CLEARWATER ― The 70 graves found on the FrankCrum company’s campus were initially announced to have been unmarked burials accidentally left behind when St. Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery was moved
Human remains from a lost cemetery have been found in Clearwater
St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery was moved in the mid-1950s but the unmarked graves were left behind.
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Archaeologist Ashley Medina, left, and Kelsey Kreiser, with Cardno, collect and journal artifacts on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, while working to confirm ground-penetrating radar results which have indicated 70 âpossible gravesâ from where Clearwater s black St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery was located at the FrankCrum staffing firm property at Missouri Avenue and Pierce Street in Clearwater. The excavation comes after more than a year of research by archaeologists with Cardno, the University of South Florida, the NAACP, and the local community. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD ]
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Last year, ground-penetrating radar revealed that a purportedly empty cemetery in Clearwater, Florida, might not actually be empty. To longtime residents of the area, it wasn’t exactly news.
As
Smithsonianreports, the North Greenwood Cemetery opened in 1940 and provided burial plots for members of Clearwater’s Black community until 1954, when the city decided to build a high school and a pool on the land instead. Officials relocated 350 graves several miles north, to Parklawn Memorial Cemetery, but some locals maintained that unmarked graves were never exhumed. Now, researchers from the Florida Public Archaeology Network have teamed up with development company Cardno to excavate any remains that may have been neglected. So far, they’ve unearthed evidence of 29 graves.
Listen • 1:00 1 of 4 During excavation of the former North Greenwood cemetery site in Clearwater, archaeologists discovered 29 grave shafts, as well as artifacts like this grave marker. 2 of 4 North Greenwood Cemetery grave marker 3 of 4 1942 dime found during excavation 4 of 4 Intact grave marker
Archeologists looking at a former Clearwater cemetery said that they have found a total of 29 grave shafts during the excavation process.
Archeologists looking at a “forgotten” Clearwater cemetery say that they have found almost 30 grave shafts.
Archaeologists from the Florida Public Archaeology Network, based out of the University of South Florida, and Tampa engineering firm, Cardno Inc., provided a final update on the North Greenwood Cemetery excavation Friday.