Johnny Walker Monument

Within Evergreen Cemetery a pair of monuments mark the grave of Capt. Jonathan Walker, a Massachuetts-born sea captain and abolitionist. Capt. Walker was arrested off the coast of Florida in 1844 while trying to deliver seven escaped salves to freedom. After being convicted in federal court, Walker's right hand was branded with the letters SS for slave stealer. He is the only man in U.S. history to have been branded by order of a federal court. Walker spent the last years of his life on his farm which is now in Norton Shores. He died in 1878.