Righting a Wrong

It doesn’t take long to realize that 15-year-old Jonathan Rodriguez is not your typical high school freshman. The 32 Boy Scout merit badges on the sash across his chest are emblematic of his commitment and determination.

Rodriguez has three years to complete his Eagle Scout Service Project, but he is not wasting time getting started. The seeds for his Eagle Project were planted by his mother, Maria Rodriguez, at an early age.

"Ever since I was little,” Rodriguez said, "my mom would tell me there are these graves here. I always kind of believed her, but I couldn’t visualize it. I always thought she was talking about the graves at the Rosemary Cemetery.”

One day Maria Rodriguez challenged her young son.

“We were driving back from the theatre,” Rodriguez said, "and she said, ‘I’m going to show you the graves I’ve been talking about. And I want you to tell me when you see them.' So we drove past and I didn’t say anything. She said, ‘We just passed by the graves.’ I said, ‘What?’ She told me that these were the graves of people who were buried here almost 100 years ago. So when it came time for me to choose what my Eagle Scout Project was going to be, I knew immediately I wanted to do something with Plot N.”

"Jonathan Rodriguez is assisting us with our efforts to recognize the virtually unmarked burials in what’s known as Plot N in Rosemary Cemetery,” said Amanda Townsend, director of Collier County Museums. "The best map that we have of the cemetery has different units marked. Unit B is what we manage now as Rosemary Cemetery in front of CVS (at the corner of US-41 and Pine Ridge Road). There is a Plot W and a Plot N. Plot W has some names marked, we know who some of the people there are. On Plot N, it says ‘Eight unknown negro graves.’ So there are eight black members of our community buried there.”

Today Plot N is a small patch of grass on the southwest corner of the intersection of Goodlette-Frank Road and Pine Ridge Road. There is nothing there that would indicate that it is part of a cemetery, other than several concrete posts that are about three and a half feet tall. Each post has a hole drilled through near the top.

“There was either a chain, or a wire, or rope running through,” said Maria Rodriguez. "The bodies are on the east side of these posts. It could possibly be that from these posts eastward was the segregated cemetery. It ran from U.S. 41 to this place here. It wasn’t a popular cemetery. It was the white, affluent residents of Naples who were buried there. We have their names, their years of birth and death. Rosemary Cemetery is still there and it is beautifully decorated. Everyone has their nice headstone and they’re buried with dignity and respect. And we think that’s great. But the other two cemeteries, Plot W, which is thought to be all women and their children, is just 60 feet away and it looks like this - a plot of dirt with some bushes around it - and that’s it. Rosemary Cemetery opened in 1931 and the last internment was in 1947. It was shut down and everyone started going to Naples Memorial Garden. It could be that Plot N just had wooden crosses and they rotted away. And because they were African American, for one reason or another, that’s just the way it was back then, there were no records kept of their names or ages. Nothing."

"The requirement of an Eagle Scout Project is to get it done before you turn 18,” Jonathan Rodriguez said. "We want to get it done within a year-and-a-half. The deadline is September, 2024."

Rodriguez said people are surprised when he tells him about his Eagle Project.

"It’s mainly shock or enthusiasm,” he said. "Because most people don’t even know about it. But once they learn about what this is, they get excited for it. Because this is a history that’s being uncovered. We’re finally righting a wrong that hasn’t been fixed in over 90 years.”

Rodriguez has a goal of raising $40,000. He has a GoFundMe fundraising account titled Help restore abandoned segregated cemetery (https://gofund.me/17a5f443). Though the goal listed on the GoFundMe site is set at $30,000, his overall goal is $40,000.

"We’re hoping to raise $40,000,” Rodriguez said. "We have a GoFundMe page as well as a Facebook page in order to keep people updated on what’s going on. The Facebook page is called Project Reverence."

"The basic plan,” Rodriguez said, "is to eventually get enough money for fencing to put in historical markers and gravestones for every person.”

Townsend is crucial to the success of Rodriguez’s Eagle Project.

"Amanda is a big help,” Rodriguez said. "We actually couldn’t have done most of the things we have done without her."

“The land has been privately owned,” Townsend said. "So our job at the county is to acquire that property. The descendants of the property owner of record are fine with that. We just have to go through the legal paperwork to transfer ownership. Jonathan’s project will be to raise funds and help coordinate managing the cemetery like we do Unit B, to put a fence around it, to put in headstones. Because we don’t know the people doesn’t mean we can’t put headstones, we just don’t put a name on them. He’s talked about putting some benches so people can sit and reflect, and also to put in an historical marker.”

Townsend is impressed with the teenager, a freshman at Lely High School.

"He is a great kid,” Townsend said with a smile. "He really is. I’ve been very impressed. Throughout my career with the government, I’ve known several people who have completed Eagle Scout Projects. This is probably the most complicated Eagle Scout Project I’ve ever seen. It is really ambitious. I’m absolutely confident we’ll accomplish it. He’s made it easy for people to donate. I’m just absolutely certain that he’ll reach his goal because he’s got three years. He just turned 15, which is another impressive part of the way he’s doing his project. He’s jumping on it early. It’s complex, but I’m absolutely sure he’ll succeed."

Maria Rodriguez is justifiably proud of her son. But she also has protective motherly instincts.

“I am incredibly proud that he’s taking on such an ambitious project,” she said. "It’s very intimidating. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous at times. I think it’s a two-fold thing. One, the reaction from the community. I knew that people would be shocked to learn this is part of our Naples history. And that it would make some people uncomfortable to find out about this abandoned cemetery. I was nervous because it’s a very large endeavor to take on. A large monetary, physical, and emotional toll that it can take on a 15-year-old. But if anybody can do it, it’s him. He has a large scouting community behind him, he has a large family that is supporting him. I think our county is full of amazingly generous people who will stand behind this amazing young man to get this project done. But the other side of it is, as a mom, I just have to step back and let him know that I’m here supporting him at any point that he stumbles across something that he gets frustrated with. I know that he’s going to get this done.”

Jonathan Rodriguez said monetary donations are great, but that there are other ways people can help.

"For most people,” he said, "if you want to help, money is always a great help. But if you know anyone who has tools for digging, tools for fencing, that would also be a great help. Even if you just know someone who you think would be a great service for this project, that would be a massive help.”

If fundraising efforts end up eclipsing the $40,000 mark, as Maria Rodriguez fully expects, there are already plans for that money. 

“When we exceed the goal,” Maria Rodriguez said, "the extra will be divided between the NAACP of Collier County and the Collier County Friends of the Museum. Both organizations will then use that money for continued education and field trips for the students of Collier County."