TAMPA, Fla. — MacDill Air Force Base has cordoned off roughly five acres of wooded land as it moves forward with plans to search for a forgotten African American cemetery that could be on property acquired when the base started construction in 1939.
“We're going to put forth our best foot and make sure we bring in the experts to either confirm the existence that it's here, that a cemetery is here or not,” said 1st Lt. Brandon Hanner, a MacDill spokesman.
Hanner said this week, base engineers are meeting to discuss the best method for searching for graves from the missing Port Tampa City Cemetery, referenced in federal documents from the Florida Department of Military Affairs.
The search could be complicated by the trees in the area, but Hanner said that will not deter the base from searching for the lost souls.
“This is a wetland and some areas, it's going to add a high level of complexity to the search, that's why our civil engineering team is sitting down and very carefully planning what methods to use, and it's likely not going to be a single method,” said Hanner. “We're going to have to use a multi-faceted approach to make sure we do the job right and make sure we do the justice that we need."
In other searches for lost African American cemeteries in Tampa, ground-penetrating radar has been the tool of choice to help locate missing graves. The technology helped archaeologists and geophysical technicians detect 144 graves from the forgotten Zion Cemetery at Robles Park Village and 145 graves from the Ridgewood Cemetery at King High School.
At both locations, the radar scanned flat terrain, but that won’t be the case in the woods at MacDill.
“That can be an issue when you're doing GPR is if it's wooded area, not only are there a lot of tree roots that are under the ground, but then you also have trees that are in the way,” said Rebecca O’Sullivan with the Florida Public Archaeology Network at USF. She is one of the archeologists that helped detect graves at Zion. “So, when you're trying to set up your survey, you have to go around them. So, that would be an added difficulty."
However, O’Sullivan added that the search will not be impossible.
“Zion and other cases have shown that the people are there and they're waiting to be found. And now we're looking for them, and I think that we're going to find them."
10News has found more than two dozen death certificates from the cemetery. Newspaper clippings suggest the cemetery existed as early as 1902.
Emerald Morrow is a reporter with 10News WTSP. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@wtsp.com.
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