King Street's Path to Narnia

"Our Little Maria"

King Street is well known for the expensive stores and exquisite restaurants, but hidden between is a pathway that leads to a place far different. Flowers and trees adorn the way to the graveyard of Unitarian Church. The church was build in 1772 on 4 Archdale Street Charleston, South Carolina. The yard has been lightly manicured, while still allowing the natural environment to grow freely.

Family plot

Family plots hold many old grave markers with carefully thought epitaphs and ornate fences. One grave states "with a mind strong, comprehensive and aspiring, he united those traits of character. which adorned the husband father and friend. In his death, Science and Literature have caused to mourn. &pure&liberal Christianity. to deplore the loss of an able advocate"

Epitaph

The hours and location of this graveyard make it's access limited, but appreciated. Ive always noticed tourists and mourners when i've visited the graveyard, as opposed to other burial sites that are usually vacant. Unitarian church has also held ghost tours since 1996. The beauty and mystery of this yard allows it to be a quiet place to spend time and appreciate the history of Charleston.

Charleston's Haunted Attraction

Introduction of Randall Jackson

T.V. shows about paranormal investigation always seems fake or at least dramatized, but after visiting the Old Charleston Jail, it seems far more real. Individuals in my tour group caught mysterious figures in pictures, left with scratch marks, and jumped at all the random slamming noises. In 1939, the jail closed and is now open for various tours and paranormal investigations. Randall Jackson of Bulldog Tours led my group and spoke with passion about the Jail’s horrific history.

Stairs in the Old Jail

The Jail opened in 1802 and held inmates like Denmark Vesey and Lavinia Fisher. The jail was built to hold around 130 inmates, but many prisoners were overcrowded into small cages. Jackson said that the peak occupancy was during the Civil War while the jail acted as a POW camp. While many inmates received a sentence to hang, or burn if you were a woman, an extra cruel sentence was lashes. The inmates were held up by ropes and the lashes tore away their

back skin, they were given in intervals if inmates could withstand infection and stay alive.

Lash room

Although the jail is closed, many of the unfortunate souls that died there are said to remain. The ghost of Lavinia Fisher is said to roam the halls and scratch the backs of young men. Another resident of the jail that Jackson spoke about was a man who calls himself “Animal”, he often walks on all fours and it was Jackson’s theory that he may have been a psychiatric patient who was kept in a cage so small that he could not move his arms and hurt anyone.

View from the cage room

The jail is an intriguing highlight of Charleston that is full of history and adventure. The various rooms hold artifacts and old graffiti that are a must see before it no longer available to be toured.

Recap of the semester!

Mysteries of Magnolia Cemetery

Magnolia Cemetery is one of Charelston, South Carolina's most beautiful gravesites. Surrounded by other cemeteries, there is no lack of intricate stones. What separates Magnolia from surrounding cemeteries is the amount of family plots. One that really stood out to me was the Gruver family plot. Charles Laney Meyer, a doctor of Charleston, was born January 17th, 1927 and died on December 31, 1895. His epitaph reads "Blessed is he that considereth the poor. His name shall live after him." His memorial also features an urn, books, and drapery, these symbols indicatie he was well educated.  The other marker on the plot belongs to Lucille Simons Meyer Gruver, she was born December 8th, 1835 and died May 28th, 1898. Her epitaph is illegible, but her cradle gravestone is adorned with flowers.

Grucer plot

Another thing I noticed was how beautiful the space was, the city of Charleston can often feel overwhelming and loud, but walking a couple miles from downtown and into this area is like an escape. In the cemetery, there is a saltwater pond where you can walk across a bridge and see fish jumping while enjoying the sounds of various birds. There is also a beautiful view of the marsh surrounded by the sculpted stone.

View from the bridge

Before visiting Magnolia, I had never heard of a receiving tomb. In his book, In the Arms of Angels, Patrick Harwood defines the purpose of this receiving tomb as a place "to keep the departed safe and secure until their gravesites could be completed." This tomb is one of the original buildings in the cemetery and has been preserved to the immaculate condition it is in today.

Receiving tomb

Magnolia Cemetery is like a hidden escape that humbles and allows creative thought. With countless important lives hidden in its many acres,  the possibilities for new knowledge and research are endless. Findagrave.com, ancestry.com, and In the Arms of Angels by Patrick Harwood are all very helpful resources for digging deeper into the mysteries Magnolia has to offer.

Class photo

Cathedral Church's Hidden Genius

      I had always assumed that mainly big grave monuments held the most prominent people, but I was proved wrong when I chose to research an individual with a modest marker. Stephen Elliot was born in Beaufort, South Carolina on November 11, 1771. Although he suffered the tragedy of loosing his parents at a young age, Elliot was very intelligent and determined to succeed. He graduation from Yale University and was also awarded honorary law degrees from Yale, Harvard, and Columbia as well as an honorary M.D. from MUSC. 

     After returning from Yale University, he started conducting experiments and collecting data using his personal plantations he inherited. During this time, he met Ester Habersham whom he would later marry and have thirteen children with. Elliot would go on to be a South Carolina legislator, during his time serving in the State Senate, he helped pass the Free School Act and wrote an act which created the Bank of the State of South Carolina. Elliot left his position to become president of the bank, and he held the position until his death. While he is well known for his work as a legislator and banker, he is best known for his contributions in the field of Botany that can be seen in his many published books on the subject. While his contributions in this field was his life's work, he was also very knowledgable on ichthyology, conchology, and entomology.

      Elliot's passion for education stuck with him, he was a founder of the Medical University of South Carolina and was the first professor of natural history and botany at the University. Elliot was not only dedicated to improving the education system, but also the Charleston community as a whole; he was president of the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina, helped oversee the Orphan House and launched the Southern Review with Hugh Swinton Legare. 

     Elliot died on March 30, 1830;  As I found in a memorial article written by Clara Childs Puckett, he was an "enlightened leader, enthusiastic promoter and supporter of every movement aiming at intellectual or spiritual enrichment or advancement."

      He is buried in Cathedral Church of Saint Luke and Saint Paul, the graveyard is well kept and holds many intricate and diverse grave markers. His memorial is a headstone that includes his parents’ names, William Elliot and Mary Barnwell Elliot, as well his occupations “Botanist, Banker, Planter, Legislator, Teacher.” 

     I began my search for a historic Charlestonian by looking for the biggest and most extravagant gravestones, while still writing down the names of those with more humble markers to have options. In my research, I found that the individuals with extravagant markers had less information out and made less of an impact than I expected. 
     Although I had no prior knowledge of Elliot and he had a rather plain marker, I expected to find information about his life due to his many occupations. However, I had no idea how big of an impact he had on the scientific field of botany and on Charleston’s education. Although his marker does not make as big of an impression as Elliot himself, it creates a mystery for what other inspiring individuals are hidden in Charleston’s many grave-sites.

Stephen Elliot

Stephen Elliot's headstone

The Grave of My Ancestors

Ivan Kabanuk, a Russian immigrant, portrayed how real the American dream could become with hard work and dedication. Kabanuk was born in Russia (what is now the Ukraine) in October of 1895. He immigrated from Russia to Cortland, New York with his pregnant wife, Mary Kabanuk, in 1913. The United States of America offered hope and new opportunity that pre-revolutionary Russia didn’t. At the time of their immigration, Russia had experienced a significant growth in population and industrialization; while this growth would eventually lead to higher wages and standards of living, the Kabanuks didn’t stay long enough to find out.

 After migrating to New York, Ivan and Mary Kabanuk bought a townhouse at 24 Pine Street in Cortland, New York. The house has been passed down, so my grandfather, mother, and I have all been raised there; the connected residence was given to my great uncle who passed it down as well. In Russia, Ivan worked in the steel wire mill. In New York he began working at a factory until he bought his own bar, “Ivan’s”, named after himself, that still exists in Cortland.

Ivan died in November of 1975 and was buried in Cortland Rural Cemetery with his wife, Mary, who died in 1997. They lay in a public 19^th century rural style cemetery, with a flush marker style headstone. 

I chose to research my great-great-grandfather Ivan Kabanuk because I grew up hearing stories about his immigration with Mary Kabanuk. My mother often talked about how strong Mary must have been to board a ship while pregnant and move to a new country not knowing what to expect when she got there. I began my research using Ancestry.com, this offered many records, offering insight on occupation, migration, life, and death. I then went to Findagrave.com to find their cemetery and gravestone. Once I had this information I looked deeper as to what style cemetery and gravestone, as well as asking relatives for more personal knowledge. Lastly, I researched pre-revolutionary Russia to understand what was happening culturally and if that may have had an effect on their decision to migrate.