TAMPA, Fla. — Results from ground-penetrating radar at the county’s tax collector office on Hillsborough Avenue showed no signs of graves on the property scanned.
The testing came after a whistleblower whose research led leaders to discover two forgotten cemeteries on housing authority and school board property suggested another African American burial ground could be nearby.
“It puts closure to the property where no one's going to say, 'Why didn't the tax collector pursue this when it was identified to the Board of County Commissioners as being a high-probability site for unmarked graves?' So again, it was a very easy decision for me to make,” tax collector Doug Belden said.
Belden hired a geotechnical firm to scan the area for graves after learning about the research. Although ground scans found no graves, whistleblower Ray Reed believes the bodies could be on neighboring property.
He said he believes if the bodies are not at the tax collector’s office, they are somewhere in along Hillsborough Avenue between the railroad tracks and a nearby school.
As part of his research, Reed referenced minutes from a 1950 County Commission meeting where former Commissioner Nuccio asked for bodies from the County Cemetery along 22nd Street and the County Highway to be disinterred. Reed believes the county highway named is Hillsborough Avenue, which intersects with 22nd Street.
From the Oct. 10, 1950, Hillsborough Board of County Commissioner meeting minutes as printed:
“Commissioner Nuccio advised the board that he would like to bring to its attention the matter of the County Cemetery on 22nd Street, which now faces and is located on a County Highway and in years to come, the traffic will increase to such an extent that it will be a disadvantage in keeping the cemetary at its present location.
"In addition to it being in an undesirable location, County Home and Hospital has never kept a complete record of those who are buried there, so he would like for the cemetery to be moved to another location and that a record be made of those who have died there are buried in the cemetery, and in the future an accurate record be kept on those buried there.
"He also stated that he wanted to beautify the new location and keep it that way, therefore, that the County Attorney be authorized to bring suit, or whatever steps move are necessary, to move those bodies to another spot. Commissioner Bullard seconded this motion, and it was unanimously carried.”
Reed also pointed to commission minutes from the same year that stated no records from the County Cemetery could be found. Reed said because the cemeteries would have been segregated, the African Americans buried there would have been in a separate location, likely along Hillsborough Avenue.
“Hopefully, there will be ground-penetrating radar done along Hillsborough Avenue in that grassy stretch,” Reed said in a previous interview with 10News. “There's a 1937 Burgert Brothers photo that shows a whole bunch of white crosses looking down from the railroad tracks to the school at the corner of 30th.
"I see no reason why commissioner Nuccio would have been correct about 1951 and Ridgewood (cemetery) and would have been completely incorrect about the county highway and disinterring the bodies at the county poor farm."
The search for other remains is now in the county’s hands. Commission Chair Les Miller said his board is currently researching its properties and working on a plan to search for forgotten cemeteries that might have been redeveloped over time.
RELATED: 145 coffins found at King High School, part of an erased African American cemetery in Tampa
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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