Bittersweet- Magnolia Cemetery

When I first stepped into Magnolia Cemetery I was in awe, the cemetery was breathtaking! I was stepping into the largest burial ground in Charleston that was 150 acres!! With my prior knowledge, I knew there were around 35,000 people buried there, along with the amount of history within the cemetery had me thrilled.  

  

When I first walked into the cemetery, I noticed the tall, big, black fence. This was not any normal fence, but had beautiful designs on the top of the fence.  As seen on the left, there is also a beautiful pathway which leads visitors throughout the cemetery. Then, a little further down this path, there was a beautiful bridge with ponds and greenery surrounding this area. I was amazed on how a simple bridge surrounded by greenery could look so beautiful.








After looking around for a little while, I thought about what Professor Patrick Harwood asked us and that was, "What are your three favorite grave markings?" I knew this would be difficult to decide, considering there were many "showy" grave markers.  I decided to look at the artwork, along with the quotes marked on the grave markers when choosing my three favorites.

To the right is a grave which caught my eye because of the height of the obelisk.  This grave marker belongs to Langdon Cheves who was born on September 17th, 1776, and died on June 26th, 1857. These dates were surprising to me because he lived until he was 81 years old! While this may not seem old, 81 was considered a long life during the 1700's because of the lack of medical advancements during the time.

Also, on the side of the obelisk, it says, "Husband and father, kind and affectionate- true friend- indulgent master- just and generous to all- with duty ever his great word of action." This caught my attention because of such kind words said about Cheves. He must have been an amazing man!

To the left was one of my other favorite grave markers, which belongs to Joseph John Legare. This grave marker is a mausoleum and says, "In memory of Joseph John Legare Died Dec. 6. 1901. Aged 73 Years. Requiescat in Pace." These words caught my attention because it did not say the date of his birth which must indicate that they were unsure the exact day he was born. Also, "requiescat in pace" stood out because I was not sure what this meant.  I later found out that this was a latin phrase for "may he begin to rest in peace."

Lastly, these four slant markers caught my eye! These caught my eye because this was a wife and a husband, the wife's sisters, and their child.  I thought it was very kind, and showed that the two families were close considering the wife's sister was buried along with, "Harriet Simons wife of W.R. Mayrant." Lastly, along the edge, above Mayrant, it says "in perpetual care." I had no idea what this meant, so I decided to google it and learned that this phrase allows the cemetery to keep general maintenance around this grave.








While this was a wonderful experience visiting Magnolia Cemetery, it was also bittersweet.  This was my last visit to the cemeteries with my class! Although, I will be visiting cemeteries on my own to see the beauty provided by magnificent grave markers, it will not be the same without my class!