The Brief
- The City of St. Petersburg approved a nearly $400,000 contract for “ground truthing” to investigate possible graves beneath a Tropicana Field parking lot.
- Researchers believe as many as 10 bodies from the historic Oaklawn Cemetery could still be buried under the site.
- Councilmember Corey Givens, Jr. is pushing for a historical marker and broader searches in nearby areas tied to the former Gas Plant District.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The City of St. Petersburg is taking the next step to determine whether human remains from a historic cemetery are buried beneath the parking lots surrounding Tropicana Field.
What we know:
City council recently approved a nearly $400,000 contract for what’s known as “ground truthing”, a process used to physically investigate underground anomalies that may confirm if the possible anomalies detected are graves.
Researchers previously detected potential burial sites in 2024 beneath Lot 1 near Tropicana Field, which once sat on land used by the segregated Oaklawn Cemetery, a burial ground that closed in 1926.…