Passenger Trains > FL: Tri-Rail to FEC work begins

The Palm Beach Post reports that preliminary work on the connection between Tri-Rail and Florida East Coast has begun. When completed, this will allow Tri-Rail trains to leave West Palm station and switch over to FEC south of Riviera Beach. Tri-Rail hopes to offer service north to Riviera Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter over this line.

The problem is the proposed alignment cuts through a corner of mass grave site for Black people killed in the 1928 storm. Whites were buried individually, in another location.

The rail plan doesn't currently call for a station in the area, although one has been mentioned for Northwoods, a gentrifying area farther north.


http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/new-west-palm-train-connector-cut-across-storm-1928-mass-grave/Ai3sySxgLWERQ2oH1l20JJ/

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The Palm Beach Post reports that preliminary work
> on the connection between Tri-Rail and Florida
> East Coast has begun. When completed, this will
> allow Tri-Rail trains to leave West Palm station
> and switch over to FEC south of Riviera Beach.
> Tri-Rail hopes to offer service north to Riviera
> Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter over this
> line.
>
> The problem is the proposed alignment cuts through
> a corner of mass grave site for Black people
> killed in the 1928 storm. Whites were buried
> individually, in another location....

Not on easy one to figure out. They might be better off to acquire an apartment complex than to deal with moving a mass grave.

Would DNA analysis and individual reburial of identified remains be a starting point for a discussion in cases like this?

DNA isn't much help unless they have something to compare it to and a name to go with it. Now if a person comes forward that claims to be a descendant of someone lost in the storm they could compare DNA and perhaps find a match. But with over 600 bodies in one grave that is a lot of tests to find a match.

Posted from iPhone

howeld Wrote:
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> DNA isn't much help unless they have something to
> compare it to and a name to go with it. Now if
> a person comes forward that claims to be a
> descendant of someone lost in the storm they could
> compare DNA and perhaps find a match. But with
> over 600 bodies in one grave that is a lot of
> tests to find a match.

Consumer DNA testing for genealogy has exploded. Haven't you noticed all of the AncestryDNA advertising? You could probably find at least mid-range cousins for most of the remains just in the Ancestry database. Also, the publicity about trying to identify the remains would encourage people to test who believe themselves to have relatives among the unidentified victims of the storm.

You wouldn't identify them all, but you could disinter, test, and individually rebury the remains for the piece of land needed with the appearance of doing something with dignity.

Many of the dead folks died in the Lake Okeechobee area when the dikes burst. Walls of water swept away many people. Some were buried out there, others were transported to WPB, some were never found. My understanding is some / many were farm laborers from Jamaica, Trinidad, etc who arrived during the 1920s boom.

Even the number of people killed in the flooding and buried in the mass grave is disputed. The article says other people may be buried "outside" the formally marked area in the park. So FDOT has an archeologist there to observe.

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Finding an alignment has been difficult, as the CSX / Tri-Rail line is already curving northwesterly, toward Mangonia Park station. It seems that taking a piece of 25th street is the least objectionable course.

Once in place, the line will offer a lot of flexibility. Trains southbound on the FEC could divert to the new connection, go down the Tri-Rail line, and switch back to FEC via the newly upgraded connection in Miami to the FEC and Miami Central.