(Source of image: Photo taken and copyright by JacksonvilleStory.com Website Manager)

A blue-capped little girl listens as a guide reveals the secrets behind an Evergreen tombstone.  Decked out in a period costume, the hostess, Leni Bessette, is the research coordinator and a past president for the Pilot Club.  More and more guides have been added to the cemetery tour in order to accommodate the burgeoning crowds.

Of course, things are normally pretty quiet at Evergreen.  Quipped one re-enactor standing at a grave marker, “Thanks for coming to visit.  It gets lonely out here!” She was portraying Mattie V. Rutherford, the namesake of a Springfield school on Hubbard Street.  The facility used to be known as School #6 when Mrs. Rutherford served as its principal.  Over a period of 34 years, she watched it balloon from 800 to 1,500 students.  No wonder it once ranked as the largest grammar school in Florida. 

Mattie’s husband, Professor Robert Burns Rutherford, served as principal of the old Duval High School on Ocean Street.  He also became the first principal of Andrew Jackson High when it opened in 1927, the same time as its twin, Robert E. Lee High, in Riverside.  A year later, Mr. Rutherford was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction for Duval County.