Bosque Bello — Spanish for "beautiful woods" — is a 29-acre public cemetery spread across an undulating landscape of ancient live oaks draped with Spanish moss. It is the oldest public cemetery on the island and holds the graves of many of Fernandina Beach's founding families, with headstones that span from the early nineteenth century into the present. The varied styles of the memorials — from modest fieldstone markers to elaborate Victorian obelisks — document the island's social and economic history across two centuries.
Cemeteries in the Deep South often have their own peculiar beauty, and Bosque Bello is a good example: the oaks are enormous, the light falls through the canopy in shifting patches, and the quiet is complete except for birds. It is worth an hour of wandering even without a specific grave to find. Maps showing notable burials are available at the entrance.