Found on a walk around the back of Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston.
Maintenance is hard here, some of the graves date to the civil war. The well known names are kept up some, the civil war soldiers are too. Some of the others are falling and being taken back by the marsh and brush.
Still this is my favorite spot to wander. Always something new to be found.
Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina.
Spoonbills, Live Oaks, and Spanish Moss.
A small group of Spoonbill have taken up residence around the old Magnolia Cemetery.
They should be moving on soon, probably when the water levels go down. However they have been there longer than anyone would have thought.
If they clown around in the right tree some nice opportunities can be had.
When in this old cemetery I try to stop by to visit Baby Rosalie White. She is one of five children from the White family buried here.
Rosalie’s grave has a headstone shaped like a baby carriage, a plaster cast ‘death mask’ of her face is the center piece.
In the mid 1800’s a death mask was common. There are several ruins of others around the area. What makes this unique is the baby carriage cover has protected the mask through all the years.
Taken in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, August 2023.
Note; there are several articles and photographs of this grave on this site. How could there not be.
I’ve come to discover cemetery ironwork and stone carving in the 1800’s is an incredible art form. Unfortunately early on I missed this shooting in cemeteries. At first I visited early New England grave yards and created mostly wide landscapes.
Now I try to pay more attention to the close details. Black and White always was my choice but now a zoom lens with more options is typically mounted on my camera. My Tamron 18-400 covers anything I can think of for these scenes. A ‘Jack of all trades’ approach is a good option for me here.
Below are a few random photographs that have been waiting to be published. (Or as my mother would have said ‘save it for good’.)
This statue of an angel leaning on a tree was hidden away in an old family plot covered in Palms and shrubs. I thought the statue was great and the first shots had plenty of light. I shot way too many images, and it turns out the best was after the light went away.
Iron work, wrought iron blacksmithing, from the Lowcountry is displayed all through cemeteries and streets of Charleston and Savannah, as well as the Smithsonian Museums. The Charleston International Airport even has an old Gazebo once created by Phillip Simmons in the entrance. There are walking tours around town dedicated to his iron fences still standing around the historic homes.
‘4 Years, 8 Months, 4 Days’. The small grave stones outline the child’s burial plot above. Photographs like this is why I use a zoom. Many times you just can’t get an angle telling the story any other way.
Last here is about the stones on the stone. It’s common to find stones, coins, and other small items are grave sites. Here small rocks were placed on top as a sign of respect. Another less well known reason for the stones goes back to an old Jewish custom of placing rocks to protect the soul of the deceased.
This is a little longer than my usual Found On A Walk articles but it’s a nice morning on the back porch. The pink Crepe Myrtle are hanging low damp with dew, locals up eating the backyard, and it’s still under 90 with less than 95% humidity.
In the past I have photographed most of the South Carolina small Chapels of Ease. However when new images come to the top I can’t resist the history and stories of the Lowcountry, especially when in the ACE Basin.
The chapel below was finally ruined in a large forest fire that swept this barrier island in 1886. Wars and time had already taken a toll though. It has managed to survive in this because it was built from ‘tabby’. This is an old Native American, and Spanish colonist method. When lime, sand and crushed sea shells are combined with water a substance as hard as todays concrete can be made.
The chapel was built in 1740 for the local plantation owners under the supervision of the St. Helena Anglican Church in Beaufort for parishioners that were far from the main church. There were many chapels across South Carolina. Two barrier islands, Fripp’s and St Helena were served here.
Above is the Fripp family mausoleum, damaged by Federal troops during the US Civil War. The Fripp family owned plantation across the region. Dating back to the mid 1700’s. John Fripp the first settler was a privateer attacking French and Spanish ships along the barrier islands.
The chapel and plantations were abandoned when the news was brought to a Sunday service here of the approaching Union Army.
The plantations enslaved West Africans were left behind. This was one of the first Gullah communities of African Americans.
Today Fripp’s Island and St Helena Island have taken very different directions.
Fripp’s is known for resorts, golf courses, beaches, and vacation homes.
St. Helena, across the salt marshes, is still rural and protected by a ‘Cultural Protection Overlay’, supported by local and federal governments. The Gullah Geechee community and lands remain intact.
Click here for additional information on the Gullah community.
A view through a front window, to a back window.
An old cemetery mausoleum door.
In the 1800’s many of the famous designer and glass studios created works for the Victorian and Gothic southern cemeteries. Tiffany even opened an office in Charleston, SC. There was too much wealth in Charleston and even Savannah to ignore.
This is why I typically have a zoom lens when walking through an old cemetery. There’s things to see, and shot, other than wide landscape photographs.
Savannah, Georgia.
Monochrome shot of an old mausoleum along the Wilmington River, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah GA.
One of the first true cemeteries, not a church grave yard, in the US. The others on the historic registry are St. Louis In New Orleans, Magnolia in Charleston, and Green Wood in Brooklyn (NYC) New York.
What makes them even more interesting is their Gothic and Victorian influence.
