Charleston historic site and cemetery update findings after 2 year study

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - McLeod Plantation Historic Site and the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission want to find family members linked to the remains on a Lowcountry cemetery.

Commission officials took over the property in 2011 and started the study in 2022. The initial study determined over 200 remains are located under the front four acres of the cemetery. Officials found 910 possible findings in the remaining acres of the property.

Contractors used ground penetrating radars to get images of findings and identified locations with numbered pink flags. Cultural History Interpretation Coordinator Toby Smith says the findings are a huge deal but not surprising.

“You see the indentations, you see the pink strips that are indicative of human remains and you see things that are likely spots of burial,” Smith says. “So when you take that all together, you come up with that grand number.”

Commission and historic site officials worked to find family lineage to the remains. Smith says they have a relationship with 35 to 40 descendants out of the hundreds of possibilities. The interpretation coordinator says she sits with families to get more information and catalogs findings. Officials say descendants will always be a part of the conversation.

Smith says some visitors to the site can get emotional. The interpretation coordinator says the space is not just a cemetery but a place of reconciliation.

“There are people who come here and just sob,” Smith says. “We have a lot of people in our arms for a lot of reasons but this tends to bring it all home so we work through the grief of that.”

The search for more descendants and anyone with cemetery information is still ongoing. Officials research obituaries, funeral home relationships, newspapers and archives to find information on the remains. Death certificates are resources because of their burial site evidence.

Officials are working to memorialize their findings to honor the remains resting in the space. The goal is for a memorial that will teach the history to visitors and include them in the project.

If you are a descendant or have information about the McLeod cemetery, please contact: Matthew Rosebrock, Charleston County Parks Foundation, matt.rosebrock@ccprc.com, or Toby Smith, Cultural History Interpretation Coordinator, toby.smith@ccprc.com, or call 843-795-4386. For more information on McLeod Plantation Historic Site, visit CharlestonCountyParks.com.