Keystone/Citrus Park Cemetery

Mar 11

Site Brief:

Founded: Between 1870-1900

Location: Tampa, FL

Additional name(s): N/A

Affiliate group(s): N/A

History:

This cemetery sits on a property that was once owned by my enslaved great-great-great grandfather Harry Lewis and his son Tony Lewis, who was born free. It was the site of the original Mt. Pleasant A.M.E Church which burned down under a suspicious fire. The church also served as a school for the freed children and the cemetery was operated on the same grounds. Official marriage certificates show related nuptials were held there the same year the Mt. Pleasant AME Church was founded in 1901. The burial grounds are adjacent to the current Mt Pleasant AME Church which was built in the early 1950’s. The burial grounds also stretch to the back of the historical Citrus Park Colored School which rest on land donated by my late great-great grandmother, Barbara Hamilton Allen. Barbara was a widow, mother, grandmother, businesswoman, citrus grower and matriarch of the black community in the Odessa/Keystone Park and Citrus Park area.