Grant to Fund Line Street Cemetery Preservation and Improvements
Published on November 07, 2025
The City of Melbourne has been awarded $50,000 from the Florida Division of Historical Resources Abandoned African-American Cemeteries Grant Program to fund the installation of a fence to contain newly discovered graves, an interpretative sign, and a concrete viewing area.
The City of Melbourne’s Historic and Architectural Review Board (HARB) will hold a public workshop immediately after the next regular HARB meeting to gather ideas and input on the design and content of the interpretive sign.
The meeting will be held on November 19 in the City Council Chamber. It will start at 6 p.m., and the workshop should begin at or about 6:45 p.m.
About Line Street Cemetery
Line Street Cemetery, located at 718 WH Jackson Street, has a significant connection to one of the founding members of the City of Melbourne, William Wright Brothers. Mr. Brothers, along with Peter Wright and Balaam Allen were formerly enslaved people who settled in Crane Creek in the mid-1880s. Brothers and his wife, Mary Silas, are buried in the Line Street Cemetery. The cemetery was established in 1901.
The Line Street Cemetery fell into disrepair and became hidden under overgrown Brazilian pepper trees, weeds and trash. In 1980, a Boy Scouts troop spent three weekends clearing up the cemetery, and in 1985, the land was formally deeded over to the City of Melbourne for maintenance.
The cemetery was originally recorded as a historic resource in 2011. In 2021, a group of citizens approached the City asking for the cemetery and a few structures in the Crane Creek area to be surveyed. The City’s Historic Preservation consultant performed the surveys in 2022 that indicated there could be additional graves within and outside of the fenced area beyond those that were visible.
The City then obtained an Abandoned African-American Cemeteries grant to fund ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey work at the cemetery in October 2024. The GPR study revealed there were 13 burials within the fenced boundaries and an additional 31 burials outside the fence, mostly to the north side of the cemetery.
Once the enlarged cemetery boundaries were determined, the City began planning further preservation strategies for the cemetery, including the new fencing and interpretive sign.
For More Information
To learn more, please attend the public workshop on November 19 at 6 p.m. at Melbourne City Hall. You can also view this 2024 video about Line Street Cemetery and the GPR survey work.