MELBOURNE, Fla. — A surprising discovery was made at a historic Melbourne cemetery that dates back to the early 20th century.

Three times as many gravesites have been found at Line Street Cemetery as were originally known.

The findings come as part of an ongoing project by Melbourne city planner Sandy Ramseth, which delves into the city’s origins.

Line Street happened to be one of 25 historic properties requested to be surveyed by the city.

“It’s kind of a proud thing to have discovered. It’s exciting. A whole lot of emotions run with something like this,” Ramseth said. “Originally, this cemetery was rediscovered back in the 80s.”

Line Street Cemetery is known to have been around since Melbourne’s early days, when the city was known as Crane Creek.

The cemetery is the final resting place of city settler Wright Brothers and his wife Mary, as well as fellow founder Balaam Allen.

Since the cemetery’s rediscovery, a fence around it stands to this day, but after an archeologist was brought in, it was determined there was more than meets the eye.

“We think there are some additional things here, and we recommended doing some ground penetrating radar,” says Ramseth.

The city applied for and was chosen to receive an abandoned African American cemeteries’ grant to hire a crew.

What they found made Ramseth’s jaw drop.

“They found an additional 31 graves outside the fenced area,” she said.

Dr. Teri Jones, the Melbourne Founders historian and author of a book about the men who settled the area, is thrilled by the discovery of additional gravesites.

“There are other plots there that are unidentified, so there could be other early settlers. My story is about the founders, but there were others who came after them,” Jones explains.

Ramseth says this find is historic, but there’s even more to it.

“I’m sure for the people who have lived here for a long time, this could be their relatives, so it’s also something we need to respect, conserve and preserve,” she said.