The graveyard next to the Presbyterian Church on Edisto Island is the location of one of South Carolina’s most famous ghost stories. The story is shared that at 22, Julia Seabrook Legare died of diphtheria and was buried in her husband’s family tomb. A few years later, her brother passed away, and when they opened up the tomb, a pile of bones was found inside of the tomb. The belief was that Julia had been buried alive. Hence, this is why there is no door on the tomb today.
I love a good ghost story, but I also like thoughtful debunking. Writer Jaime Rubio dove deep into the family records of the Seabrook and Legare families to determine that there is limited truth to the story, but it is a ghost story that continues to be perpetuated.
The front facade of the church is largely unchanged.
Established in the 1680s, the Presbyterian Church on Edisto Island is one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in the country. The current church building was built in 1831 and has largely stayed the same in its almost 200-year history.
The church’s graveyard contains graves as old as 1787. The headstones illustrate this long history ranging from slate markers to more modern granite ones. The most famous burial is Julia Legare.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Some of the lovely ironwork is draped with Spanish moss. One of several obelisks in the cemetery. The torches pointing downwards represent a life “snuffed out” or ended. Cornelia Adelaide Seabrook, d. 1856-The symbol with the child riding on the back of an angel means the child heading towards heaven.
It’s difficult to capture the magnitude of the Angel Oak, a 400 to 500-year-old Southern Live Oak, on Johns Island. The tree is named after the plantation of Justus and Mary Waight Tucker Angel. The oak was part of an original land grant given to Abraham Waight.
I visited Charleston in 2019 to visit the cemeteries there. If you’ve visited Magnolia Cemetery, you will know there are several cemeteries in the area. As I was leaving Magnolia, I was driving down the side roads around the other cemeteries when I noticed Ethel Lance’s marker.
The grounds were being tended to, so I had to wait until the mowers moved away from the marker. Once I got out, I noticed that she was buried near several other members of the Mother Emanuel mass murders.
Cynthia HurdSusie JacksonTywanza Sanders
The other victims are buried in different cemeteries around Charleston and South Carolina.
Founded in 1681, the Circular Congregational Church is one of the oldest churches in continual use in Charleston. The burial ground, also known as graveyard since it is next to the church, is the oldest one in the city. The first burial occurred in 1695.
George Hesket, 1690-1847
Many of the grave markers are made of slate and carved in New England. The tympanic markers illustrate the evolution of grave symbolism. Skull and crossbones were part of the earlier designs, but they evolved to angels and portraiture. The graveyard contains the most slate markers in a Southern state.
Reverend Guliemi Hutson, 1720-1761Solomon Milner, 1727-1757David Stoddard, d. 1769
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