Small groups across Florida tend to overgrown, neglected cemeteries. Preservation efforts have fallen into community hands. Those taking care of a pair of connected sites in Volusia County's Oak Hill are trying to correct years of neglect.
They dig. They track. They repair.
The state’s elements have taken over. Some caskets partially buried, while others are broken — scattered pieces with name engravings are no longer legible. Saints and Sinners cemeteries have been around for more than 100 years. Now, they face a risk beyond erosion and the sinking of graves. A developer bought the 415 acres surrounding the land in 2022. The plan is to build up-to 900 homes surrounding the cemeteries in the city of 2,100 residents.
Researchers and volunteers are worried about the future plans. There will be new people and potentially new flood patterns once development begins.
To further the preservation, cemetery leaders and the Florida Public Archaeology Network worked together on the land. The network provides assistance in regional preservation plans. One ongoing project uncovered more than 50 potential unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar.
The seven acres of cemetery were never formally mapped. And as the team continued to work, the surprises stacked up; literal buckets of history have popped up throughout the years. Buckets like those in Saints and Sinners are meant to serve as decoration and to honor the spirit buried, according to research at the University of Alabama.
Dru Ann Welch volunteers her time to upkeep the cemeteries. She has a theory about why they were not cared for.
Everyone buried there is Black.
“These were people. They have stories and they have families.”
Who lies in Saints and Sinners
Around 160 people have been officially recognized as buried in the pair of cemeteries. The land was previously owned by William Wellons, a pioneer of Oak Hill and former slave.
He opened the first school for Black children in the area in 1901. His home also served as a church, which the names of the cemeteries hearken back to. Church-goers were buried in Saints, while non-members headed to Sinners.
Saints is actually the smaller cemetery; it covers about half an acre of land, or the equivalent of five basketball courts. Sinners is known to be 5.75 acres of cemetery. Sinners still accept burials, but it is not a frequent practice.
Land ownership has been handed off a couple of times. A former Oak Hill mayor was in charge at one point. Now, it is the responsibility of Saints and Sinners Cemetery Inc. – a nonprofit organization.
The group has worked to undo years of damage from hurricanes, neglect and vandalization.
It was used as a dump throughout the 1980s. Bullet marks cover headstones and impact the readability of names not already taken by time. There are broken bottles mixed into the dirt and sand that some graves have sunk into.
Although there’s no master file of who is buried, Welch and other researchers have pieced together some people – and some headstones.
The cemeteries are home to veterans and former turpentine workers. Some sites are marked simply with “unknown child.” Uncovering any history meant flipping through any papers and anecdotes Welch could find.
A day in the field
For 55-year-old Spence Youman, the work is personal. He’s president of the cemeteries’ association but has been coming out to the sites ever since he was young. His aunt was a big player in early preservation efforts. “I’m proud of the history we have here in Oak Hill,” he said.
Youman and his crew-of-five showed up before 9 a.m. on a musky, mosquito-filled Thursday. He was joined by two public archaeologists alongside, Dru Ann Welch and Cynthia Dixon.
Youman digs for nearly three hours around a sunken grave.
In the midst of sorting through sand and pulling up weeds, he paused. The casket has an engraving that the team all recognize: grapes.
Grape engravings are typically tied to Christianity. And it tracks – the team was out working on the Saints side of the cemeteries. Despite the three hours of work and dozens of mosquito bites, everyone present chose to rebury the years of forgotten dirt to keep the ground structurally safe.
It’s a matter of ambition versus responsibility. Youman said every trip out to the cemeteries brings an exciting find.
“It’s like an adventure every single time that we come out here because no matter what – something is always revealed,” he said.
Emily Jane Murray is a public archaeologist with the Florida Public Archaeology Network. She’s helped with headstones repairs, which she says is her favorite part of the process. It’s ground-penetrating radar, though, that the team is currently focused on.
Ground-penetrating radar uses radio wave pulses at certain frequencies to study subsurface samples, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The technology makes Youman, Welch and Murray near-certain that there’s bodies buried beyond the cemetery’s beaten path.
But the team will not know for at least a couple of months. The only viable way to confirm results in the pair of cemeteries is to dig. It’d mean disturbing more than 50 potential unmarked graves that Murray has helped locate. And there is still more land track, especially on the Sinners side.
The 415-acre development near the cemeteries is slated to begin in the spring, according to an attorney on the project. Welch said the developers have been transparent and genuine with their intentions. But the worries still linger.
Attorney Joseph Posey represents the development group. He said communication on both sides has been stellar.
“What you see at a hearing or in the mail isn’t the full story,” he said. “The people at the cemetery have been very open to listening.”
Right now, the trek to the cemeteries involves an uneven dirt road with nothing but shrubbery in sight. Welch and Youman, as de facto leaders of the preservation, were cautiously optimistic for the future development and its relationship with the cemeteries.
A network of voices throughout the state
Saints and Sinners is part of a nationwide network that connects Black cemeteries. It’s called the Black Cemetery Network. The project is run out of the University of South Florida by Antoinette Jackson, a professor of anthropology.
The network lists 38 Black cemeteries in Florida and 193 throughout the entire nation. Jackson said while she heads the project, one of the goals is for cemeteries to uplift each other.
“Black cemeteries are American history,” she said. “People can now place their sites in conversations with other people who are doing similar work.”
The network requires an online application to join. There are pockets of cemeteries in Florida – with nine of the 38 listed in the state floating around Central Florida.
State lawmakers have previously said there could be 3,000 abandoned Black cemeteries in the state.
One representative has particularly taken notice of recent preservation efforts. State Rep. Fentrice Driskell, who represents Hillsborough County, said the state needs to do more in aiding local preservation teams.
“We need to find a way to give our communities what they need, to pay respects to those who helped shape Florida’s history,” House Minority Leader Driskell said. “And we’re able to do that by preserving these sites.”
She was the sponsor behind House Bill 49 in Florida’s 2023 legislative session. The bill created a Historic Cemeteries Program with stipulations that would specifically help abandoned Black graveyards.
She introduced a related bill in this year’s legislative session, but it gained no traction.
Some cemeteries stay in the family
Unlike the cemeteries in Oak Hill, Davis Memorial Cemetery in Titusville has always been family-run. Kirk Davis tends to the land when he isn’t warding off crows from stealing flowers. It was established by his uncle in 1956. Davis has been in charge since 2012.
Davis Memorial is also a part of the Black Cemetery Network. The cemetery is still moderately active with burials. And Davis pays for headstones out-of-pocket when he can.
He said it’s important to him that people know the history of the city and of their families. He even reaches out to families who have never visited the cemetery but have a family member buried there.
“Everyone can relate to losing a loved one,” he said.
Pictures of athletes, aerospace engineers and city pioneers are adorned along cemetery graves. Davis has an extensive history of the cemetery and its burials – that’s not typical for a cemetery in the network. He also kept a compilation of the city’s history.
He built the white picket fence surrounding the land. His parents are buried there. And he plans on taking care of the plot until he physically cannot.
A celebration of saints and sinners
The city of Oak Hill has taken some more responsibility in the upkeep of Saints and Sinners.
The city and different organizations have especially helped out one group buried at the cemetery: veterans. Oak Hill’s 2025 Memorial Day celebration was held at Sinners cemetery. It ended up as the biggest turnout for an event hosted at the cemeteries.
Oak Hill residents helped clean veteran headstones. The American Legion donated the two towering American flags and poles in each of Saints and Sinners. Welch said there is no favoritism on their side of things, even if veterans attract more donations or crowds.
The goal always remains the same: keep Saints and Sinners alive.
