Category Archives: Cemetery

Cemetery Walk

I spotted the two stones leaning on each other when we first entered the oldest part of the area. We had to drive past on the dirt track though since it was pretty tight with trees and stones.

I walked back towards the general area, and actually found them! My sense of direction was stunted growing up in NYC. There are signs on light poles always telling you  exactly where you are.

Cemetery Walk
Cemetery Walk

I suspected there was a relationship between the stones, I did not expect them both to be for the same person. Other head stones nearby didn’t seem to be with ‘Carrie’. There was a little open space around her though. In a cemetery where burials are stacked tight any area unoccupied can mean the markers are lost to time.

Cemetery Walk
Cemetery Walk

Found On A Walk, Charleston Cemetery

We haven’t gone for a walk around the cemeteries in a while and Ellen wanted to use her OM 90mm macro lens on a few different subject types. If there’s any place with varied subjects it’s one of the old cemeteries.

I resisted the temptation of filling a bag with lenses of all sizes, I went with lighter walk around gear. My original OM-1 has various custom settings so for me it was a ‘point and click’ morning.

Found On A Walk, Charleston Cemetery
Found On A Walk, Charleston Cemetery

The rust and ruin look to the old areas is always fun to shot, it’s impossible not to find corners and spots I’ve never been to. Also there is always a chance of finding storm damage or erosion around the swamps.

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The above were taken using the OM-1 (1), Olympus 40-150 r (plastic fantastic), and an OM 12-200.

I get great pleasure out of shooting the Plastic Fantastic lens. I love the fact I paid a grand total of $ US 60.00 for it. No lens hood, the size of a candy bar, and probably weights less.

Thomas And Catherine Allen – Found On A Walk

Overgrown by grass, within an old brick wall, is the stone for Thomas and Catherine Allen. I know nothing else about them, I found this on a walk this morning.

Thomas And Catherine Allen - Found On A Walk
Thomas And Catherine Allen – Found On A Walk

Behind the brush here is a salt marsh which ultimately joins Meyers Bend on the Cooper River. A few miles south and you are in the center of Charleston, South Carolina.

Thomas And Catherine Allen - Found On A Walk
Thomas And Catherine Allen – Found On A Walk

Forgotten Stones

There are always old and forgotten headstones scattered around old cemeteries. Most you can’t read much through the worn stone.

Might be odd, but when I see them I do grab a quick shot or two. I have no idea how many I’ve taken.  Once in a while a few come to the top of the pile and I’ll publish a small collection.

OM-1 (1), OM 12-100 f4

Rebecca, Killed In Battle

Rebecca Sineath, a laundress for the 21st Infantry was likely at Fort Wagner on Morris Island. The Island had two small forts protecting an entrance to Charleston Harbor. June 1863 was the lead up to the July assault by the 54th Massachusetts, an all African American federal unit. There were multiple Union war ships firing on the island as part of two major battles. The Confederate side ultimately held the island defeating the smaller federal force. However they abandoned the fort a month later.

Rebecca was buried along the edge of ‘Soldiers Ground’ cemetery with members of the 21st Infantry.

Rebecca, Killed In Battle
Rebecca, Killed In Battle

Today there is nothing left of Morris Island itself. An old Lighthouse sits on spot, the island washed away.

Charleston Harbor Morris Light
Charleston Harbor Morris Light

Three Old Markers

There’s no shortage of interesting things in the old cemeteries. Below are a few stones that caught my attention on our last walk around.

Because Charleston is at or near sea level you can find a number of ‘above ground’ burial sites. None are as elaborate as New Orleans but they all have carvings on large slabs of slate that serve as the ‘top’ of the grave.

Three Old Markers
Three Old Markers

Off near the old Umbra Plantation house there is an area where broken or worn out headstones have been placed flat on the ground. There were several I wanted to photograph, later read the long inscriptions. To get above them meant walking on the other stones. Well, it just felt wrong walking on these headstones like a pathway. I left them there undisturbed.

Three Old Markers
Three Old Markers

Last here, a few full gravesite markers. No names or dates. Just the short curbs outlining the grave. A large urn that one day probably had flowers growing inside.

This is a common graveyard marker here. The outline of the individual burial plot in small curbstones with some type of simple group monument. I rather like this. Plain and respectful.

Three Old Markers
Three Old Markers

All the above were photographed at Magnolia Cemetery and St. Lawrence Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.