SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — Despite crews finding bones during construction in the 1970s, The Florida Department of Transportation said on Wednesday it has no plans to do searches for possible graves across from Tropicana Field under Interstate 175 in St. Petersburg, where historical records show two segregation-era cemeteries once existed.
This comes one day after the Tampa Bay Rays formally committed to building a new stadium next to its current location. The Rays, alongside the Hines group, also have plans to redevelop the surrounding 86 acres into a mixed-use residential and commercial space.
The massive, multi-billion-dollar redevelopment project has raised questions about whether proper searches and memorialization for Evergreen and Moffett cemeteries will ever happen.
Corey Givens, Jr. says his family records suggest his great-great grandfather was buried in one of these erased cemeteries. he told 10 Investigates he's angry the site has been destroyed and wants FDOT to take action to determine whether graves still exist on the site.
"To me, this is personal. It's not about baseball, it's not about money. It's about doing the right thing," Givens said. "And I think the right thing would be to hoor the history of that site by...surveying that entire property."
Some remains from the cemeteries are thought to now be at Lincoln Cemetery, but Givens says it's unclear where his ancestor is now.
According to historical records from the Florida Department of Transportation and research from the Black Cemetery Network, Moffett Cemetery was established first in 1888 for Civil War veterans and later used for African American burials. Evergreen Cemetery, also known as St. Petersburg Cemetery, came at the turn of the 20th century as a segregated cemetery.
RELATED: FDOT investigating erased veteran and Black cemeteries under I-175 ahead of possible project
BCN says both operated until the city of St. Petersburg condemned the site in the mid-1920s. About 50 years later during road construction, newspaper articles from the time reported FDOT crews finding bones. Construction continued despite the discoveries.
"When those [sites] are gone or erased…then you lose whole chapters of a community's history, particularly African-American communities,” USF Anthropology Chair Antoinette Jackson told 10 Investigates’ Emerald Morrow.
Jackson also leads the Black Cemetery Network, which chronicles the stories of erased and destroyed Black cemeteries nationwide. She and her team have also used research grants to study Moffett and Evergreen.
"I think it's the onus is upon us, too, to make it right and to speak out for all of us who can no longer necessarily, you know, address this themselves directly,” she said.
For Jackson and Givens, part of making it right is knowing for sure what’s there. Ground-penetrating radar searches would be a first step to confirmation.
It's what other agencies across the Tampa Bay area have done when confronted with the possibility of graves on-site.
In 2019, the Tampa Housing Authority hired archaeologists to search for graves from Zion Cemetery at Robles Park Village along N. Florida Avenue. Crews found nearly 300 graves at that location and an adjacent warehouse and towing lot.
A few months later, Hillsborough County Public Schools hired GeoView to scan a field at King High School for graves from Ridgewood Cemetery. The radars detected at least 145 graves. The district recently unveiled a memorial to honor the forgotten site.
RELATED: 145 coffins found at King High School, part of an erased African American cemetery in Tampa
In Clearwater, Pinellas County Schools allowed archaeologists from Cardno and the University of South Florida to perform radar searches at the shuttered Curtis Fundamental School, where they found several dozen graves. Conversations are ongoing about how to pay tribute to those buried there.
A few miles away, the FrankCrum human resources and staffing firm brought crews onto its Missouri Avenue headquarters to search for graves. Archaeologists confirmed hundreds and say there could be more.
MacDill Air Force base also confronted the possibility of a destroyed Black cemetery on its property. After learning the news, MacDill leaders immediately hired a firm to begin research. New South Associates later used cadaver dogs to search a wooded area at the base. After the search was complete, MacDill held a memorial ceremony with base leadership and members of the community.
In 2021 under former Mayor Rick Kriseman, the city of St. Petersburg, too, conducted a search — steps away from the Evergreen and Moffett cemeteries after learning of possible graves from Oaklawn Cemetery could be buried underneath a parking lot for Tropicana Field.
While many of the Oaklawn burials had been moved, archaeologists confirmed some graves remained.
“The Rays, Tropicana site redevelopment has been a big priority for the mayor, and for the city, and this is an incredibly important part of it, to ensure that we do the right thing here,” former St. Pete spokesman Ben Kirby said in 2021.
FDOT said in a statement to 10 Investigates, “just to reiterate, FDOT is currently not planning any GPR surveys of the Moffett and Oaklawn cemeteries. We have done a review of future projects and there will not be any disturbances to these areas from FDOT.”
RELATED: Search underway at Tropicana Field for graves from lost Black cemetery
Records show in 2021, the agency was looking into a conduit project with Pinellas County in an area it acknowledged would impact the cemeteries, but a spokesperson said FDOT decided to "take the approach of not further disturbing the area."
A further investigation of the sites was not considered at the time.
However, the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment proposal from the Rays-Hines group says it plans to do more research on Oaklawn, Moffett and Evergreen cemeteries, and regardless of findings, will erect a memorial along I-175 to honor the sacred sites.
It's unclear what the research will involve, when it will happen and if FDOT will take part.
Givens says the onus is on FDOT to take action.
"We deserve to know," he said.
Emerald Morrow is an investigative reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. Like her on Facebook and follow her on X. You can also email her at emorrow@10tampabay.com.