Old House Cemetery

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"When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies
I bid farewell to every fear
And wipe my weeping eyes."

—Hymn, written by Dr. Isaac Watts

Hallowed Grove

Three marked graves repose below a towering tree canopy and an understory that stretches towards the eastern marsh side and Atlantic Ocean. Two offer the names of African American veterans, Gullah men who fought for the Union during the Civil War. A more elaborate tombstone at the center of the cemetery marks the resting place of a young woman.

The "Old House" cemetery was originally set aside to serve the community of enslaved workers living in a nearby slave row, or quarters. After emancipation the land was used as a burial ground by families of tenant farmers. The total number of graves in the space is a mystery—possibly in the hundreds. Outside of working conditions on plantations, mortality rates were very high for children (from yellow fever, malaria) and women (at childbirth).

" 'Mid the sunny flat on the cotton field
Lies an acre of forest-tangle still;
A cloister dim, where the grey moss waves
And the live oaks lock their arms at will...

—The Negro Burying Ground, written by W. C. Gannett, Unitarian minister

Burial Rites

Descriptions of nighttime plantation funerals appear in antebellum letters and diaries and later testimonials from ex-slaves. They often mention the 'ring shout' or 'plantation walk-around,' which had roots in the sacred "Circle dance" (still practiced in regions of West and Central Africa). The following anecdote, transcribed in the speaker's Gullah patois, conjures a scene from long ago:

"Dey go in a long pruhcession tuh duh burying ground
an dey beat duh drums long duh way an dey submit duh boy to duh ground.
Den dey dance roun in a ring and dey motion wid duh hans.
Dey sing duh body tuh duh grabe an den dey let it down
and dey succle roun in duh dance."

Most of the graves in the cemetery are now unmarked owing to the growth of ground vegetation. Before the Second World War the graveyard likely looked very different. Some graves would have been decorated with shell markings. This tradition is thought to originate with BaKonga tribes people in Congo, who believe seashells shroud the immortal soul. Other grave marking techniques would have denoted the continuation of African traditions. These included decorating a loved ones resting place with personal and household belongings (spectacles, gun locks, clocks, chinaware, etc.), by carved objects or plants (yucca and cedar).

"I wonder where my mudder gone;
Sing, O graveyard!
Graveyard ought to know me;
Ring Jerusalem!
Grass grow in de graveyard;
Sing, O Graveyard!
Graveyard ought to know me;
Ring Jerusalem!

Ground-Penetrating Radar Study (GPR)

In 2006 a GPR study completed by researchers from the University of Georgia at Athens surveyed two quadrants of the "Old House" cemetery—roughly 20 x 30 and 7 x 7 yards in size. Research data provided computerized imaging, showing patterns of grave 'anomalies,' some directed north-south, most lying east-west. Researchers also determined that there might be cluster patterns, thought to suggest the presence of family plots.

Ghosts and Spirits

Gullah custom discourages people spending time in cemeteries, believed to be places where unquiet spirits remain. Voodoo practices are also associated with graveyards. Many references to spirits, hags, spooks and ghosts survive within the oral and written histories of the Low Country.