Also on the site which no longer exist was a vernacular frame church which burned down in the 1990s perhaps that's why the locals are not so friendly here. The strange thing about this mound is that its not anywhere near water rather its pretty far inland and one of the few in the region. The cemetery is one of the oldest in Pinellas County and has graves of many important pioneers to this area.  There is also a newer church on the property but the area all of this sits in is a very run down neighborhood full of crime not very safe Ill leave it at that.

The mound that is here is over 70 feet in length and is at the peak about 6 feet in height. The pre-Columbian Indians of Weedon Island/Manasota often constructed low sand mounds away from the coast in this area. In this mound aboriginal pottery was found and it dates back to around 200 A.D.  These tribes hunted, gathered, and traded in the area. They had a complex religious structure. 

There is rumored to have been around 300 burials within the cemetery today only 30 something gravestones remain maybe even less then that due to vandals. The first cemetery burial here was Emma B. Kimball in 1874.  During the civil war only five families lived in southern Pinnellas County which basically is just a giant peninsula that extends out into the gulf of Mexico.  By the end of the civil war only three families homestead in the area. Those being James Barnett, Vincent Leonardi and Louis Bell with his servant John Donaldson the only Black male living in the south peninsula for over twenty years.

In the 1870s more settlers came to the area and these people thrived on forming fishing communities. The area had no religious churches or even a cemetery. Kimball was young and slaughter the stepson of James Barnett allowed the Kimball family to bury Emma near the mound of his property. At that time this mound was part of his land. Later on Timothy of the Kimball family purchased the Slaughter homestead and allowed those settlers to bury the deceased around the mound which it then became a cemetery. The Kimball's put a large stone monument which stood near the church till about the 1980s not sure what happened to it..

The site today sits forgotten despite its put on the Register of Historical Sites its overgrown...the graves are broken ....you could not tell their is a mound unless you were to inspect it more careful. The area is now full of crime houses surround the mound its no longer a large parcel of land with a homestead its just a bunch of small beat up homes surrounding this place. The newer church sits on the property and even that is fairly in poor shape. Maybe its haunted maybe its not but nonetheless the locals have made this place suffer to a point where nothing is almost left of its existence.

© By

Lord Rick

The Journey Home