church in Haines City. Trustees of the church purchased this plot of land for “ten dollars and other valuable considerations.” Two years later, a small wooden church and cemetery were established on the site. In 1949, the church, now called the New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, moved to a larger site on North 8th Street. Burials continued at the cemetery until 1951. Separated from the church, the cemetery became known as “The Cemetery on the Hill” or “The Old Cemetery.” Many formerly enslaved people are believed to be buried at this sacred site, including Ethel Mae Coleman (1846–1931) and Willis Beal (1855–1930). Missing records and illegible headstones prevent definitive identification of many people interred here. Starting in the 1970s, the cemetery was cared for by the Downing family, who lived on the site of the former church. On August 16, 2016, the City Commission passed a resolution renaming the cemetery “Oak-Hill Cemetery” and, two months later, took over maintenance of all cemeteries in the city limits.