Van Zant / Gaines Graves — Orange Park Memorial Park, Jacksonville

Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines — the three Lynyrd Skynyrd members killed in the October 1977 plane crash — are buried at Orange Park Memorial Park at 2001 Plain View Road in Orange Park, a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida. The graves are a significant pilgrimage site for Skynyrd fans; bottles of whiskey, guitar picks, Confederate flag patches, and handwritten notes are regularly left at Van Zant's headstone. The simple markers stand in a quiet suburban cemetery that feels worlds away from the enormity of what they represent.

Ronnie Van Zant's grave carries the words 'A Gentle Man' — a deliberate counterpoint to his reputation for toughness and bar-room violence. His wife Judy selected the inscription. Steve Gaines, who had joined the band only months before the crash and whose playing on Street Survivors suggested he was one of the great guitar talents of his generation, is buried nearby with his sister Cassie. The loss of Gaines in particular — a revelation on the album released just three days before the crash — haunted the surviving members for years.

Orange Park Memorial Park is a functioning cemetery open to visitors during daylight hours. Orange Park is south of Jacksonville proper, accessible via US-17. The cemetery is well-maintained and the Skynyrd graves are easy to find — staff are accustomed to directing fans. Van Zant's remains were moved here in 2000 after a dispute over the location of his original burial.