The land formerly belonged to a Black church. When the church was sold in 1955, most of its graves were moved but residents always said dozens of unmarked graves had been left behind.
Archaeologists have detected 70 possible graves underneath the parking lot where a cemetery once stood in what was Clearwater Heights, an African American community in Florida. The discovery marks the fourth time in the last year that graves from a lost Tampa Bay area cemetery have been detected by investigators.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, archaeologists examined the site using ground-penetrating radar, also known as GPR.
The site was previously where the St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church established its cemetery which housed the graves of the neighborhood’s black residents. But the church could no longer afford to keep the property. After the cemetery site was sold, most of the graves were moved to another cemetery in nearby Dunedin…