HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Families are asking for help getting closure over the final resting place of those buried at the lost College Hill Cemetery in Tampa. In the meantime, they want people to stop parking on what they believe could be the cemetery’s possible location.
Angela Alderman plans to be the voice for those buried and lost within College Hill Cemetery.
“There are 1,200 people buried there, or were,” said Alderman. “It’s just very heavy within my heart that there’s no closure until that’s done.”
It’s personal for her because her great-uncle was buried there in 1917. Alderman believes where College Hill Cemetery once was could be the now Italian Club Cemetery’s parking lot.
“If there are bodies there, I do not feel they need to be parked on,” said Alderman. “It is so disrespectful. Families buried their loved ones there to honor them and respect them and to have them cherished forever, not to be a parking lot.”
Alderman said the majority of people laid to rest at College Hill were African American and Cuban.
In an email to two Tampa City Council members, she said she wants a GPR scan of the grounds as well as an archeological survey to know for certain if those buried within College Hill still rest there or were moved somewhere else.
“If they’re not there, then where are they?” said Alderman.
On Thursday, Tampa City Council dug in on the issue. The City’s legal department had been tasked with drafting and presenting an ordinance that states that “a known Cemetery must be treated as such, that there should be no parking, no storing of items, nor events being held on such property.”
Ultimately, council members asked the city’s cemetery task force to report back in four months after reviewing cemetery issues with all parties at College Hill, as well as the feasibility of a scan at the property.
ABC Action News caught up with Tampa City Council Member Orlando Gudes earlier in the afternoon.
“It’s just looking at what’s going on and make sure that we’re doing the right thing. I think everybody wants to do the right thing,” said Gudes. “Nobody doesn’t want to just desecrate graves, not honor the dead. I think everybody wants to do the right thing, so let’s just have a conversation.”
Until closure comes, Alderman will keep fighting for their final resting place.
“They need to be able to rest, and without this, they will never have that rest,” said Alderman.
ABC Action News reached out to the Italian Club and Italian Club Cemetery for comment and is waiting to hear back.
