How Far Did Zion Cemetery Stretch? Public Housing Tenants Ask If Old Maps Are Accurate

The dotted line shows the portion of former Zion Cemetery land that archaeologists have not yet surveyed. Most of the property inside the lines is owned by restaurateur Richard Gonzmart. [Cardno]

TAMPA — Archaeologists who discovered nearly 130 coffins under Robles Park Village are confident that long-forgotten Zion Cemetery did not extend beyond a corner of the public housing project where five buildings now stand. Still, residents in apartments nearby — the sprawling complex has 67 buildings — want assurances that this is indeed the case. Their concerns are heightened by the presence of four slabs of concrete just beyond the property once occupied by the cemetery. The discovery this summer of the African-American burial ground from the early 1900s has some wondering whether they’re gravestones. One may well be, the archaeologists say, but it was likely discarded there after the segregation-era cemetery disappeared nearly a century ago. Still, to be safe, the archaeologists will train their ground-penetrating on the land in question — one block past the boundaries indicated for the cemetery on old maps.

NEWS/HILLSBOROUGH How far did Zion Cemetery stretch? Public housing tenants ask if old maps are accurate. To be safe, archaeologists will train their ground-penetrating on the land in question — one block past the cemetery boundaries. Tampa Bay Times, Paul Guzzo, Published Sept. 27, 2019 P a g e | 2 The decision was made Thursday at a meeting of the Tampa Housing Authority’s Zion Cemetery Archaeological Consultation Committee, made up of those with a stake in the burial ground. In other developments from the meeting, the go-ahead was given for a genealogist to search for descendants of people buried at Zion and for the archaeologists to start looking beneath the soil there by February. The committee was put together in response to the revelation by the Tampa Bay Times that 2½ acres along North Florida Boulevard where Robles Park Village and warehouses now stand was once the site of the African-American cemetery. The Housing Authority owns half the cemetery land. Restaurateur Richard Gonzmart owns the other half and said he plans to hire an archaeologist within a month. Those living in the five Robles Park Village buildings will begin moving to other public housing within the next three weeks, said Leroy Moore, the Housing Authority’s chief operating officer. All should be relocated within 90 days, Moore said. After that, archaeologists can begin digging close enough to the coffins to confirm the the data they’ve gathered from ground-penetrating radar without actually exposing graves. So far, they have counted 127 graves and believe there may be hundreds more. The radar data is revealing, but a photograph of a coffin’s outline can help confirm it, said Eric Prendergast, principal project investigator with Cardno, the archaeology firm hired by the Housing Authority. “That way in 50 or 100 years no one can question our findings," he said. Confirmation will also come from the search for descendants of those buried at Zion. “The more information we have on Zion Cemetery the better,” Moore said. “We can preserve it forever, so it is not lost again.” Drew Smith, an associate librarian at the University of South Florida, will lead the genealogy search. People might not know their ancestors’ graves were built upon, Smith said, but they have heard family stories that point to Zion. “People die twice,” he said. “They have a physical death and they die again the last time their name is spoken. We can bring these people back to life.” Moore aims to raise the five buildings in the coming years and turn the property into a memorial park. Concerns have arisen over proposed legislation that seemed to pave the way for digging up graves, instead. But the author of the legislation, state Sen. Janet Cruz, appeared at the Thursday meeting to say the details are still up in the air. “There is much work to be done," Cruz said. "All your concerns will be addressed in the bill. Its intent is to make sure those buried there are properly memorialized.”