An evening stroll among 25,000 souls

Sometimes you just take a notion.

The other day, I took one to tour a historic graveyard, or, as my beloved Great Aunt Virginia of Edisto Island would’ve said, a “bury yard.”

On a humid Thursday night, with the rush-hour traffic slowing down and the cicadas cranking up, I joined a group of folks touring one of the most beautiful places in Columbia – Elmwood Cemetery. More than a 100 acres of grand old trees, winding pathways, and thousands of gravesites nestled near the juncture of Elmwood Avenue and northbound I-126.

It’s an amazing place.

The tour was sponsored by the Historic Columbia Foundation. Our guide was Walt Hall. He introduced himself by saying that when he was a little boy, he grew up on nearby Park Street and spent a lot of time “running through here playing with my buddies.”

I can only imagine. Beautiful, big-limbed trees to climb. Meandering paths to explore. The mysterious intrigue of buried bodies. Shoot, a perfect place for boys.

Hall started the tour by asking us to watch where we stepped – not on graves, please.

“There are 25,000 souls buried in this cemetery,” he said.

That certainly got my attention. You can bet I watched where I was putting my Size 9 feet so as not to disturb anyone, which meant my note-taking was less than satisfactory.

All that said, I did learn a few things.

After the city of Columbia was found in the late 1700s, citizens were most often buried in church cemeteries. A public cemetery was established in the Congaree Vista, but as the city became a transportation hub, freight yards moved into the area.

In 1854, Hall said, “A group of prominent Columbians formed a committee to create and locate a new large cemetery outside the city limits, on the northern boundary of the city.”

That boundary is where Elmwood Avenue is today.

The property that the city fathers chose was a 250-acre tract called Tickleberry Farm, owned by Col. A.A. Taylor. The property sold for $10,000.

“The committee decided on a park-like theme with winding paths, wildlife and many species of trees,” Hall said.

Of the thousands of people buried in Elmwood, there are some slaves, buried in the same family plots as their white owners. There are several hundred Confederate soldiers resting in a gated cemetery dedicated to the Confederate dead. There’re also a number of Union soldiers buried at Elmwood.

There are other cemeteries in the area as well. A potter’s field. A place for prisoners who died in state custody and whose bodies were not claimed by family. A cemetery for those of the Catholic faith. A cemetery for African-Americans.

If you’re into iconology, Elmwood is chockfull of it. Headstones marked with lambs are those of babies. Gravestones marked with a sheath of wheat suggest that the person lived a long and fruitful life. Roses on tombstones often represent young women. Rosebuds, little girls.

In fact, the first recorded burial in the cemetery was that of an 8-month-old female.

“There are lots of stories out here,” Hall said. “Really, thousands of stories.”

Like the bride who died the night before she was to be married. She was buried in her wedding dress.

Like the engineer whose train was crossing a bridge over the Broad River when it fell off the tracks. His tombstone has a train intricately sculpted into its base.

Like an abolitionist who lived in Columbia and was tarred and feathered by those who did not appreciate his sentiments.

Like W. T. White, a Charleston sculptor who made a good number of the older tombstones in Elmwood. He left no doubt about who made the grave markers, engraving his name into their bases.

Tours of the cemetery are offered by the Historic Columbia Foundation every second Thursday evening of each month, April through October. The tours fill up fast, so don’t tarry if you want to sign up.

And by all means, watch where you step.

Salley McInerney is a Columbia writer whose novel, Journey Proud, is based upon growing up in Columbia in the early 1960s. Ms. McInerney may be reached by emailing salley@hartcom.net.

This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 12:34 AM with the headline "An evening stroll among 25,000 souls."