CLEARWATER, Fla. — People who grew up in a historic African-American Clearwater community are the latest to speak out about what they say is cemetery that’s been forgotten about.
- Residents say cemetery lost underground at Gould Street and Madison Avenue
- Clearwater Heights community established in 1909
- Clearwater Historical Society started digging into city records
- PREVIOUS STORIES: Forgotten Tampa cemeteries
Residents said that lost cemetery is located in a vacant lot on the corner of Gould Street and Madison Avenue. Frank Crum Staffing owns the vacant lot that’s surrounded by a chain linked fence. The staffing company is just steps away.
Clearwater Historical Society president, Allison Dolan said she started digging into city records to find out more about the cemetery.
“We went from the address to the plat books. And we’re moving on and on trying to find where this cemetery was,” Dolan said. “We can’t find where it’s been named it’s just always been this plot of land that nobody’s developed.”
Dolan said sometime in the 1950’s remains were moved from the corner of Gould Street and Madison Avenue and relocated.
Barbara Sorey-Love grew up in the Clearwater Heights community. It was the first African-American community established in 1909. She said you don’t have to see it because she knows it.
“We know without a doubt there are still bodies there it just has to be proven scientifically,” Sorey-Love said.
Sorey-Love said many of the graves were unmarked and they belonged to people from the people of the beloved Clearwater Heights community. She believes they were failed then and now and she’s hoping to honor them.
“It feels terrible. You know I’m not a prejudice person but it shows the greed, the hate, the racism that prevailed then and still prevails now,” Sorey-Love said. “It’s about respect and preserving your heritage and honoring those that came before us.”
Sorey-Love is the president of a group formed called Clearwater Heights Reunion Committee. She said they formed in 2016 and when they began having meetings the one thing that kept coming up was the cemetery and questions about the remains.
Sorey-Love said they hope to honor the lives of those who were buried in the cemetery. Right now they’re trying to figure out what the next steps are.
The group along with the Clearwater historical society said they reached out to the property owner, Frank Crum Staffing but they haven’t gotten far.
The company didn’t return our calls for comment but in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times Crum said they had every reason to believe the funeral directors who moved the cemetery back in the 1950’s did a thoughtful and thorough job.