MELBOURNE, Fla. – For more than 100 years, it seems no one really knew how many people were buried at a historically Black cemetery that was nearly forgotten as it grew blighted.
Then this year, after being awarded the “Abandoned African-American Cemeteries” grant, the city of Melbourne used ground penetrating radar and found a new window into the past.
City planner Sandy Ramseth says 31 graves were discovered outside of the fence at the Line Street Cemetery for a total of 44 graves.
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The cemetery opened in 1901 and is the final resting place of one of the city’s founders - William Wright Brothers, a former slave.
“Pretty exciting and pretty powerful in knowing that we’ve got a lot of history right here,” Ramseth said. “And so now that we know that there are people here, we need to treat them in a dignified, respectful manner and celebrate this site.”
Preliminary findings revealed there were 13 burials within the fenced boundaries and an additional 31 burials outside the fence. The city said the area is now temporarily marked with flags and markers identifying these locations.
Located on WH Jackson Street, Line Street Cemetery was originally recorded as a historic resource in 2011. At one point, the cemetery became overgrown with Brazilian pepper trees, weeds and trash. In 1980, a Boy Scout group spent three weekends cleaning up the cemetery.
The discovery excited neighbor Elouise Adolphus.
She told News 6 reporter James Sparvero she believes she has ancestors buried in the cemetery.
She was also happy to see the cemetery being taken care of again.
“I’m proud to see it’s nice and clean,” Adolphus said. “I’m happy, you know, that it’s been discovered. That there’s other, you know, ancestors, people out here that we didn’t know about. And this is history. This is history to me.”
To preserve the newly discovered history, the city said it wants to put a fence around the additional graves, too.
The city will also pursue getting some sort of historical designation for the cemetery.
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