31 more graves discovered in Melbourne’s historic Black Cemetery

MELBOURNE, FL. “It seems that for more than 100 years no one really knew how many people were buried in the historical Black Cemetery, which was almost forgotten as it fell into disrepair.

Then this year, after receiving the Neglected African American Cemeteries grant, the City of Melbourne used ground penetrating radar and opened a new window into the past.

City Planner Sandy Ramseth says 31 graves were discovered behind the fence at 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, the William Wright brothers, a former slave.

“It’s very exciting and very powerful to realize that we have a lot of history here,” Ramseth said. “And now that we know there are people here, we need to treat them with dignity and respect and celebrate this place.”

Preliminary results showed that there were 13 burials inside the fence, and a further 31 burials outside the fence. City officials said the area is now temporarily marked with flags and markers identifying the locations.

Line Street Cemetery, located on W.H. Jackson Street was originally registered as a historic site in 2011. At some point, the cemetery became overgrown with Brazilian pepper trees, weeds and trash. In 1980, a group of Boy Scouts spent three weekends cleaning up a cemetery.

This discovery excited neighbor Elouise Adolphus.

She told News 6 reporter James Sparvero that she believes her ancestors are buried in the cemetery.

She was also happy to see that the cemetery was being taken care of again.

“I’m proud that it’s nice and clean,” Adolphus said. “You know, I’m glad this was discovered. That there are other ancestors here, people we didn’t know about. And that’s the story. This is history for me.”

To preserve the newly discovered history, city officials said they also want to put a fence around additional graves.

The city will also seek to give the cemetery some sort of historic status.

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