Florida National Cemetery, Florida

Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell was established in 1988 after the State of Florida transferred land within the Withlacoochee State Forest to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The forest itself had been federal land since the 1930s, later managed by the Florida Board of Forestry, and its long history—from early frontier settlement encouraged by the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 to post–Civil War agricultural development—shaped the region where the cemetery now stands. Created to serve Florida’s rapidly growing veteran population, it has become one of the nation’s busiest national cemeteries, offering burial and memorial space across more than 500 acres. Two Revolutionary War veterans are buried here: Benjamin Latimer and Benjamin Shirley.