Easton has hired a company to see if a South Side park was built atop an old cemetery.
City council this week approved a contract with Cranbury, New Jersey-based Richard Grubb & Associates Inc. for a “cemetery delineation study at Nesquehoning Street Park,” at a cost of $8,762.
The possibility the site was once a burial ground for Black people surfaced as part of planning for improvements to seven so-called pocket parks citywide.
Historical records show it held, at least at one time, the remains of Civil War veteran George Hoff, a first sergeant with the United States Colored Troops, researchers with Easton-based Omnes Landscape Architecture, the firm that conducted the city parks study, told city officials last winter.
Further research revealed Hoff’s remains were reinterred from the Nesquehoning Street site, said Sheila Fuentes, with Omnes.
“We do believe that there were others buried there whose remains were not moved,” she told lehighvalleylive.com on Friday.
Council unanimously approved the new contract Tuesday. If the contractor finds remains beneath the park, the city will find a way to honor those buried there, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said. If nothing is found, plans will move forward for park improvements.
Easton has a history of relocating graves, including to make way for the Easton Area Public Library and along Bushkill Street when Route 22 was built. It was common in Easton’s history for cemeteries, like society, to be segregated by race or religion, researchers told lehighvalleylive.com earlier this year.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
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