Historic Wimauma Memorial Cemetery

Historic Wimauma Memorial Cemetery. . , The Wimauma cemetery was first platted in 1906 but its history dates back to the late 1800s. The cemetery is likely the oldest burial ground dedicated to serving South Hillsborough County's African American population. In 2023, the Wimauma cemetery was officially named the Historic Wimauma Memorial Cemetery after members of a community-led cemetery improvement project discovered that this sacred space never carried an official name. The group also discovered that there were multiple unknown and unmarked graves located within the cemetery and in the surrounding property., The Historic Wimauma Memorial Cemetery contains the remains of more than 400 men, women, children, and babies interred in unmarked and forgotten graves. This space also includes the remains of several white paupers and Native Americans. Research has provided the names and causes of death for many who died working in the area's sawmills and turpentine stills, working in the fruit and vegetable industry, and those who died while building the nearby railroad just to the east of here. Others interred here were the victims of epidemics and through complications of childbirth as medical care in the area was nearly non-existent.