Strengthening Protections: Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds

Did you know there are more than 200 burial grounds across downtown, Cainhoy, West Ashley, and local sea islands? And that 75% of those are estimated to be the final resting places of Black Charlestonians?

A brand new interactive map, unveiled this week by the Preservation Society (PSC), charts these sacred sites citywide as part of the Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds project.

EXPLORE THE MAP NOW

For more than two years, the PSC, with the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project, has engaged the community to document and aggregate research from dozens of sources to create a comprehensive resource that can strengthen local protections for vulnerable burial sites.

A 2021 ordinance adopted by City Council enables basic protections afforded by state law. But even those well-intentioned measures are ineffective without documentation of these sacred places. That’s where this map plays an important role.

From the earliest days of this project, it was clear that communities throughout Charleston carry powerful memories of these resting places. This map serves as a central place to interpret those memories and offers a glimpse into the lives  of people who came before us, especially those of African descent whose experiences are underrepresented in the historical record.

Each burial site on the map strengthens the cause of protecting these sensitive sites, and educating the public about our cultural heritage.

SPOTLIGHT: Nelliefield Creek Cemetery

At a Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds community meeting in August 2023, Cainhoy residents shared knowledge of the Nelliefield Creek Cemetery (also known as the Keith Family Cemetery) as a historic African American burial site in need of recognition and protection.

The once overgrown and under-documented site is now not only visible on the map, but within the community thanks to the volunteer efforts of descendants, members of the nearby St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, the Daniel Island Historical Society, Simply Green Landscaping, and archaeologists from Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, who joined forces to clear a path to and document the site this year. Research is ongoing and PSC looks forward to continuing to update the map with new information on the cemetery’s history. 

Nelliefield Creek Cemetery represents the potential this map unlocks for relationship-building, education, and preservation that we hope to see more of as residents become aware of the burial grounds around them.  

We have already learned so much about these burial sites from descendant communities, and we know there is more to come.

Initiatives like Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds are core to the Preservation Society’s work to expand the historical narrative and continue protecting historic resources across the Charleston area.

Explore the map today and visit preservationsociety.org for a full tutorial on how to navigate this resource.