This is something I had only seen once before, in an old town cemetery in New England. I know of 3 in the Lowcountry.
A receiving tomb is a temporary shelter to hold the deceased until burial. Having no refrigeration brick structures, partly underground, hold the bodies until burial.
Most times this was used while family and friends came from distances. Here it could a day or more to arrive from Charleston, 20 miles away.
Known receiving tombs in the Lowcountry ;
- Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston
- Bethany Cemetery, Charleston
- Strawberry Chapel, Berkeley County