Spanish moss hangs low over the graves of Magnolia Cemetery, catching the morning sunlight and bringing a haunting beauty to dozens of acres on hallowed grounds on the outskirts of Charleston. Walking through row upon row of memorials, lichen-covered monuments and occasionally rusted fences around family plots pulls visitors back in time. You kind of feel like you’re a spectator in the Savannah book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — but in Charleston.
A large mausoleum anchors the entrance of the cemetery before its rambling paved and dirt paths spiderweb outward, leading to hundreds of gravesites — some dating back to colonial-era Charleston. The grim quiet is compounded by the serenity of the marsh as herons gently swoop across the still water and the Ravenel Bridge looms in the background against the Lowcountry sky. It’s no wonder why the cemetery, dedicated in 1850, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In Magnolia and several other historic and picturesque cemeteries tucked behind churches or along the edges of Lowcountry salt marshes lie scores of people who made a mark on history. From statesmen and war heroes to pirates and poets, Charleston has seen more than its fair share of historic burials.
8 graves to find
Here is a list of eight people, in no particular order, buried in one of Charleston’s most stirring and beautiful locations, Magnolia Cemetery. It’s open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during daylight saving time. More: magnoliacemetery.net
Julius Waties Waring (1881-1968)
Serving as a federal judge in South Carolina in the 1940s and early 1950s, Julius Waties Waring is regarded by many as a civil rights hero after he concluded that segregation was not only wrong but unlawful. Waring issued a series of decisions attacking Jim Crow laws, including a famous 1952 dissenting opinion about a South Carolina school segregation case that shaped the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954.
Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. (1911-2001)
Frank Gilbreth, Jr. co-authored the book Cheaper by the Dozen with his sister Ernestine in 1948. The book was an instant hit and has since been re-issued several times, remaining in print today.
Josephine Lyons Scott Pinckney (1895-1957)
Charleston native Josephine Pinckney was a novelist and poet during the literary revival of the American South in the wake of World War I. An active member of the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals, which transcribed and annotated African American music, Pinckney was involved in several local and institutions devoted to the historic preservation of Charleston, including the Charleston Museum and Dock Street Theatre.
Robert Bentham Simons, Sr. (1888-1971)
A Charleston native, U.S. Navy Admiral Robert Simons, Sr. served on several ships through World War I. He eventually was promoted to the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Raleigh, a cruiser stationed in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. His ship was struck by a torpedo, a bomb, and more, though it did not sink, earning him the Legion of Merit and other accolades.
Andrew Gordon Magrath (1812-1893)
S.C. jurist Andrew Magrath famously resigned from his seat as a federal judge in November 1860 following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. This move is often considered the first overt step toward secession in South Carolina. Magrath later served as the last governor of South Carolina during the American Civil War under the Confederate States of America from Dec. 20, 1846 to May 25, 1865.
Horace Lawson Hunley (1827-1863)
Horace Hunley was the chief inventor of the H.L. Hunley submarine in 1863, which lost 13 crew members during testing, including Hunley himself. The vessel was raised again, however, in 1864, when it was used in the first successful sinking of an enemy vessel by submarine in naval history. The attack also sank the Hunley herself, and all eight members of its crew died, bringing the Hunley’s total death toll to 21. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery alongside the other crew members of the Hunley.
William Ashmead Courtenay (1831-1908)
William Courtenay was elected mayor of Charleston in the fall of 1879. During his tenure, he made improvements to public spaces, rehabilitated public hospitals and established the city’s first professional fire department. He accomplished all of this while reducing taxes for residents and while combating a major hurricane in 1885 and the Great Earthquake of 1886.
Colonel Robert E. Lee III (1869-1922)
Robert E. Lee III was the grandson of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and a prominent member of Washington, D.C., society. His wife, Mary Middleton, was widowed before her marriage to Lee. Not wanting to tempt fate a third time, she refrained from a third marriage after Lee’s death and was eventually buried with him in 1959 in Magnolia Cemetery.
Other notable graves
Here are some other notable people buried in other cemeteries in Charleston.
Ernest Frederick “Fritz” Hollings — (1922-2019)
Fritz Hollings served as the 106th governor of South Carolina from 1959 to 1963 and represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1966 to 2005, becoming one of the longest-serving senators in the nation’s history. His 1970 book, The Case Against Hunger, is regarded as an important contribution to the development of anti-poverty programs. He and his late wife, Rita Louise “Peatsy” Hollings, are buried in Bethany Cemetery, a 25-acre cemetery operated by the Lutheran Church and located adjacent to Magnolia.
Stede Bonnet — (1688-1718)
Stede Bonnet was a notorious pirate who operated in the Caribbean Sea in the early 1700s. In January 1718, Bonnet ran aground in North Carolina, where he was captured by South Carolinian naval forces and brought to trial on Sullivan’s Island alongside 29 members of his crew in November. Bonnet was executed at White Point Gardens and buried at the edge of the swamp below the high water mark, alongside the bodies of his crew.
John Caldwell Calhoun — (1782-1850)
John C. Calhoun served as the seventh U.S. Vice President after beginning his political career as a nationalist, a modernizer and a proponent of a strong national government and protective taxes. After 1830, his views changed, and he became a greater supporter of states’ rights, limited government and free trade. He is best known for his intense defense of slavery as a “positive good,” rather than the more common argument of a “necessary evil.” He is buried in the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church Cemetery.
DuBose Heyward — (1885-1940)
Noted Southern writer DuBose Heyward is best known for his 1925 novel Porgy and the subsequent libretto of George Gershwin’s 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Heyward had a long interest in South Carolina Black culture and often performed with a Gullah singing group, which later helped inspire the basis of Porgy. Heyward is buried in the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church Cemetery.
John Rutledge — (1739-1800)
Second U.S. Supreme Court Justice and signer of the U.S. Constitution. John Rutledge was born in Charleston, where he practiced law and expanded his family’s successful agricultural business. His political career began in 1761, when he was elected to a seat in the provincial assembly. He pleaded for restraint in breaking away from England, but supported self government for the colonies. That moderate stance carried him into and through the Continental Congress before returning to South Carolina to help reorganize its government and write a state constitution. He was elected governor in 1779. He is buried in the St. Michael’s Church Cemetery.
Charleston Cotesworth Pinckney — (1746-1825)
Signer of the U.S. Constitution. Charles Pinckney served as a colonel for the Continental Army during the American Revolution, participating in battles at Brandywine and Germantown. In 1778, he returned to the South to thwart the advances of British forces before being captured as a prisoner of war in Charleston in 1780. He was later set free and went on to serve as a delegate to the Constitution Convention and even later as the American ambassador to France. He is buried in the St. Michael’s Church Cemetery.
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