Indian Spring Cemetery, also called Indian Springs, was created in 1886 on land donated by James L. Sandlin, who settled on Alligator Creek in 1884. Additions were recorded in 1891, 1931, 1974 and 1975. Its name came from a small spring near the creek that was thought to have been used by native tribal dwellers. The 40-acre cemetery is the second known graveyard established in the Charlotte Harbor area and the first publicly owned burial ground. Owned and maintained by Charlotte County since 1948, it contains over 2,500 verified interments, some unmarked, dating back to 1889. James Sandlin became a leading citizen of the newly formed City of Punta Gorda and is one of many Florida pioneers buried there. Others interred include Albert Waller Gilchrist, the Florida Southern Railway surveyor who platted Indian Spring and later served as Governor of Florida from 1909 to 1913; Virginia Taylor Trabue, wife of Punta Gorda's founder; Joel Bean, founder of El Jobean, Florida's first circular city; and Sallie Jones, Florida's first female Superintendent of Schools.