09/27/2017
It’s official!
News: New Listing in the National Register of Historic Places
Charleston Cemeteries Historic District, Huguenin Ave., roughly bounded by Algonquin Rd., N. Romney St., Meeting St., and the CSX Railroad, Charleston
The Charleston Cemeteries Historic District was formerly the Magnolia Umbra Plantation. Beginning in 1849, the property underwent an eighteen-month transition under the guidance of South Carolina architect Edward C. Jones in the spirit of the rural cemetery movement. The first established cemetery was the Magnolia Cemetery; however, expansion and completion of additional cemeteries happened almost immediately and the cemetery district continued to grow through the mid-twentieth century. Located at the northern boundary of the city of Charleston, South Carolina the Cemeteries Historic District is composed of twenty-three cemeteries established between 1850 and 1956. The Cemeteries Historic District is significant under Criteria A and C. Criterion A in the area of social history for the evidence the district provides regarding the burial practices of a diverse swath of Charleston’s population from 1850-1956. The variety of funerary art, ranging from the high-style and monumental carvings, mausoleums, and monuments, to simple vernacular grave markers, also makes it significant under Criterion C for funerary art.
Moreover, portions of the district embody the distinct characteristics of the rural cemetery movement including landscaping, monuments, spatial layout, and decorative fencing, making it significant in the area of landscape architecture. The period of significance begins in 1850, with the founding of Magnolia Cemetery, and concludes in 1956 when the Brown Fellowship Society cemetery, formerly on Pitt Street, was relocated here.
Listed in the National Register on July 24, 2017.
