Found on a walk, with old burial prose including the common ‘Not Dead, But Sleepeth’.
Early New England stones told whole stories on their Head Stones, that’s less common here. Actually the more interesting early southern stones were all carved up in New England.
The small details here show this likely to be ‘from away’.
Best viewed large.
Charleston, South Carolina.
The old cemeteries have dirt tracks, small roads, that run along the salt marshes and ponds. The area is pretty large, but I like to stay along the far end, the original parts when the Umbra Plantation first began burials here.
Below are a few random shots taken of the old road and the scenes along the far route.
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I had this photograph of an interesting cemetery spot. A line of the old Confederate head stones, two of the newer VA markers.
No matter what I did with this shot it just didn’t work for me. Finally I opened the image in DxO Filmpack and selected the option to work within a timeline, not any particular type of film stock.
Finally I came across a dated style from the late 1800’s. The style is based on a photographer from that era. I went with it and made a few changes for clarity and texture, basically made it cleaner.
Details; OM-1 (1), OM 12-100 f4, Lightroom, DxO Filmpack
On my last walk through of Soldiers Ground many of the stones had been decorated with US flags.
Bright colors on a dull day always makes for a better photograph.
The ‘1958 Act’ gave limited recognition of the Confederate States military allowing the US Veterans Administration to provide head stones or markers to unmarked graves of Confederate military.
I was curious about the stones and VA authorized metal markers. I did a few AI assisted searches and found way too much information. But most pointed to the 1958 Act.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the Civil War, its original bell was melted down for Confederate ordnance, and its historic building suffered severe damage from artillery fire.
Taken while walking along the (maybe) edge of Soldiers Ground, the Civil War military cemetery. A typical military site has a wall, or fence, surrounding the property. Something is there designating the land as a military graveyard.
Soldiers Ground has none of that. The property is inside the gates and walls of old Magnolia Cemetery, which was there first as part of the Umbra Plantation. The borders are an old asphalt road, the Umbra Plantation house, and the Charleston Catholic St. Lawrence cemetery. This part of the Charleston Peninsular was originally set aside for cemeteries years ago when the churchyards became filled.
By the asphalt there is a plaque in the ground with the name and small description, this was placed here years after the Civil War was over.
Below is a monument, with the old South Carolina state symbol of the Palmetto and a small half moon behind. This is along the edge of the Umbra Plantation house.
Photographed with; OM-1 (1), OM 12-200 mm, ON1 edit, DxO Filmpack.
I found conflicting information here. H. Blin died in 1900 and was a member of the Layfayette Artillery. There are a few people interred after the Civil War ended buried here, this is quite a bit later though.
When I read the unit I assumed this was out of Louisiana. Charleston was an important town being a seaport, also this was the first place to form the Confederacy. Military units from outside the area were common. However research shows this was a South Carolina unit.
The stone is different from any others here which is why I began looking for information. I found little except to see Soldiers Ground was still active at the turn of the century.
There’s an alley off one of the busiest shopping streets, in one of the busiest tourist towns. Following the stone walk you will find the graveyard for one of the oldest churches in the South.
There are a few old benches if you need to rest for a bit.
Charleston, South Carolina.
