Photo Courtesy of Tampa Bay Times
On Wednesday, archaeologists confirmed their discovery of 328 graves from a demolished African American cemetery underneath a business property in Clearwater, Florida, extending to an adjacent paved road.
According to WTSP, the graves came from the St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery, which was built in 1902 and continued to run until the mid-1950s. The church sold the property for $15,000 due to the pressure the church faced from the city. The community at the time was told the graves would be relocated. A few were, but what they were told was a lie.
The senior archaeologist of Cardno, Erin McKendry, shared the discovery with those present at the Clearwater African American Cemeteries Memorial Committee meeting.
The property the graves were found under was Frank Crum Human Resources Consulting Firm, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The discovery began in 2020 when the Stantec Engineering service company announced that their radar discovered 70 graves on a portion of the site.
In 2021, Frank Crum’s president, Matt Crum, told WTSP that he and his family weren’t aware of the graves but wanted to help uncover the truth.
“To me, it’s the next logical step, to find out, you know, what the perimeter of the old cemetery was, how many possible remains we’re talking about,” Crum said. “And then we can start having a conversation with all stakeholders to say, ‘Okay, well, what do we do now.'”
The Clearwater African American Cemeteries Memorial Committee is working to figure out what to do to honor those buried at the cemetery.
A spokesperson for the city of Clearwater told the Tampa Bay Times that they were, too, figuring out what to do.
“It really is too soon to tell what will happen at the Crum location or under Missouri Avenue,” the spokesperson said. “The city manager would like to start by having meetings with the community and the heirs of the individuals buried at the location.”