Island archaeologist refuses to comment on removal of graves
The director of the National Museum of Bermuda has refused to answer questions about the Ombudsman’s report on the desecration of historic tombstones at Tucker’s Point — but has said he’ll work to “resolve” the matter.
Edward Harris was named in Arlene Brock’s critical report ‘A Grave Error’ as the person who oversaw the destruction of the tombstones in October 2012.
Ms Brock said the Island’s “premier archaeologist” came to the wrong conclusion that the tombstones were erected in 1991 or 1992 and others accepted his view, including hotel managers Rosewood Tucker’s Point and cemetery custodians Marsden First United Methodist Church.
According to her, the mistaken assumption that the tombs were “false” led to the destruction of the “last relatively intact relic that evidences the communal life of a wholly unique population in Bermuda” — a largely black population removed from its land in Tucker’s Town in 1920 to make way for a hotel.
“One person said it. Others repeated it,” wrote Ms Brock. “No one researched it. No one checked.”
Dr Harris, who writes a weekly column in this newspaper, has not commented on the report since it was released last Friday.
The Royal Gazette sent him a series of questions and he replied by e-mail yesterday to say: “Those are questions which were asked by the Ombudsman and are represented in her report. I have no further comment to make but look forward to working with the Marsden Church committee to resolve the matter.”
Another archaeologist, John Triggs, from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, is also named in the report as adopting Dr Harris’s view that the tombs were false.
In response to a request for comment, he e-mailed to say: “I have not yet seen a final report from the Ombudsman’s office. I have no comment.”
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Marc Bean, who was Environment Minister in 2012 when Ms Brock recommended that the Marsden Methodist Memorial Cemetery be given extra protection as a historical monument, has hit back at the report.
He told this newspaper: “Ms Brock’s credibility is in question and her legacy is tarnished.”
Mr Bean gave no further comment, but on Tuesday evening his Progressive Labour Party colleague Diallo Rabain issued a statement describing the Ombudsman’s report as “unfortunately misguided and speculative”.
Senator Rabain said an earlier statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is now responsible for Planning, made clear that neither Mr Bean nor civil servants “did anything incorrect with regard to the Tucker’s Town grave site”.
Ms Brock concluded in her report: “Although the decision to remove the ancient tombstones was actually made by bodies that are not within my jurisdiction, the evidence is quite clear that they would not have destroyed the tombs had the Department [of Planning] started the process of consulting with them prior to mid-October in order to implement the recommendation.”
She added: “I find evidence of maladministration by the Ministry and the Department in their negligence, poor internal communication, unreasonable delay and inexplicable failure to take any steps to implement my recommendation.”
The Marsden cemetery sits just below the Rosewood Tucker’s Point Golf Club and is the final resting place of countless enslaved and free blacks who owned and worked the Tucker’s Town area more than 200 years ago.
The community was forced to leave the land in 1920 and Marsden — a church at Devil’s Hole founded by some of those evicted from the area and which includes Premier Craig Cannonier in its congregation — was made custodian of the cemetery in the early 1990s.
Ms Brock said Marsden’s willingness to remove the tombstones was based primarily on recommendations made in a report conducted in September 2011 by Dr Triggs.
Rosewood Tucker’s Point paid for the work but the Ombudsman said it was “in some ways ... an innocent party to the demolition debacle”.
She said the church held an open community meeting on how best to memorialise the cemetery only after the tombs were removed.
“This is a story that goes far beyond a resort, a golf course, a church and even a group of descendants,” wrote the Ombudsman. “This story goes to the heart of Bermuda’s history and legacy of slavery.
“This is a story of neglect, expropriation and disrespect. Moreover, this has also become a story of the evisceration of memory and culture — through lands taken, archives emptied, memories lapsed and, now, stones eradicated.”
It has not been possible to reach Marsden pastor Joseph Whalen or Rosewood Tucker’s Point general manager Paul Telford for comment.
Here are the questions we asked Dr Edward Harris:
• Ombudsman Arlene Brock says the decision to remove the tombstone was made by agreement of yourself, Rosewood Tucker’s Point and Marsden First United Church (p. 9 of her report). Can you explain how you came to that agreement?
• Were you aware that the cemetery was a Historic Protection Area in the 2008 Bermuda Plan?
• Is it correct that you mistakenly believed the tombstones were put in place in 1991/2 because of aerial photos from before that date which did not show them due to overgrown vegetation?
• Did you call the Department of Planning before agreeing to the removal of the tombstones? Ms Brock says it is surprising that neither you nor Dr Triggs thought of checking. How do you respond?
• Ms Brock writes (on p. 10) that you developed a view that the tombstones were “false sarcophagi”. She says you developed it in “casual conversations — unclear with whom”. Can you say how you developed that view?
• Do you now agree with Ms Brock’s assessment that the tombstones dated back much further than 1991?
• Do you regret the destruction of the tombstones?
• Do you have anything further to add in response to the criticism in Ms Brock’s report?
