Skip to content

Random Connections

A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Photos
  • Resources
  • Other Voices
  • Post Archives
  • Home
  • History and Genealogy
  • Cemetery Tour of Columbia

Cemetery Tour of Columbia

Posted on October 31, 2016 By Tom No Comments on Cemetery Tour of Columbia
History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

Trinity Episcopal and Cemetery

Back in September Dwight Moffitt and I had taken a tour of the historic Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia. The tour was interesting, but since it was at night you couldn’t really see any of the headstones or features. The tour focused on the people, and not on the features of the cemetery. Dwight and I decided that we needed to return during daylight. So, we made plans for another visit, and also planned to throw in a tour of several other historic cemeteries while we were at it. This past Friday was the date we’d set, so I headed on down to Columbia to rendezvous with Dwight. I picked him up at his house, then headed downtown where we had several stops planned.

We parked on Senate Street, right across from the Rutledge Building, home of the South Carolina Department of Education. I must admit to getting a few heebie jeebies that had nothing to do with cemeteries. We decided that since we were this close, we would walk over to The Horseshoe on the USC campus (not that it has anything to do with cemeteries, either.)

We first walked by the World War Memorial, but it was locked.

Columbia World War Monument
Columbia World War Monument-001

Our destination was the Caroliniana Library. The South Caroliniana Library building was designed by Robert Mills ad served as USC’s first main library. It now houses one of USC’s many special collections, including their Oral History collection. I’ve worked with Andrea L’Hommedieu from the library, contributing several photos to an oral history of the Shivar Springs Bottling Company in Fairfield County. Their website currently features an oral history of Rosenwald Schools. I was very much interested in seeing the library.

Caroliniana Library
Caroliniana Library-002

Sadly, when we arrived the library was undergoing major renovations. The shelves in the second floor reading room were devoid of books. A few scattered computer monitors seemed incongruous with the opulent setting. Even so, there were some that were using the space for research.

Caroliniana Library-003
Caroliniana Library-004
Caroliniana Library-005
Caroliniana Library-006

The Caroliniana Library was replaced by the McKissick Library, which itself was replaced. We decided to check out the McKissick Museum while we were there.

McKissick Museum
McKissick Museum-001

On the second floor they had an exhibit honoring James F. Byrnes. I think this might be a permanent collection, but for now the exhibit focuses on Byrnes’s involvement in presidential elections.

Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-023
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-006
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-004

What I found fascinating was the reminder that divisive politics have always been with us. There was the memorial to Preston Brooks in the foyer of the Caroliniana (image above). Brooks is best known for beating Charles Sumner nearly to death on the Senate floor. Then there were other buttons that were less than flattering to the opposing candidates.

Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-007
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-019
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-018
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-016
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-015
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-022
Elections and James F Byrnes Exhibit at McKissick-001

We left the politics behind and headed out onto the Horseshoe. Standing on the green I thought back on my life choice. I was accepted into the Honors Program at USC back when I was looking at colleges. How different would life have been if I’d come here instead of Furman?

USC Horseshoe Panorama

We were right across from the State House, and the south side loomed large against the sky. Normally I see the building from Gervais Street, so this angle struck me as much more dramatic.

South Carolina Capitol Building
South Carolina Capitol Building-002
South Carolina Capitol Building-003

We figured since we were this close we might as well walk the grounds. We stopped at the memorial to General Wade Hampton. It reminded me of the mounted memorials all over the place in London.

General Wade Hampton Memorial

We stopped at the Strom Thurmond memorial so that Dwight could point out the crude corrections necessary after his illegitimate daughter was discovered. (And, for the record, I don’t really like the term “illegitimate.” Any child is legitimate and has worth.)

Strom Thurmond Memorial
Strom Thurmond Memorial-001
Strom Thurmond Memorial-003

We continued our walk until we reached the African American Memorial. Probably the most striking feature was a stylized version of one of the slave ships that would have sailed into Charleston Harbor.

African American Memorial-003
African American Memorial-001
African American Memorial-002
African American Memorial-004

Bus loads of schools children were being marshaled across the grounds by weary teachers. Third graders. I could tell by the look and smell, and by the fact that South Carolina is part of the third grade curriculum in state. Third grade focuses on the geography, while eighth grade covers its history. Third graders always take a field trip to the state house.

As we were approaching another memorial in the northeast corner of the grounds I heard one teacher say, “That’s James F. Byrnes, the guy the high school is named for.” That stopped me in my tracks, since Byrnes High was one of my schools. Turns out these students were from Spartanburg Six. While not our district, they would certainly be familiar with Byrnes High. We paused for photos of good old J. F. B.

Students on State House Tour
James F Byrnes Memorial

So far we hadn’t visited a single cemetery on our Columbia cemetery tour, but that was about to change. On the opposite side of Sumter Street from the State House sits Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Trinity is on the National Register of Historic Places, and its cemetery is the final resting place for many famous South Carolina citizens.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-001
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-002
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-004
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-003
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-005

We found all of the Wade Hamptons, I, II, and III, plus members of their families.

Wade Hampton Family
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-016
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-017
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-018
General Wade Hampton-003
General Wade Hampton-004

There were lots of other interesting names and artwork.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-038
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-042
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-040
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-039
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-046
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-054

An obelisk had a broken rose, which I’d not seen before.

Broken Rose

By contrast James F. Byrnes’s grave was rather modest.

James F Byrnes-002

I did find a couple of disconcerting stones.

Thomas Taylor-001
Thomas Taylor-003
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-075

Then again, Col. Thomas Taylor helped lay out the streets of Columbia.

I know this was a cemetery exploration, but I really wanted to see the inside of the cathedral. Dwight and I wandered until we found the office, and inquired about a visit. A woman in the office was very kind, and offered to show us the inside.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-078
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-079
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-080
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-085
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-101
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-110
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-106
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-107
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-098

To the left of the altar area there was a small chapel done in stunning blues. The gold stars on the ceiling seemed unusual.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-081
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-108
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-109
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-083

We were particularly impressed with the stained glass. Our host offered to find us a sexton to turn on the light, but we thanked her and said no. It would diminish the effect of the light entering from outside.

Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-103
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-099
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-100
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-102
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-105

Dwight and I thanked our host and took our leave of the church. Since it was about lunch time we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich shop near the Horseshoe. From there we had one more stop in the downtown area. We walked a few blocks north along Sumter until we reached First Presbyterian.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia
Trinity Episcopal Church and Cemetery Columbia-112

Dwight told me that this was an Associate Reform Presbyterian. I was a bit surprised, as “First” churches are usually PC-USA, not ARP. (Although First in Greenville has left PC-USA and is now unaffiliated.) The door was open, so we let ourselves in. The interior wasn’t as ornate as Trinity, but it was still impressive.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-002
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-004
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-003

Out in the cemetery I was surprised at how many people were hanging out and enjoying the shade. None of these struck me as homeless drifters. I guess it’s just close to vary businesses, and folks have gotten accustomed to enjoying a break in the shade.

We wandered through the cemetery. While I didn’t recognize as many names, the funerary art was still impressive.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-007
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-012
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-019
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-024
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-029
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-030
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-032
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-035
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-042
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-044
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-057

I saw lots of “Sacred to the memory of…” headstones, but this one caught my attention. I’d never seen one refer to the “Dust of…”

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-056

The end piece of this vault also seemed unusual.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-059
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-061

It was strange. The cemetery had seemed somewhat uninteresting at first, but the more I explored the more it drew me in. We found a series of headstones that looked like the owners were still alive, yet their obituaries had already been written.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-066
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-067
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-068

I guess if you can dictate what you want on your headstone ahead of time….anyway…

I was surprised at the lack of signature stones. I was beginning to wonder if there was some church covenant that prevented them, perhaps as being “vainglorious.” However, I did spot a couple here. There was a J. Hall, a very ornate G. Brown, and one I couldn’t read very well.

First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-102
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-103
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-104
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-089
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-090
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-086
First Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Columbia-087

There were other more interesting stones, but our time was running out. We made our way back to the car. My feet were starting to get quite tired, and my FitBit let me know I had exceeded my walking goal for the day. However, we weren’t done. Elmwood was still there.

We drove on across town and turned onto Elmwood Drive. We pulled into the cemetery and up to the office to make some inquiries. Dwight wanted to find the old Confederate cemetery section. A lady pointed us the right direction, but also mentioned that there would be a funeral onsite. We would try to avoide that.

We drove around one of the circles and found the location. A large gate marked the spot, as well as a raised picnic area adorned with a Confederate Battle Flag.

Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-001
Elmwood Confederate Cemetery

Just outside of the area was the grave of Maurice Bessinger, infamous Barbeque King who promoted Confederate ideals.

Maurice Bessinger
Maurice Bessinger-001

Also outside of the plot, proper, were several Union soldiers.

Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-005
Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-003

When we walked into the Confederate section itself, we were in for a bit of a surpirse. There are no real graves here. These are just markers commemorating the Confederate dead. The graves themselves are unmarked, and all over the city.

Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-008
Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-010
Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-013
Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-014

Some of these memorials weren’t very old.

Elmwood Confederate Cemetery-016

I must confess to being a bit uncomfortable with all of the glorification of the Confederacy. I’m OK with honoring war dead, but this seemed a bit much. I began wandering to other areas. There was some nice sculpture, and some things that were downright creepy.

Elmwood Cemetery-030
Elmwood Cemetery-032
Elmwood Cemetery-027
Elmwood Cemetery-035
Elmwood Cemetery-036
Elmwood Cemetery-037
Elmwood Cemetery-039
Elmwood Cemetery-040
Elmwood Cemetery-041

Elmwood is massive, and there was no way we were going to explore it all on foot, or recreate the route we took on our previous tour. I was once again reaching cemetery saturation, and even if we had been able to find the same route, my feet would have rebelled.

We explored a bit more by car. Some of the names seemed a bit amusing.

Elmwood Cemetery-042
Elmwood Cemetery-043

Adjacent to, but separate from Elmwood are two other cemeteries. Randolph Cemetery is an African American cemetery closer to the river. We drove through it.

Randolph Cemetery-007
Randolph Cemetery
Randolph Cemetery-002
Randolph Cemetery-004
Randolph Cemetery-006

On the other side of Elmwood was the St. Peter’s Catholic Cemetery. Some of the names here seemed even more unusual. There were also several nuns buried here.

St Peter Cemetery
St Peter Cemetery-001
St Peter Cemetery-002
St Peter Cemetery-003
St Peter Cemetery-004
St Peter Cemetery-005
St Peter Cemetery-006

Apparently there is another St. Peters in town with its own cemetery. Right now I’m unsure of the relationship between these two.

We had one last place we wanted to check. There was an old slave cemetery and the cemetery for inmates at one of the prisons down closer to the river. I had discovered it by accident several years ago. Access is through a narrow passageway under I-126. That was now chained and blocked on both ends – no way to get to it.

That was probably just as well. At this point I really, really was “cemeteried out.” I think that if we had wanted to recreate our tour from September we should have just done Elmwood and not all of the other cemeteries downtown. Even so, I was happy to explore all of those areas. We saw some beautiful churches and interesting things other than graves. I call that a successful day.

Trinity Episcopal and Cemetery

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: The Temple of Health: Trembly Bald
Next Post: Reformation Day at the Old Brick Church ❯

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • EdTech (200)
  • Entertainment (202)
  • Family (121)
  • Gear (115)
  • General Technology (99)
  • Geocaching and Maps (208)
  • History and Genealogy (266)
  • Internet (144)
  • Local (451)
  • Miscellaneous (550)
  • Music (196)
  • Paddling (248)
  • Photography (779)
  • Podcast (6)
  • Rambling (227)
  • Rants (161)
  • Recipes (34)
  • Religion (48)
  • Restaurants (165)
  • Science (48)
  • Things Overheard (29)
  • Travel (411)
  • Uncategorized (129)
  • Washington Sabbatical (113)
  • Weirdness (60)

Recent Posts

  • In Search of the Road Builder
  • The Phoenix Riots and Dr. Benjamin Mays – An MLK Day Ramble
  • An Obsession with Steak Knives
  • An Epiphany on Patriotism
  • Kayaking Bates Old River and Running Creek

Recent Comments

  • Kris Chappell on The Sad Fate of Chappells
  • Joel Nagy on Old Pickens Court House
  • Derek May on The Haunting of Farr’s Bridge
  • Roger Combs on Mystery Cemetery
  • Roger Combs on Mystery Cemetery

Tags

blogging cemetery Christmas Columbia Edisto River edtech Entertainment family Flickr Florida Furman Furman University gear Georgia geotagging Ghost Town Ghost Towns Google Earth Google Maps GPS Greenville Greenville Chorale history Instructional Technology kayaking Lake Jocassee LCU Lowcountry Unfiltered maps Music North Carolina Paddling Photography rambling restaurant Restaurants review singing social networking South Carolina time-lapse Travel video Washington Washington State
February 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728  
« Jan    

Copyright © 2023 Random Connections.

Theme: Oceanly by ScriptsTown