Pensacola wins grant to find lost African American cemetery at Miraflores Park

Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal
Updated ·2 min read

The National Park Service announced it was awarding Pensacola $22,160 to pay for a ground-penetrating radar survey of Miraflores Park to identify the location of an unmarked African American cemetery.

According to a National Park Service press release, the grant is part of a larger $21 million grant being awarded across 16 states to preserve African American civil rights history.

The rediscovery of a 19th century cemetery at Miraflores Park was brought about after Boy Scouts discovered human skeletal remains in 2021 while cleaning the crawl space under the old Boy Scouts' building. An investigation into the remains revealed the existence of the cemetery as the most likely origin of the remains.

Research of historical documents indicates the site of Miraflores Park was used as a burial ground between 1884 to 1887.

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A skeletal analysis by UWF biological anthropologists determined the bones belonged to two individuals, likely a woman in her late 30s or early 40s and a man in his 40s.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves created the Miraflores Burial Ground Study Community Advisory Group to decide how to reinter the remains and commemorate the existence of the forgotten ceremony.

The group agreed the first step was to conduct a ground-penetrating radar survey, and the city began looking for funding sources.

Pensacola Energy's Daron Roberts and Greg Sanders use ground penetration radar to map parts of the Miraflores Park on Monday, May 22, 2023. The National Park Service provided a grant to conduct a more thorough GPR survey.
Pensacola Energy's Daron Roberts and Greg Sanders use ground penetration radar to map parts of the Miraflores Park on Monday, May 22, 2023. The National Park Service provided a grant to conduct a more thorough GPR survey.

A preliminary survey was conducted with Pensacola Energy's ground-penetrating radar this week, but Adrianne Walker, the cultural resources coordinator for the city, said Tuesday that a much more thorough survey is needed to be able to discover any locations of graves.

Walker said it might be tough to detect any graves, especially if the individual were not buried in wooden coffins.

With the grant funds awarded Friday, the city can seek a firm specializing in this type of archeological work.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Miraflores Park: Pensacola searches for African American cemetery