Bodies buried for over 100 years in Lexington County could be dug up for I-26 roadwork
Someone with family ties in Lexington County dating back to the 1800s could decide the fate of an old country graveyard that could soon be lost to roadwork on Interstate 26.
Last week, the S.C. Department of Transportation asked Lexington County Council to approve relocating five bodies it discovered buried in the path of a road-widening project. The department will rebury the remains that are believed to have rested in a private Stack family burial plot near Chapin for more than 100 years.
But first, officials are trying to locate any surviving relatives of the family buried there.
During its initial review of the area, DOT had already identified two marked graves off Brentwood Court and Ellett Road west of Exit 91 onto Columbia Avenue. Since then, archaeological work uncovered the three more, unmarked graves, all of which fall into the right-of-way construction crews will need to expand the highway.
“We looked at alternatives to stay out of that area, but a future widening is going to get us back into this situation,” Brad Reynolds, the project manager, told the county council.
Through property records and names on the marked graves, DOT was able to tie the graveyard to the Stack family. The two marked graves belong to Mary Emma and Claudie Maquilla Stack, two sisters who both died before the age of 2 and were buried in 1870 and 1873, respectively.
Their parents, Hamilton Edward and Mary Elizabeth Cumalander Stack, were later buried with six other children who survived to adulthood in Columbia’s Elmwood Cemetery. If no living relatives can be found, the bodies from Chapin will be reinterred there, since they are believed to be part of the same family, Reynolds said.
“We’ve advertised in the local papers to see if there is any family to come forth about these sites,” Reynolds said. “I don’t think we’ve identified any descendants who are alive.”
State law allows the graves to be moved after public notice has been issued. In the 1950s, the highway department moved several graves in the area to make way for the interstate, said DOT environmental director Chad Long. Based on their research, transportation officials believe about 14 graves remain in the area, Reynolds said.
Lexington County Council gave DOT 90 days to find a living relative to the Stacks buried off I-26, before the bodies are moved and reburied. The transportation department will report back to county council if the department does locate any relatives.
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