Bryce's Magnolia Experience

This is my blog about my experience to the Magnolia Cemetery. Take some time to check it out!

Magnolia Cemetery Blog Post Assignment

Magnolia Cemetery Maps

See this link for more on this map and another one.

Magnificent Magnolia

Come read my first hand experience at the most beautiful cemetery in the South.

Magnolia Cemetery Gives Students a New Perspective

Monday night we caravaned the 10-minute drive from campus to Magnolia Cemetery- a short trip but a very long step back in time.

Students were able to see up close and personal many majestic, magnificent and artistic graveyard treasures going back as far as the 1850s. And back then they were all created by skilled artisans using only hammers and chisels, I remind the students.

If you've never been to Magnolia Cemetery, one of the nation's most beautiful and historic, get a taste of it by viewing my "Best of Magnolia Cemetery" video on YouTube.  

Two days before Halloween and a few costumes in this class photo!

I look forward to reading the students' blog posts. I hope they enjoyed seeing Magnolia Cemetery as much as I enjoyed showing it to them!  

Magnolia Cemetery Halloween (almost) Visit Set

Tomorrow our class visits Magnolia Cemetery!  What adventures await us? Hopefully nothing too ghoulish!

I felt I was being watched yesterday at Magnolia Cemetery!  I was being watched! 

Magnificent Magnolia

Wanna hear about my experience at Magnolia Cemetery? Click Here! 

Birthday With the Dead?

Come see how I celebrated my Birthday

Confederacy Legacy: Charleston and Magnolia Cemetery (Prezi)

We will go through this presentation in advance of our visit to Magnolia Cemetery.




Speaking of Magnolia Cemetery....a few years ago I produced this video that highlights my favorite Magnolia Cemetery grave marker and monuments.

The Most Epic Epitaphs

Check out my Prezi here!

Prezi Next Presentation: Cemetery Symbology at Magnolia Cemetery

Victorian-era gravesites are rich in iconography- symbols, motifs and other meaningful touches and flourishes.

This Prezi Next presentation showcases some of the examples of such symbolism at Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston's premier Victorian necropolis.

The Prezi can also be viewed by clicking here.



For instructions on how to embed a Prezi into a blog post as I did here, go to this site.

Moss Graves at Magnolia Cemetery

Click Here to read about Magnolia Cemetery, a true garden for the dead.

Magnolia Cemetery Introduction

This Prezi further introduces my "Beyond the Grave" students to Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery, a premiere example of a mid-19th century rural Victorian necropolis.



This Prezi can also be viewed by clicking here. 

Sensational Sunny Cemetery Saturday!

Class photo taken by Carly Phillips

Charleston Chamber of Commerce weather ensured a fun and educational outing for my FYE "Beyond the Grave" students yesterday at beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery.

Nervous earlier in the week about the chance of rain, I was relieved and we were all rewarded with a gloriously sunny day with temperatures in the low 70s. For a "winter" day in late February, no complaints!

Pictured, right, on the Parker exedra monument are, from left Lexi DeJesus, Kaitlin Dotson, Morgan Bryant-Cook, Bridget McElroy, Leea Whetstone, Carlee Andrews, Spencer Parrish, Liam Ford, Emma Rosenblum, yours truly, and Cammi Calloway.

Check Out Megan's Magnolia Cemetery Post!

Click here!

"Beyond the Grave" Course "Eulogy"

Wow, where did the school year go?

Teaching my first-time First Year Experience class at the College of Charleston has been educational and eventful for me as well as the students, I hope.

The course I designed is called "Beyond the Grave: What Old Cemeteries Tell and Teach the Living." I drew upon my experiences writing two books about Charleston's venerable Victorian necropolis Magnolia Cemetery to craft a multi-disciplinary curriculum.

The "Holy City" of Charleston with its many churches and adjacent graveyards (many within walking distance of campus) was an ideal place to study death and all it involves from numerous perspectives: history, religion, sociology, psychology, anthropology, art, art history, medicine and more.

(Above: My Spring 2016 students at Magnolia Cemeteries iconic Gibbes Mausoleum. Left: My Fall 2015 class at the Parker exedra monument, also at Magnolia Cemetery).

I am excited to again be going "Beyond the Grave" with CofC freshmen next school year.

The final question I put on my final exams is to ask the students what they learned in this class that asks"what old cemeteries tell and teach the living." Here are some of their responses (names withheld).

Student explore St. Patrick's church graveyard

"The idea of death and what we do with our dead is common knowledge, but this class made me investigate further...This class made me appreciate the centuries-old traditions and understand why they are still in use today."

"Graves and cemeteries teach the living so many things but overall it's the history of life that can be expressed through the art of graves."

"Life and death are very complex, convoluted and confusing topics to cover, but the sheer gist of it is the realization that we seemingly only have one chance at being remembered whether it be on a headstone or a heart."

Fun can be had even at cemeteries! 

"The research I was doing on 'the dead' taught me information about my family's origins and influence on the Newberry (S.C.) community. This class taught me that in Charleston it is possible to look at a grave and be able to find a plethora of historical information. Learning about the past also showed me living conditions and medical practices, which was imperative to understanding why death was treated the way it was throughout history. I also got to experience Magnolia Cemetery which was beautiful."

"I learned to blog all my explorations!"

"Gravesites show people in the present how people in the past grieved their lost loved ones. We can learn who the people were by the epitaph left behind for their legacy...Also that ghosts are probably real!"

Tour of Charleston's Old City Jail 

"We don't treat death today as we did in the past. During the Victorian Era, death was almost trendy. Families put work and energy into designing and maintaining their family members' graves. We do not see this today. Today, grave sites are not physically eye catching and family members don't maintain the deceased's grave sites. We could learn to respect the dead and become more comfortable with death and dying from the old grave sites and practices."

"Maybe the students who have taken this course can walk away with this lesson:  Death doesn't have to be avoided. Instead, cherish the remembrance of your loved one by carrying on the 'old' tradition. Visit your loved ones after they pass and use it as a sacred time to bring the living together."

More on my course "Beyond the Grave: What Old Cemeteries Tell and Teach the Living" can be found on the class blog
charlestonbeyondthegrave.blogspot.com/.

Magnolia's Symbolism

Check out my analysis of symbols found at Magnolia cemetery here

Kailyn's Magnolia Cemetery Tour

Check out my blog post about Magnolia Cemetery here :)

Kool Kreations With Kizoa!

Kizoa is a really neat, fun, and easy-to-use slideshow program. It is free- just go to the website and do the steps to set up your account.

Kizoa has a vast library of special effects, animations and music that can turn a so-so slideshow into something fun and engaging. Check out this Kizoa slideshow I did not long ago about Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery, about which (plug alert!) I have written two books.

Magnolia Birds - Kizoa Online Movie Maker


The College of Charleston's First Year Experience is really top notch. Its purpose is to better acclimate freshmen to life in college with all of its many challenges and opportunities. 

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.