Greenhead Cemetery

State Highway 77

Vernon, Florida

Washington County

This small cemetery, lying just west of the highway holds the small hamlet of Greenheads great secrets and tragedies from a bygone era. Standing amongst the ancient oaks draped with spanish moss lies the graves of 2 young married women and the grave of a toddler. What begin as a fishing trip between two neighbor ladies and one's young son on a warm sunny morning in April of 1913 turned into a tragic ending and a travesty of justice, where in that place and time women were looked upon as property just as one's dog, boots, or furniture was. These young women became the victims of what we know of today as domestic violence. Ava Dell Payne was just 18, her husband A.L. Payne was a temperamental man whom Ava feared. A.L. stood on a hill near sand lake and watched the ladies enjoying themselves laughing, fishing and playing with the young boy. A.L. ordered that they return to shore with the row boat. Ava, gripped with fear hearing the threatening tone of his voice, told her neighbor to stay in the pond until he had calmed down. When Ava refused to paddle to shore, A.L. came after her, and what exactly ensued no one knows for sure, but A.L. did manage to tip the boat over attempting to get to Ava, and all aboard drowned, A.L. was to live another 3 years (after which he was murdered). Law enforcement was not involved and the 3 victims never received any justice. A short while after the funerals strange lights were seen coming from the area of the graves, townsfolk say it's the spirits of Ava, her neighbor and the child attempting to seek justice.