The Grave Marker: An Expert Lecture from Ruth Miller On Religious History and How It Effected Grave Markers

When the Carolinas started evolving, religion was a central part of daily life, and tolerance allowed a variety of beliefs. These beliefs can be seen in the symbols and writings that encase their memorial markers. An expert on the variety of religious branching and evolution throughout the Carolinas is Ruth Miller. Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture from Miller about South Carolina's religious history and how it shaped various Charleston graveyards. Her impeccable knowledge of historic events helped explain the branching of religion, the geographical separation of the colonies, and the cultural traditions that influenced the grave styles of the eightteenth century.

Although Miller mainly focused on South Carolina's history in the lecture I attended, she seemed to be an expert on the history of many diverse gravesite locations. She began by telling the story of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, an English businessman. The Carolinas were given to Cooper, and it was his job to make the colony prosper. Since it was just beginning to be populated, He would give land as an incentive for people come live there and work. Miller even said, “Men who came were given more incentive to bring slaves than their wives.”
From the beginning of migration into South Carolina, everyone was welcomed with religiously tolerance. Miller described it as, “more liberal than our tax laws.” And up until the Jim Crow laws were unjustly passed, African Americans could attend any church of their preference. Miller continued to described how the Protestants, who were protesting either the Catholic or Anglican churches, descended into the Puritans. While first generation Puritans were firm about their beliefs and protest, the later generations eventually died out.

After explaining how the different religions migrated, formed, and in some cases, died out, Miller talked about their burial and grave-marking traditions. She described the evolution of skull engravings that turned to cherubs as the styles of the time period changed. She also shed light on all of the bodies buried under the city of Charleston, paved over, and forgotten; even the MUSC land plot used to be a burial ground for those who died of mass epidemics.

Ruth Miller had a fascination that grew into a vast passion for the history of gravesites and the stories behind them, her lecture was very informative and I would highly recommend attending one!