Not one bit.Irving and Edith Baker bought #79 (“Hilltop”) in Laurel Park in 1921. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they found bones. "There were graves all over the place," said Strickland, who now lives in Palm Harbor. Tate Post 39, said he is not sure what the city ought to do about the old graves but is fairly certain the city will have to deal with the issue. Strickland, who in 1949 was commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars L. Petersburg native who campaigned to clean up the graveyards in the 1940s, said he is concerned about the desecration of any graves that might still be in the area. They will determine whether it has archaeological significance and oversee what is done with the remains, Scarry said. If the bones are more than 75 years old, something to be determined by the local medical examiner, state archaeologists must be called in to examine the site, he said. Florida statutes make it a felony to knowingly disturb a grave, said John Scarry, archaeology supervisor for the state bureau of archaeological research.Īnd if the city finds human bones, construction must stop immediately, Scarry said. "I think it's something the city needs to address." "I don't know how many families are represented locally who have ancestors buried in the area or how many graves there are," he said. said he is concerned about the legal and moral implications of moving any graves that might be found but isn't sure what to do about the situation. "We ought to make every effort we can, if there are graves there, to locate them and transfer them," he said.Ĭouncil member Edward L. Regardless of cost, the city ought to do what's right, council member Charles Shorter said. The city has no estimates on what the old graveyard might end up costing the city. The bill for that is an estimated $200,000 to $300,000. That cleanup cost the city $5.7-million.Īnd recently, the city discovered the dome's columns were sinking at an uneven rate because of a soft pocket of soil. When construction on the $110-million dome began in 1987, the city discovered that soil in the area was laden with cancer-causing chemicals from a coal gasification plant that had been on the site. "We can at least transfer the graves honorably without spending $6-million." "At least it's not a toxic waste site," Mayor Robert Ulrich said. So many unexpected things have been found in the earth around the dome that an old graveyard seems only par for the course. If the dome parking lot project does unearth bones, some city officials won't be surprised. Headstones and coffins also have been found in the area. Petersburg pioneers and war veterans, including some who served in the Civil War.Īlthough all the graves were supposed to have been removed years ago, in recent decades construction in the area has unearthed bones. The cemeteries contained the remains of St. Oaklawn is one of three old cemeteries that occupied several city blocks in the area around the dome. "One of the real key things is everybody understanding up front what's there," Arnold said. The city may require bidders to provide alternative construction schedules so that if old graves are found in one area of the land at 16th Street and Fifth Avenue S, work can continue in another area, Arnold said.Īnd the city will have to make arrangements to move the bones to another graveyard if remains are unearthed, he said. Since then, city attorneys have been researching the legal implications of a cemetery's having been on the land, Arnold said.Īnd when the city takes bids on the parking lot project, the one-time cemetery will be taken into account, he said. Petersburg Times story about it appeared Sunday. "When we acquired the property, some of the old-timers on staff told me that most of the graves were moved, but there were some that were not."Ĭity officials, who have been working for two years to buy Laurel Park for a parking lot for the Florida Suncoast Dome, said they did not know the land was a cemetery until a St. Petersburg Housing Authority in the 1960s, when Laurel Park was bought from private developers. "I was told that not all the graves were moved," said Gerald Metko, who was executive director of the St.
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