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Leon County Commission To Be Updated On Potential Unmarked Cemetery

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Valerie Crowder
/
WFSU News
A school zone in Tallahassee

Leon County Commissioners will review updates on a potential unmarked cemetery within Miccosukee Greenway. The state is working to find the cemetery's boundaries.

The Miccosukee Greenway site is too forested to use ground-penetrating radar. The state is using cadaver dogs and historical aerial imagery instead. In a report, the Florida Division of Historical Resources says the dogs found several possible burials. The state says there's a good chance the location could be the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery. If found to be accurate, the church's Black parishioners would not be the only ones resting in unmarked graves. In 1999, a state task force estimated there could be as many as 1,500 abandoned cemeteries in Florida, many with African Americans burials. If the state authenticates the Miccosukee site, Leon County may consider memorializing those buried there.

Robbie Gaffney graduated from Florida State University with degrees in Digital Media Production and Creative Writing. Before working at WFSU, they recorded FSU’s basketball and baseball games for Seminole Productions as well as interned for the PBS Station in Largo, Florida. Robbie loves playing video games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Animal Crossing, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Their other hobbies include sleeping and watching anime.