James Island neighbors clean up old slave cemetery

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A group of James Island neighbors are working together to preserve gravestones of former slaves and their descendants thirteen years after power crews discovered them.

For years, Angela Burgess would walk by an area of overgrown brush off Secessionville Road on James Island and wonder what was there. She eventually learned there were headstones underneath all of the brush. In February, she decided it was time for this place to be respected.

“If it was me and I was a survivor, I would just be mortified if I came to that cemetery and found it in so much disarray,” Burgess said.

Burgess gathered a group of Lynwood neighbors who come out weekly to clear the brush, weeds, and vines that covered the headstones.

Since February, they have uncovered 52 headstones and there are still more under the brush.

“These folks who are buried here, they deserve the respect to have a nice cemetery,” Burgess said. “I’m hoping that we can find maybe some ancestors who are still alive that belong to the families. But to have this clean and looking great, it’s just amazing.”

For James Island native Latanya Allen, whose parents are buried in a historic Black cemetery on James Island, preserving cemeteries is a way to carry on the legacy.

“Keeping the cemeteries sacred and clean is a way that we can continue to pay back homage to our ancestors that have already passed away,” Allen said.

Burgess hopes that one day, family members can come to a park-like setting and pay their respects. She also said she would love it if it was established as a historic site.

The group is looking for others to lend a hand and supplies.

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