Quotable...

"If you are walking in Charleston, you are walking on someone's grave."--Sue Bennett, Charleston tour guide

Monday, September 28, 2015

Madison's view of Magnolia Cemetery


Lindsey's Trip to Magnolia Cemetery
Click here to see Lindsey's Blog


Diana Colen's Trip to Magnolia Cemetery

click here to read more about my visit

Sarah Zschunke's Magnolia Cemetery Visit

Click here to learn more about my time at Magnolia.

Eli's Trek Through Magnolia Cemetery

Want to know more? Click here!

Rebecca's Trip to Magnolia Cemetery

Click here to see the link!

Kaitlin Eakin's Post on Magnolia Cemetery

http://kaitlinesays.blogspot.com/

Evan's blog

click here

Patrick's Blog

Click Here.

Haley Surface's Visit to Magnolia Cemetery

Click here to see Haley Surface's Visit to Magnolia Cemetery

Ty Hoecker Magnolia Cemetery September 27, 2015

Annie Arneman's Magnolia Cemetery Post

Click here to see Annie Arneman's Magnolia Cemetery post.

Zoie Kelly's Magnolia Cemetery Trip

Click here to see Zoie's blog post on the class trip to Magnolia Cemetery.

Samantha's Trip to Magnolia Cemetery

Click Here to view Samantha's trip to Magnolia Cemetery. 

Friday, September 25, 2015

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Monumental Magnolia Cemetery Field Trip!

The temperatures and bug activity were fairly moderate on Sept. 21 for our highly anticipated (by me anyway!) visit to Magnolia Cemetery, as part of the "Beyond the Grave" First Year Experience course I am teaching this fall.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Click here to see Lindsey's Blog http://allenla1.blogspot.com

Madison Jennings

click here to see Madison Jennings' blog post

Beautiful and Historic Charleston Graveyards

file:///Users/annagulick/Desktop/vintageblonde22.blogspot.com.weblochttp://vintageblonde22.blogspot.com

Evans Blog

Click here to link to my blog from September7, 2015

Read Ty Hoecker's Church Graveyard Post

Click here to see Ty's post about the class field trip on Monday, September 7th, 2015.

St. Patrick's Catholic Church and St. Luke's Episcopal Cathedral

http://kaitlinesays.blogspot.com/

Diana Colen's Blog

Click here to read about my visit to the local Charleston graveyards on September 7th.


Diana Colen's Blog

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Graveyard visit 9/7/15



This headstone is for Georceanna Hume who was born on October 19th, 1819 and she died on September 7th, 1855. There is a bird on the headstone which is symbolic of the winged soul. 




This headstone belongs to Harriet Sarah Nowell, who was the beloved wife of John Lasgelles Nowell. The crown on a cross signifies the Sovereignty of the Lord. 



I found this mausoleum at the Cathedral when I went to visit with my class. This one was unique because of the pillars and that it was the first thing you saw when you walked into the graveyard. 


This tablet stone belongs to the sacred John Dircy, for some reason his stone is broken in half at the top. The cross signifies religion and his stone was engraved but unfortunately it is not readable in the picture. 


The tombstones above are a man and wife who were buried next to each other, so they could always be together forever. On both of their gravestones they had bible passages. 


Above is a picture of the Episcopal Cathedral graveyard taken from outside of the gate that surrounds it. 


Sarah Zschunke's Blog Post

Click here to read Sarah Zschunke's blog post about the September 7th visits to The Episcopal Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul and St. Patrick Catholic Church.


Click here to read Patrick Finkelstein's blog post about graveyards.

Eli Sobel's Blog Post

Click here to see Eli's pictures taken on the Sept. 7th trip to the graveyard.

Zoie Kelly's Gravyard Visit

Click here to read about Zoie Kelly's September 7th graveyard visits in Charleston, SC.

Haley Surface's Blog Post

Click here to read Haley Surface's blog post about our class visit to 2 graveyards on 9/7/2015.


Sunday, September 13, 2015

Sophie Meserve's Graveyard Visit

Click here to see Sophie Meserve's post on the graveyards visited on 9/7/15.

Read Samantha Sinrich's Blog Post

Click here to see Samantha Sinrich's post on our class visit to two old Charleston church graveyards on Sept. 7.

Read Addison Byrd's Church Graveyard Post

Click here to see Addison Byrd's post from the graveyard trip on September 7th.

Read Annie Arneman's Church Graveyard Post

Click here to see Annie Arneman's blog post about the September 7 trip to two Charleston graveyards.


Read Avery Jackson's Church Graveyard Post

Click here to see Avery's post about the class field trip on Monday, September 7, 2015!

Week 3 Prezi Presentation: Funeral and Cemetery Evolution

In this Week 3 Prezi on Sept. 14 we will explore the evolution of funerary and cemetery customs in the world and America.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Church Graveyards Visit a Hit!

During class on Sept. 7 I took my "Beyond the Grave" students to two nearby churches to see their graveyards. Both churches are very old. The Episcopal Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul on Coming Street dates to 1810. St Patrick Catholic Church on St. Philip Street opened in 1838.
Graveyard at St. Luke's 

St. Luke's features a rich array of grave markers, monuments and memorials, including headstones and flat ledger stones seen in the forefront and mausoleums seen in the background. The ledger stones were designed to keep the spirits from escaping and haunting the living!






St. Luke's graveyard

An ornate iron gate surrounds this family plot. Two pedestal tombs with vaulted tops are seen along the left side of this photo. Next to the pedestal tomb in the forefront is a pedestal with a draped broken column on it. The broken column symbolizes a life cut short, often men who died in their twenties or thirties.

The drapery connotes mourning and sadness.





Mausoleum at St. Luke's graveyard

Students pose in front of a large  mausoleum behind the St. Luke/St. Paul Church.

Notice the inverted torches on both sides of the door. This is a symbol of an extinguished life. If the upside down torch is lighted, as these two are, there is the promising message of eternal life after death in Heaven. When the torch is inverted and not lit, this means the end to the family name because there are no sons to carry it on.

The Latin inscription at the top of the mausoleum reads "Qui Christo Vivit Perire Nescit" ("He who knows Christ never perishes").

I found online someone who also wrote about this mausoleum in a blog called "Cocktails in Charleston."

The long narrow graveyard at St. Patrick Catholic Church 


A short walk from St. Luke's, on St. Philip Street, is St. Patrick Catholic Church, which has a smaller graveyard than St. Luke's.

This one consists mainly of neatly arranged in rows headstones, many dating to the pre-Civil War or Antebellum times.






A beautifully inscribed obelisk


A tall obelisk is an example of the elaborate Victorian Era grave monument. This one is not as tall as many that can be found in Charleston. But it makes up for its modest height with a litany of words and a handsome family crest.

Obelisks, a design dating to ancient times, is a symbol of a family or person's power, strength and wealth.

To the obelisk's right is a cross mounted on a platform of boulders. The boulders may also be interpreted as symbols of strength and power. But they can also refer to the earlier gravesites in ancient times when stones and boulders were placed over buried bodies to keep the dead from rising out of their graves.


Graveyard at St. Patrick's church on St. Philip Street


The view from the back of the graveyard at St. Patrick Catholic Church. The family plot seen in the forefront has several classic grave marker styles.

From left to right, we see a headstone that's angled at the top, a style common to the 18th and early 19th centuries. The smaller rounded headstone is characteristic of the mid-18th century and later. Another cross-on-boulder marker is next to that (see notes on this style above) and on the far right is a small pedestal tomb with vaulted top, a nod to power, wealth and stability.

Many thanks to the folks at St. Luke's and St. Patrick's churches for allowing us to visit their most interesting graveyards!