> Italian Club sells new cremation spots in mausoleum believed to sit atop erased Black cemetery
Italian Club sells new cremation spots in mausoleum believed to sit atop erased Black cemetery
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The Italian Club’s new push to sell space for cremated remains in its East Tampa mausoleum has further fueled outrage among those looking for hundreds of missing graves from an erased Black and Cuban cemetery in the same location.
"My frustration with this issue is the mausoleum area is also what was known as the African American section of College Hill,” Angela Alderman-Wynn said.
Starting in the late 1800s and going through the first few decades of the 20th century, records compiled by a local cemetery researcher and reviewed by 10 Investigates suggest more than 1,500 Black and Cuban burials in College Hill Cemetery, sometimes referred to as Cottage Hill.
While the site eventually disappeared from modern maps, historical plats and land records pinpoint that cemetery today to a portion of the Italian Club Cemetery along 26th Street. Some records suggest an African American section of the cemetery is now covered by part of the mausoleum. Other records suggest the Cuban section is now a grassy field that the Italian Club uses as a parking lot during burials.
Alderman-Wynn, who has a great uncle buried in the cemetery, reached out to 10 Investigates after seeing the Italian Club’s ad in La Gaceta Newspaper for 250 niches, each holding two sets of cremated remains. Each niche sells for $2,500.
“It is one thing to have erased their history,” she said. “But it's one thing to continue to bury on top of them, and I am not okay with this, and I think the public needs to know."
Alderman-Wynn wants the Italian Club to stop its sales. She also wants the club to release the results of a ground-penetrating radar scan it did a few years back. It’s an investigation that could help determine if some or all of the erased graves from College Hill are still on the Italian Club Cemetery property today.
"They scanned probably almost three years ago and refused to release it, so to me, they have found something,” she said. “I know in my heart that this was College Hill Cemetery."
10 Investigates reached out to the Italian Club multiple times via phone and an in-person visit. No one has returned our requests for comment.