Ms. Margo S Stringfield

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).