Effort underway to study, memorialize 'unmarked cemetery' at Capital City Country Club

Armed with a couple of dated newspaper clippings, an archaeological site review from 1974 and fueled by a passion for preserving history, Delaitre Hollinger has found his next big challenge: bringing dignity to a neglected burial ground on the grounds of the Capital City Country Club.

The golf course was built on lands that once belonged to the Houstoun Plantation, originally owned by Edward Houstoun, and later by his son, Patrick. Research pinpoints the cemetery site on the Country Club Drive side, near where the 7th hole is today.

The site contains no headstones or markers. At one point in the early 70s, it was surrounded by a fence that is no longer there.

Hollinger’s quest has not gone unnoticed. He’s quickly established an informal network of preservationists, archaeologists, neighborhood leaders and engaged the historian of the country club.

They are working toward learning the truth, and if successful, dignifying those buried there with a historic marker, while unearthing a slice of history that until now has been forgotten.

Hollinger’s interest was piqued while appearing on a local radio program when a listener called in with a query about a possible slave cemetery. It immediately took him back to an Oct. 24, 2001, story published in the Tallahassee Democrat.

The late City Commissioner Charles Billings and former NAACP president Anita Davis brought the matter to the city’s attention. Billings, then-City Manager Anita Favors and others met with the club’s directors.

A 2001 historical survey indicated a cemetery once occupied a 200-square foot space that was part of the 15th green on the course. And, while some speculated slaves were buried there, others, including Davis, reasoned it could be a segregated private cemetery. That initial drive by Billings and Davis ended with the city promising to do more research.

Digging deeper, Hollinger discovered a four-paragraph story published in Jan. 28, 1971, in the Democrat, indicating the discovery of the cemetery by Florida State University anthropology student Joe Hutto. The late state archaeologist Calvin Jones said the graveyard was possibly a slave cemetery, but no dig was planned at the time.

Jones, who died in 1998, sketched out an archaeological form dated Feb. 2, 1974, describing a “black cemetery” on the “east side of Capital City Golf Course on Country Club Drive.”

His notes indicated “tee over part of cemetery.”

The city votes to review cemetery situation

Hollinger brought his concerns before the City Commission on Feb. 20, appealing for the placement of a marker on the Country Club Drive side of the course — emphasizing it’s been 18 years since Billings and Davis first brought it to the city’s attention.

“I think it’s high-time that on this city-owned property, there be some type of recognition given to the fact that there is a cemetery there containing the bodies of black people,” said Hollinger, executive director of The National Association for the Preservation of African-American History & Culture, Inc. and immediate past president of the Tallahassee branch of the NAACP.

Commissioners voted unanimously to have staff research the request at the urging of City Commissioner Elaine Bryant.

In response, City Attorney Cassandra Jackson reminded the board that although the city owns the property in Myers Park, the Capital City Country Club and Golf Course is regulated by its board. She said the agreement and the request would be reviewed.

After initially scheduling a tour of the site, Assistant City Manager Wayne Tedder changed gears when a local archaeologist, Barbara Clark, expressed interest in the project. 

"I think we let the professionals do what professionals do and at the end of the day, she advises us on some work to be done and how to do it," he said.

Once that is determined, staff will report back to the commission.

Since the City Commission meeting, Hollinger has been contacted by Jay Revell, Capital City Country Club historian.

Revell, Hollinger, Clark, historian Jonathan Lammers, Jeffrey Shanks, an archaeologist with the National Parks Service's Southeast Archaeological Center, and Jason Bench, the club's general manager, toured the site Tuesday afternoon, but the Democrat was not invited to attend.

"It was a very good meeting," Revell said afterward. “After our site visit and consulting historical evidence there is consensus that an area on the course deserves further investigation. There are certain tests that would need to be done to better understand what may be there and the group has devised a potential path to do so.”

Hollinger said Clark was able to determine several depressions in the ground. He also was impressed that the site has been preserved by the club and not disrupted by golfers or their carts.

"It was agreed upon that we request the board members of the club and the city accept the ground penetrating radar services which would be offered free of charge by the National Parks Service," Hollinger said. "We won't know for sure until we get ground penetrating radar (findings)."

'A statewide problem'

Clark, regional director for the North-Central Florida Office of the Florida Public Archaeology Network, said she won’t know more until she further studies the site.

“It is definitely a cemetery, that’s all I know,” said Clark, who has reviewed Jones’ report. “It’s what we call an ‘unmarked cemetery.' "

Clark said the reality of unmarked graves is a “statewide problem,” but at the same time, state archaeologists have been doing “everything in their power” in protecting those sites.

“Leon County had a lot of plantations and there were lots of slaves," she said. "It goes without saying there are cemeteries.”

Lammers, who has done extensive research on the Houstoun Plantation, also visited the site last week with local archaeologist Jim Miller and Hutto, a nationally known nature writer who has since moved back to the area.

Lammers said "only about 15 depressions were visible, but the cemetery is likely much larger than that." His research leads him to believe "more than 100, mostly children" could be buried there. But it is impossible to know without testing.

The history of the country club

The club dates back to 1908 when the original Tallahassee Country Club was founded on the grounds of the Grove near the Governor’s mansion.

In 1914, it moved to the new golf course built by George Perkins on the grounds of the old plantation in what is now Myers Park. The original golf course there was nine holes and was designed by English golfer named H.H. Barker. 

The club purchased the land from Perkins in 1924 for $10,000. In 1936, the club struck an agreement with the city in which the land was given to the city for the purpose of expanding and maintaining the golf course for public use.

As part of that agreement, the city worked closely with the members to expand the golf course using funding from the Works Progress Administration. The expanded golf course operated as a municipal course for 20 years as a segregated club.

In 1956, a controversial decision was made for the city to lease the course back to the club. The city leased the course to the club for a period of 99 years at $1 per year. It is commonly recognized this was done to avoid desegregating the operation, which is no longer the case. 

A new club, Capital City Country Club, was chartered, and the lease rights were given to the new club which has operated on the site since 1956.

The history of Capital City Country Club

• Capital City golf course rectifies and embraces its history
• Capital City golf club to get makeover under new company

It is open to the public and is part of the Florida Historic Golf Trail. A marker already exists at the entrance to the clubhouse on Golf Terrace Drive laying out the history of the golf course.

Revell said he is supportive of the idea of placing an additional marker on the Country Club Drive side of the course to provide the public with a complete history of the property.

“Any opportunity to paint the whole history of the property is important,” Revell said. “We are the only golf course located in the city’s only historic district (Myers Park) and it’s important to paint the full picture of the history of the area.”

Hollinger is encouraged by the support he's received in finding answers and hopefully, resolution, to a long-lost part of the city's history.

“There are many bodies buried (throughout the state) that we don’t know about,” Hollinger said. “This is not a unique situation, but one that we need to come in and correct.”

Contact senior writer Byron Dobson at bdobson@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @byrondobson.