Tallahassee National Cemetery

Tallahassee National Cemetery, at 5015 Apalachee Parkway in Leon County, was dedicated May 22, 2015, and held its first burial on October 16, 2015, according to the VA National Cemetery Administration.

The VA's cemetery page says construction began in October 2014, that the cemetery sits on 250 acres and will accommodate casketed and cremated remains, and that it will serve over 83,000 veterans in Tallahassee and the surrounding area. The initial phase of construction is expected to provide burial options for 10 years.

The VA's October 16, 2015 news release announced the opening of the 133rd national cemetery with ceremonial first burials that day, and said the Leon County cemetery would serve the burial needs of more than 83,000 veterans for the next 100 years. VA awarded the construction contract on September 25, 2014, to C&C Contractors and issued a notice to begin construction on October 15, 2014. At opening, a 20-acre early burial area held 3,000 gravesites for casket and cremain interments, and the release said a second, larger stage would provide 7,720 full-casket gravesites, including 3,600 pre-placed crypts, along with 2,200 in-ground cremation sites and 1,920 columbarium niches. It listed Florida's other VA national cemeteries as Barrancas in Pensacola, Bay Pines, Florida National in Bushnell, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Sarasota, South Florida in Lake Worth and the then soon to open Cape Canaveral cemetery in Mims.

The VA says Tallahassee National Cemetery is a result of its 2008 Evaluation of the VA Burial Benefits Program, a study aimed at reaching areas where many veterans had no national cemetery nearby.

For the Tallahassee site, the VA describes the 2008 evaluation as an independent study that gave VA leadership the opportunity to review existing policies for establishing new national cemeteries and to continue to increase access to areas where significant numbers of unserved veterans reside. Following that study, the VA purchased the 250-acre parcel in August 2012 for $6.8 million.

The VA places the cemetery in Leon County, with frontage along U.S. Highway 27 (Apalachee Parkway) near March Road, east of Tallahassee. Its directions from Tallahassee Regional Airport, as the VA page names it, run east on Terminal Loop Road, then 10.4 miles on Capital Circle SW to Apalachee Parkway, with the cemetery a little over 2 miles on the right.

Burial at Tallahassee National Cemetery follows national VA rules: it is open to members of the armed forces who die on active duty and to veterans discharged under conditions other than dishonorable who meet the service requirement.

For Tallahassee and every other national cemetery, the VA's eligibility page lists any member of the Armed Forces of the United States who dies on active duty, and any veteran who was discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. With certain exceptions, service beginning after September 7, 1980, as an enlisted person, and service after October 16, 1981, as an officer, must be for a minimum of 24 continuous months or the full period for which the person was called to active duty. The VA says undesirable, bad conduct and other discharges other than honorable may or may not qualify, depending on a determination by a VA Regional Office. Reservists and National Guard members may qualify under several conditions, including entitlement to retired pay or meeting minimum active duty service requirements.

Family members are covered under the same rules. The Tallahassee cemetery page says a veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children and, under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible, and that eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the veteran. The national page adds that a spouse or dependent may be eligible even if the veteran is not buried in a national cemetery; that a minor child is unmarried and under 21, or under 23 while pursuing a full-time course of instruction; and that an unmarried adult child qualifies if permanently physically or mentally disabled and incapable of self-support before 21, or 23 if a full-time student. A former spouse whose marriage ended by annulment or divorce is not eligible if not otherwise eligible.

The VA also lists some parents who may be buried at Tallahassee or another national cemetery: biological or adoptive parents who died after October 13, 2010, whose servicemember child died on or after October 7, 2001, as the result of a hostile casualty or a training-related injury and is interred in a national cemetery, among other conditions.

For an eligible burial at Tallahassee National Cemetery, the VA provides the gravesite, opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a government headstone, marker or medallion, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a burial flag at no cost to the family.

The VA's burial benefits page says cremated remains are buried or inurned in national cemeteries such as Tallahassee in the same manner and with the same honors as casketed remains, and that spouses and dependents receive burial with the veteran, perpetual care and their name and dates inscribed on the veteran's headstone, also at no cost. Funeral or cremation arrangements are made with a funeral provider, and any item or service from a funeral home or cremation office is at the family's expense. VA burial allowances may also be available for eligible veterans.

To schedule a burial at Tallahassee, the VA directs that all discharge documentation be faxed to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417, followed by a phone call to 1-800-535-1117. The scheduling office has primary responsibility for verifying eligibility, and the VA honors special requests for weekend burials for religious purposes, for service members killed in action and on at least one day of any three-day federal holiday weekend.

Yes, a veteran can apply to the VA for a pre-need determination of eligibility and name Tallahassee National Cemetery as the preferred cemetery, though the VA cannot guarantee burial there.

For a Tallahassee preference, VA.gov says applicants gather their personal information, the military history of the veteran or service member, and the name of the preferred VA national cemetery. If that cemetery is not available at the time of need, the VA says it will help the family select another cemetery with available space. Providing a copy of a DD214 or other separation documents helps the VA process the application faster.

The pre-need application cannot be used once the person has died; at that point the family schedules a burial instead. Burials in Arlington National Cemetery or the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, and in VA grant-funded state, territory or tribal veterans cemeteries, use separate processes, so the VA application is the route for the Apalachee Parkway cemetery in Leon County.

The VA lists three notable burials at Tallahassee National Cemetery: a Pearl Harbor sailor, a Marine killed in Vietnam and a World War II airman identified decades after his death.

Seaman First Class Earl Paul Baum joined the Navy from Illinois and was serving on USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941; he was nineteen when he was killed, and his remains were not identified until 2015. He rests next to his brother-in-law in Section 1. Staff Sergeant Earl Daniels, Jr., of Thomasville, Georgia, served more than six years in the Marine Corps and died from wounds sustained in Vietnam on June 26, 1967; a fitness center at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, is named for him.

Staff Sergeant William O. Wood served in the 328th Bombardment Squadron and took part in Operation TIDAL WAVE, the August 1, 1943 raid on oil refineries at Ploiesti, Romania, where his B-24 Liberator was one of fifty-one planes that did not return. The VA says the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknown remains in 2017, which led to his identification, and he was laid to rest at Tallahassee on August 1, 2022, 79 years after his death.

The VA says the Tallahassee National Cemetery grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset, and the office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The VA's Tallahassee page says florist deliveries must have all wrapping removed, cemetery vases are federal property, and floral items are removed when unsightly, for mowing or after weather damage. Prohibited items are held in a central area on the grounds for one month before disposal, and the staff will help families retrieve them on request. Under 38 CFR 1.218, firearms, explosives and other weapons are not allowed on VA property except for official purposes such as military funeral honors. A cemetery kiosk is available, and the VA offers an online grave locator and daily burial schedule.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the VA National Cemetery Administration's Tallahassee National Cemetery page, its eligibility and burial benefits pages, and the VA.gov pre-need eligibility page, with the VA's 2015 opening release used for dated construction figures.