That’s the headline over two front page articles in Monday’s Post & Courier.
The first article is subtitled “Protecting Black burial grounds in Goose Creak, Hilton Head crucial in face of growth, development”. That piece by Adam Parker and Kelly Jean Kelley begins….”
GOOSE CREEK — The sidewalk improvement project underway in the Boulder Bluff neighborhood will provide pedestrians with easier passage at the intersection of Judy and Amy drives.
But it’s still unclear whether they will be trodding upon the bones of the dead.
This corner is the site of an old African American cemetery. Three gravestones are visible, those of Mariah Mazyck Baylock, son James Baylock and daughter Sadie Richardson. Noticeable depressions in the ground suggest several other graves, unmarked, are located.” To read the entire article, CLICK HERE. Non-subscribers may encounter a paywall.
The second front page piece, “Lake Murray-area church preserving Black cemetery” by Jessica Holdman cites the use of state preservation funding.
“IRMO — Six years after volunteering to care for an African American cemetery with ties to its own history, an Irmo-area Lutheran church has received state funds to further its preservation efforts of the burial grounds that date to the 1800s.
St. Michael Lutheran Church plans to use $40,000 in earmarked state funds, along with $15,000 the church raised privately, to survey, enclose and erect a memorial at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church African American Cemetery.
“There is a history of disappearing Black cemeteries,” said Pastor Frank Anderson, especially in areas of expansive residential and commercial growth like that taking place in the area surrounding the cemetery. To read the entire article CLICK HERE. Again, non-subscribers to the Post & Courier may encounter a paywall.
Mapping Black burial grounds was the focus of our September DIHS program. For a recap of that presentation plus many useful background links, CLICK HERE. No paywalls on this one!