At the beginning of the 20th century, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie funded the creation of thousands of libraries across the U.S., including 15 in South Carolina. The first of these in the state was the Carnegie Free Library in Union County, commissioned in 1903 and built in 1905. Designed in the Beaux Arts style by Wheeler & Runge, the library became a local landmark with its notable architectural features. Today, it remains one of only four Carnegie Libraries still standing in South Carolina and fewer than 1,000 nationwide.
Buffalo’s Forest Lawn Cemetery is filled with incredible works of art. It’s most famous marker is a mausoleum for the Blocher family. At the cost of $100,000 in 1884, John and Elizabeth Blocher built the mausoleum to remember their son, Nelson. Nelson Blocher died at the age of 37 after a long illness.
John Blocher was a successful businessman who ran a successful dry goods store and made money off real estate foreclosures. His son worked in shoe manufacturing but enjoyed traveling the world.
Article in the January 24, 1984 issue of The Buffalo Commercialannounces the death of Nelson Blocher.
Supposedly Nelson fell in love with a maid named Katherine Sullivan. His parents disapproved and sent him away to Italy. Supposedly the parents let Katherine go and told her to never return. Upon Nelson’s return he became bereft that Katherine was gone. Only her Bible was left behind.
Grief-stricken, Elizabeth implored her husband to create a memorial to honor their son. John designed the mausoleum, which is made of granite. The giant tomb is covered by a dome of one large piece of granite. It sits upon five pilasters, allowing three panes of glass to be installed for three ways to peer inside the mausoleum.
He employed the talents of sculptor Frank Torrey, who carved the four figures inside the mausoleum out of Carrara marble. John and Elizabeth look over their son, who clutches a Bible. Hovering above Nelson is an angel who reportedly looks like Katherine.Radiating from the mausoleum are three granite benches with each of the Blocher’s name etched into the bench.
Whether the story is true or a fable, it is clear the Blochers wanted their son to be memorialized in a grand way.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Blue Sky Mausoleum for Darwin D. Martin, a Buffalo businessman who worked for the Larkin Soap Company. The mausoleum is located in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. The mausoleum was the fourth and final design Wright did at the request of Martin, even though it wasn’t built until 2004.
Martin’s brother recommended Wright to Martin to build the Larkin Administration Building for the Company. This endeavor launched a thirty-year friendship, during which Martin asked Wright to design his personal home in Buffalo and their summer home, Graycliff, which overlooked Lake Erie. Martin frequently loaned money to Wright. Unfortunately, he died destitute after he lost millions in the 1929 stock market crash.
Wright designed the Blue Sky Mausoleum in 1928 as the final resting place of Martin and his family. Unfortunately, Martin died in 1935, and his family was unable to afford the mausoleum. In fact, the Martin family plot was unmarked for decades.
“…a burial facing the open sky. The whole could not fail of noble effect.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
Blue Sky Mausoleum was not built until 2004. Forest Lawn Cemetery commissioned Anthony Puttnam, a Wright apprentice, to build the mausoleum. It was built upon the ideas shared in letters between Martin and Wright. The main marker highlights a quote by Wright to Martin about the mausoleum: “…a burial facing the open sky. The whole could not fail of noble effect.” It incorporates the organic architecture for which Wright was known.
Currently, six people are entombed in the mausoleum. According to the Blue Sky Mausoleum website, a total of 24 spaces are available.
The Lanneau-Norwood-Funderburk House was built in 1877 for Charles H. Lanneau by Charleston architect Jacob Cagle. Lanneau was involved in several local textile mills. He even founded the Lanneau Manufacturing Company on adjacent land to the home. Like many homes during this time period, the home was destroyed by fire twice and rebuilt both times.
After becoming bankrupt in 1907, Lanneau sold the Second Empire home to local banker John Wilkins Norwood. When he passed away in 1945, his daughter Frances Norwood Funderburk inherited the home. She then passed it to her son, George Norwood.
To view photos of the inside, the house can be seen in a 2021 listing.
In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Oconee County, South Carolina, is the Tamassee DAR School. Like Rosenwald Schools, the school was founded to provide education to rural schoolchildren. Started in 1919, the school primarily provided an education to local white children. The school initially operated as a boarding school for girls and a day school for boys. Later, boys were allowed to board on the campus. In addition to getting an education, students learned about citizenship. It is one of two DAR-owned schools in the country, the other being the Kate Duncan Smith School in Grant, Alabama.
Sarah Corbin Robert School was built in 1942.
Additionally, Temassee was the site of the first “Opportunity School.” An initiative that began in 1921 focused on adult education and literacy for employees of local textile mills. The school focused on developing basic reading and math skills while also educating participants on health habits and civic responsibility.
South Carolina Cottage was built in 1919.
Buildings are named to recognize important women within the DAR or states where the statewide DAR chapters gave generously to support the founding and building of the school. The school was intentionally frugal by using wood from the local forests and leftover blue granite from the incomplete Stumptown Tunnel. Most buildings were constructed in the 1940s. The Tamassee Post Office was not an original building and was relocated to the campus.
Pennsylvania Health House was constructed in 1942.
Although the school no longer offers a primary education, it remains active by providing services to local children in need and daycare. Additionally, they host summer camps for local children.
The Pouch Cottage was built and expanded from 1939 to 1946.
The school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
All State Building was built in 1930. May Erwin Talmedge Auditorium was completed in 1952. The Post Office was built in 1900 and was later relocated to campus.The Dining Hall was completed in 1990.
Greenwood Cemetery is one of my favorite cemeteries in Atlanta. Its diversity in markers and burial sections illustrates the different people who call Atlanta home. Greenwood has an extensive Jewish section. There are many people buried here who escaped Nazi Germany. After World War II, many Jews immigrated to Atlanta.
In 1964, Jewish Holocaust survivors created the Eternal Life-Hemshech. Their focus was to create a memorial where people could mourn and recite Kaddish.
The organization turned to Benjamin Hirsch, a Holocaust survivor who lost family during the Holocaust and an alumnus of the Georgia Tech Architecture program. He chose locally quarried Stone Mountain granite to symbolize trauma and resilience. The memorial contains four entrances, representing the earth’s four corners, and all were welcome through the “doors.”
Six torches extend into the sky from the center of the memorial. Each torch represents one million people who lost their lives during the Holocaust. During the annual Yom HaShoah services, they are lit. At its center rise six towering torches, each representing one million Jewish lives extinguished by the Nazis. During the annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) services, these torches are lit. Under the torches in a vault, there are ashes interred of some of the people who lost their lives at Dachau.
The memorial opened on April 25, 1965. There are annual services held at the memorial.
In 2008, the memorial was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2024, the memorial was restored.
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