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Local Historic Landmarks |
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Glen Oaks Cemetery 2012 Auburn Street South HPC #91-06, Designated February 1992 |
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The Glen Oaks site is comprised of a mound and cemetery and is a unique example of archaeological, religious and cultural development over time. It contains two historically significant manmade features – an aboriginal mound and a pioneer-era cemetery. (An early twentieth century vernacular frame church on the site burned in the early 1990s.) The mound is a significant resource to the prehistoric archaeology of the Tampa Bay region since it is one of the few regionally recorded inland midden/mounds and retains sufficient undisturbed areas that may yield important data about the culture which inhabited the area. The cemetery is the oldest in lower Pinellas County and contains the graves of many important early settlers and their descendants The Glen Oaks Mound is located at the northeast comer of the Glen Oak Church property, with a small portion of the mound extending onto an adjoining lot. It measures approximately 34 yards by 35 yards and five to six feet in depth. The origin of the mound appears to be that of the late Manasota or early Weeden Island related phase of Precolumbian Indians which predominantly constructed shell mounds along the coastal areas but were also known to construct low sand mounds on the interior. The Weeden Island people who began around 200 A.D. were predominantly hunters and gatherers and appear to have had an extensive trade pattern. Furthermore, their settlement patterns suggest a complex socio-religious organization. The Weeden Island ceramic types are also considered to be outstanding examples of aboriginal pottery. The Mound was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the 1987 Survey of Archaeological Sites by Piper Archaeological Research, Inc., who found the site eligible for landmark status. The Glen Oaks Cemetery is the earliest surviving historic resource associated with 19th century pioneer settlement. The only other surviving resource from this era is the St. Bartholomew's Cemetery located on Lakeview Avenue South which had burials commencing in 1895. During the Civil War only five families lived in lower Pinellas; by the end of the war this was reduced to three. The year 1868 brought with it new settlers to the area, among them James Barnett, Vincent Leonardi, Louis Bell and his servant and John Donaldson, the only African-American male to living in the south peninsula for twenty years. These families homesteaded from Big Bayou to Gulfport along Lakeview Avenue South, the first road in lower Pinellas. The 1870s brought more settlers to lower Pinellas and small fishing villages were formed on Big Bayou and on Boca Ciega Bay. On September 14, 1874 Emma Kimball, a recent settler died. Without religious facilities or a cemetery to inter the young settler, Henry Slaughter (the stepson of James Barnett) allowed the Kimball family to bury Emma near a mound in the southeast comer of his property. Slaughter, and later Timothy Kimball who purchased the homestead, continued to allow the settlers to bury their dead on this site and thus began the Glen Oaks Cemetery. The majority of the historic graves are located on the mound and extend slightly to the west and south. A second grouping of graves is located immediately to the north of the northeast comer of the church. A large stone monument to the Kimball family stood near the northwest comer of the church until the 1980's. Approximately 60 to 80 burials occurred while the cemetery was in use. |
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