The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday heralded the completion of a significant road repaving project at Boston Hill Cemetery in Oviedo. The cemetery, which has been a crucial aspect of the Black community's history in Oviedo was the focus of a collaboration between the city and local churches to improve access and address long-standing infrastructure issues. According to a news release from the city, the endeavor was set in motion following a 2021 petition by Oviedo Citizens in Action, Inc. and the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, as reported by ClickOrlando.
In collaboration with Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and a Florida archaeologist, the remains were carefully exhumed and reinterred within the cemetery grounds. "We wanted to respect everyone's final resting place," Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek expressed, highlighting the delicate nature of the project which commenced on March 11, reported by WESH. The project, which improved a two-lane road leading to the cemetery, was funded by the American Rescue Plan, summing up to $351,000.
The cemetery holds a storied place in Black history, being a final resting place for the community at a time when segregation barred Black residents from being buried in the main town cemetery. Its namesake, Prince Butler Boston, the son of a Georgia slave owner, was instrumental in its establishment. Boston, having moved to Central Florida in 1885 and later inheriting land in the 1890s, donated 5 acres to the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in 1927 for the creation of the cemetery dedicated to the local Black community, as noted by RICHES, a digital history project.
