TAMPA, Fla. — The city of Tampa canceled a beautification project at Woodlawn Cemetery after community members expressed frustration that plans for walkways and a wildflower garden would cover land containing unmarked graves.
The city posted last week on Nextdoor and sent emails about the wildflower garden with walkways in the potter’s field.
“It will have walking paths and will be completed in four phases. Planning began in January. Surface ground preparation for Phase I was started the week of March 4,” the post read.
An email from the city's cemetery coordinator described the work as labor-intensive.
"I am beyond upset,” Aileen Henderson of The Cemetery Society said. “The bottom line is there's bodies buried here. It's documented, we know it."
Radar searches were done at Woodlawn Cemetery in 2005 and 2019 to help search for unmarked graves. While the data varied, both concluded the likelihood of unmarked burials was high. The 2005 survey showed hundreds of grave-like anomalies.
The city’s decision to halt the beautification project comes just a few years after developers tried to build townhomes on a portion of what used to be Woodlawn Cemetery near the potter’s field.
Henderson fought that proposal as well. She says she’s shocked to be in another battle.
“How many more times do we have to tell the story? Stop building over bodies,” she said.
City officials said that was never the plan, and the project wouldn't have disturbed anyone resting in peace.
"There's no digging involved. Nothing that really gets below the top level of the ground there,” City of Tampa Parks and Recreation spokesman Lawrence Hollyfield said.
Hollyfield said the goal was truly to honor those buried at Woodlawn.
“The city's taking great care to be respectful of the individuals who are there,” he said.
Emails show Henderson asking city leaders about the project months ago after she heard something might be happening on the site. She said all the information she got back was vague.
“The whole point to all of this is there was a lack of information,” she said.
Henderson says she still has questions about who approved the project and how it advanced without community input. She plans to address the city council on the matter this Thursday.
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.