As new Florida law aims to preserve history, Leon County takes stock of forgotten cemeteries

Twice in the past 18 months Tallahassee discovered it was running, biking, playing and walking on the unmarked grave sites of past residents.

The site of New Hope Cemetery, a burial ground for as many as 12 families, forgotten by all except an elderly descendant of former slaves was located along a trail of the Miccosukee Greenway in northeast Leon County.

Six months earlier, researchers confirmed about 40 grave sites of slaves along the fairways of the Capital City Country Club in South Tallahassee.

Tallahassee isn’t alone in making such discoveries in recent years. Grave sites are forgotten for many reasons. Descendants die. Churches fold. Communities scatter and as time marches on, burial grounds are forgotten.

A new state law signed June 4 by Gov. Ron DeSantis creates a 10-member task force to locate abandoned cemeteries and develop a plan for “preserving local history and ensuring dignity and respect for the deceased.”

Flanked by Tampa Democrats Sen. Janet Cruz and Rep. Fentrice Driskell, Tampa Housing Authority Vice President Leroy Moore, issued a Juneteenth Eve challenge Thursday to property owners; be prepared to do the right thing.

Moore, two years ago suddenly became aware that in his role as a THA executive he owned a cemetery. Zion Cemetery, Tampa’s first Black cemetery, which had disappeared from the records by the 1920s had been located at the Robles Park Village.

‘Opportunity to right this historical injustice’

Interest in the find, and how Moore responded, closing 32 units to provide a buffer for the grounds, gave a boost to HB 37. 

It was the third attempt, since at least the 1990s, to have Florida recognize abandoned cemeteries with at least a historical marker.

Cruz notes archaeologists estimate there are more than 3,000 sites across the state where people laid to rest have been neglected, forgotten and unrecognized due to the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation.

“While we certainly have no role in these egregious actions, we now have the opportunity to right this historical injustice,” said Cruz.

But Moore warns righting an injustice comes at a cost.

When Tampa was told there were up to 1,000 graves on housing authority property, it closed apartments for nearly three dozen families.

“We vacated 32, units of affordable housing at the time in our history that housing is needed more than ever before,” said Moore. “We were … (doing) business on sacred ground.”

Moore concedes it wasn’t an easy thing to close those apartments.

“Right decisions are always tough decisions,” said Moore,

And it’s one he predicts thousands of property owners across the state will have to choose to make once the task force begins its work.

Taking stock of forgotten cemeteries in Leon County

Due to a lack of records, it is unclear how many abandoned African American cemeteries there are in Leon County, but local historians are confident the number is much more than the four that have been uncovered in recent years.

In the headlines:

Armchair historians, retired archaeologists, academic researchers and the descendants of slaves and sharecroppers have rediscovered two burial grounds along the Miccosukee Greenway, another across the street at Edenfeld Road, and one among the fairways at the Capital City Country Club golf course.

The number of grave sites along the greenways amount to a few dozens. Researchers estimate there are more than 40 at the golf course. It’s unclear the number for the site at Edenfeld.

An 1860 census report shows two-thirds of Leon County’s population, or more than 8,000 individuals were slaves. At the time four of the counties’ largest plantations with at least 620 enslaved workers were located between Thomasville Road and U.S. 90.

Lonnie Mann of the Panhandle Archaeological Society of Tallahassee describes the region, partly contained within the proposed Welaunee development, like it may be the historical heart of Leon’s Black community from the Antebellum Era into Jim Crow.

“They were enslaved but it was a vibrant community with trails and roads and homesteads, and it’s really been lost to time – it’s just logical there are more (cemeteries) to be found,” said Mann, while discussing census numbers and recorded deaths.

The Intergovernmental Agency known as Blueprint that provides infrastructure funding for public projects has moved the proposed Welaunee Blvd to provide a protective barrier for the New Hope site.

Blueprint also is performing an archaeological inventory of the land slated for the project, which Mann and others are waiting to read, and will provide an onsite archaeologist as the development proceeds north.

“They’ve taken great pains to do some archaeology, but abandoned cemeteries are unmarked – where they are is one big mystery,” said Mann.

“The city needs to write some sort of covenant, into the property, so that as the property changes hands, which it will, with the development of Welaunee, the property will be protected in perpetuity.”

Florida’s new law mandates a 10-member task force be named by and begin work by July 1. The panel is to hold its first meeting Aug. 1.

Moore said as more abandoned cemeteries are found communities will face, like Tampa was with Zion, the challenge to “do the right thing.

“Whatever the cost, there is a way through this, and to build a much more healthy community,” said Moore.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida, Leon County taking stock of forgotten cemeteries

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