November 2019

Joe Campbell has an incredibly personal and distinctive monument here at Evergreen Cemetery. This enterprising nature-lover came to America as a young man and was hired by Buffalo Bill Cody’s traveling show. His early gator farming occurred in Palm Beach, Arkansas, and California, and he and his wife, Sadie, later settled in Jacksonville. The Campbells lived in a houseboat near the southern end of the future Main Street Bridge, and in 1907 opened Dixieland Park in South Jacksonville. At this entertainment park, Alligator Joe performed along with ostriches and alligators, electric fountains, burros, bands and theatre productions. In 1916 the Florida Ostrich and Alligator Farm opened on the South Bank of Jacksonville. Joe wrestled the reptiles and gave lectures while Sadie managed the store. The Campbells even shipped thousands of baby gators across the country in light cypress boxes filled with Spanish moss. Campbell was known for his jovial nature, his work as a progressive activist, his career as a respected naturalist, and for riding ostrich. He died suddenly from typhus in 1926, and is laid to rest in Section KW of Evergreen beneath a rendering of one of his beloved alligators.