ICYMI: USF Researchers Begin Work At Historic Cemetery

TAMPA, FL – Tampa’s first public cemetery is getting some much needed love with the help of the University of South Florida Department of Anthropology.

This week, faculty and students from the anthropology department will begin to survey the underground conditions at Tampa’s historic Oaklawn Cemetery, located at 606 E. Harrison St. This is part of the initial steps to create a digital database of the site for the City of Tampa.

Oaklawn Cemetery was created in 1850 by Alachua County Commissioners as a public burial ground for “white and slave, rich and poor,” according to the City of Tampa’s website. Since stone grave markers were a luxury for the struggling town of 500 people, most of its early grave markers were made from carved cypress.

These markers were lost over the years from fires, storms and rot. Then, following the Civil War, the original plat of the cemetery was lost, and with it, the locations and identities of many early interments.

On Friday, March 24 at 2 p.m., the USF team will start the data collection phase of the project by using ground-penetrating radar and other non-disturbance recording methods. After a few weeks of collecting information, the researchers will spend several months using it to create the database.

Oaklawn Cemetery is the final resting place of many of Tampa’s pioneer families, as well as 13 of its mayors, one Florida governor, two state Supreme Court justices and the framers of five state constitutions. Slaves and “marginal” people (such as pirates) had their own section of the cemetery, and public money was once set aside to bury indigent people.

The USF researchers will use scientific tools and techniques to locate probable graves and other buried features, such as electrical and water lines, which will help provide the city with an assessment. City leaders are working to maintain, document and restore the property, with the possibility of seeking a national historic landmark designation.

For more information on Oaklawn Cemetery, visit https://www.tampagov.net/parks-and-recreation/cemeteries/oaklawn-walking-tour.

Image via Marque1313, Wikimeida, used under Creative Commons