WHISPERING SOULS AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY

Side One: When the first burial occurred here in the late 1800s, this land was owned by the McMullen family. It continued to be used as a Black cemetery after the Coachman family purchased the property in 1902. The Coachman family lost the land during the Great Depression. In 1944, Alfred Ehle purchased a portion of the land from the State of Florida, sub-dividing it into parcels for residential development. In 1951, Mr. Ehle turned over the lot with the cemetery to the St. Paul Home Helping Hand Society of Safety Harbor. Two years later, they deeded the site to the Safety Harbor Colored Community. Although some lists show nearly 130 interments, today there are only 20 visible markers, 14 with readable markings, including 3 for U.S. veterans. The earliest legible marker reads 1896; the next legible marker date is 1940 and the last, 1971. A 2018 ground-penetrating radar survey of most of the site by the University of South Florida and Florida Public Archaeology Network confirmed approximately 100 potential grave sites. Side Two: Informal maintenance by descendants and relatives of those buried here has continued throughout the 20th century. In published obituaries, the area was referred to as either “Safety Harbor Colored Cemetery” or “Helping Hands Cemetery." In 2017, a new group of volunteers, which later incorporated as Whispering Souls African American Cemetery, banded together to restore the site. They named the property Whispering Souls African American Cemetery, which until then had no formal name. In 2018, the non-profit formalized the group’s intention of long-term care for the site. On June 24, 2021, Whispering Souls African American Cemetery, Inc. secured clear and legal title to this historically important site.