A fierce debate is brewing over a 1.5-acre land tract on North Boulevard in Tampa, which sits among historic cemeteries and could contain unmarked graves. The Hillsborough County Planning Commission began reviewing a residential rezoning request this week that preservation advocates strongly oppose.
Concerns Over Unmarked Graves
The 1.5-acre property on North Boulevard is next to Woodlawn Cemetery, Showmen’s Rest Cemetery, and an area believed by some historians to have been used as a potter’s field. A potter’s field traditionally served as a burial ground for people whose families could not afford marked graves or cemetery plots.
Planning Commissioner Matt Sienk acknowledged longstanding concerns about the site’s history. “You know, there’s always been talk, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, of it being a Potter’s Field, and that there’s concerns that there are, in fact, it should be preserved as what it is, I guess,” Sienk said.
Uncertainty Surrounding Possible Burial Sites
Officials and historians do not know for certain if human remains are buried directly within the property boundaries. No publicly available ground survey has been conducted on the property itself because it is privately owned.
Cemetery Society founder Aileen Henderson believes the property likely contains unmarked graves. “While you may not see visible markers, that does not mean there are not human remains under the ground,” Henderson said.
Henderson points to historical records and previous studies as evidence that the area deserves additional scrutiny before any development moves forward. “The deed says it’s a cemetery. It was sold as a cemetery, they’ve been claiming it as a cemetery, because they have not paid any taxes,” Henderson said.
According to Henderson, a 2019 study conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida identified possible burial sites throughout the surrounding area. She also shared a 2005 survey that she says identified hundreds of potential graves nearby.
The question of whether unmarked graves exist on the property has surfaced before. According to Henderson, uncertainty surrounding possible burial sites contributed to Tampa leaders denying a similar rezoning request for the property in 2022.
Supporters of preserving the land argue that any future development should be preceded by additional investigation to determine whether human remains are present.
Original reporting: Tampa Bay Florida News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
