Bittersweet Ending to the Semester!

Graveyard class

Old City Jail Tour

If you have not taken a trip to the Old Charleston Jail, you should! The experience was much creepier than I expected and I would recommend anyone to go! At first, I thought that I would not experience any paranormal activity, but I was wrong! A classmate took a picture of a "ghost" and apparently, he was scratched by something! As well as all of the weird noises we heard while on the tour. It was super creepy! Bulldog Tours, Inc. gave us the tour and it was really cool. Click the link for more information on their tours!

Old City Jail on the outside

Here is a picture of our tour guide, Randy Johnson

Aside from being paranormal, our tour was very informative on the history of the jail. Our tour guide, Randy Johnson, gave us a lot of information on the history of the jail and the people who stayed there. The Old City Jail dates back to 1802. Even before then, there were people buried on the land and it makes the jail even creepier!

"What they used this land for back then was a burial ground. There are thousands of bodies under here," Randy told us before going inside the jail. So, just imagine how many people were buried here before the jail was built, plus the 14,000 people who died in the jail.

 "When they shut it down in 1939 pursuing an order from a federal judge, citing inhumane conditions inside the jail, it had over 250 prisoners." The peak occupancy was during the American Civil War when the Confederate Army turned the jail into a POW camp, with 1,200 people in the jail.

The ropes and the two noose knots.

In his hand is the replica of what would have
been used 50+ years ago.

The first place that we got to see was the room with the stretching ropes. This was very weird at first because it had two noose knots and two ropes hanging down.

 He explained that the person would put their hands in the noose and their feet would be tied to the ground with a rope.




After they were in it, they would stretch them by pulling the other ropes and whip them with a leather whip with glass shards and metal shards in the leather. He had a replica of what it would have looked like, but it was with cloth and without the metal shards in it.

These tallies are graffiti left from whenever the prisoners
were counting the days.

This graffiti shows their names and drawings the
prisoners would carve in the wall.

Another place we visited was on the second floor of the jail. It was where the cages were kept and it was initially supposed to be one person per cage, but eventually, there were up to 11 people in each one. They had to take turns sleeping because not all of them could fit laying down.

Replica of the cage.

Randy also explained that the ghost of Lavinia Fisher is seen on this floor. Lavinia Fisher was the first serial killer in America. She and her husband murdered many people and they stayed in this jail, and both of them died right outside of the jail. The outside used to be where the gallows were located and that is where she and her husband were hanged.

The scratch that one of our classmates received could have been her ghost because our tour guide told us that she is known to scratch younger men, and he also got a picture of a ghost figure on the same floor.

1st floor

This picture on the left shows the first floor that we were on. This floor was the creepiest floor because of all of the noises, as well as the stories of this floor. This floor is where the insane prisoners were held. I did not get a picture of the cells that they stayed in, but it was pretty small.

It is told that there was a man who called himself "Animal" and he was kept on this floor as an insane prisoner. His ghost still goes around on this floor grabbing people by their ankles, walking on all fours. He could have called himself "Animal" because of him being mentally insane. No one in our group experienced the ankle grabbing, thank goodness.

This is the floor where we heard the most noises. There was a banging noise on the same floor we were on and then we headed towards the noise! I was creeped out, but I eventually paired up with someone so we would be safe together. The last room we were in was where we turned the lights off and of course, there was a loud bang with the lights off. Scary stuff, but it was our last room and I was ready to get out of there.

The electric chair we saw that was left in the jail.

I enjoyed the jail visit more than I thought I would have. I had an adrenaline rush throughout the tour, especially whenever we heard those noises. I was very anxious because I thought that something would happen to us, it was really cool though. I loved it and it makes me want to go to some other haunted tours in Charleston and hear the history behind it! This was my favorite visit we had throughout the semester.

Expressions of Epic Epitaphs at Magnolia!

There are 35,000 people buried in Magnolia Cemetery. Out of these 35,000, I found 10 really beautiful grave markers to use the epitaphs for this blog post!

Cradle/bedstead grave marker

"Manigault", born July 7, 1883, died
Feb. 1, 1888

"A lily barely blown, transplanted with God to live."

Cradle/bedstead grave marker

J.C. Bradley, born on Sept.30, 1839, died Nov. 30, 1891
M.L. Bradley, born on Oct. 12, 1839, died Jan. 24, 1894

Pedestal grave marker

Rachel Davies, died Oct. 2,1849 (72)
David W. Davies, died Oct. 13, 2849 (40)

Cradle/bedstead grave marker

Ann Julia Brown, born Nov. 3, 1832, died
Dec. 1, 1905.

Thaddeus Street, born March 9, 1838, died
Nov. 9, 1895 

Cradle/bedstead grave marker.

Masterpiece grave marker

Caroline Secress, born May 29, 1802, died
Oct. 8, 1861

Cradle/bedstead grave marker

"They have left us with precious memories."

Maime E. Weisner, born 1865, died 1904

Slant bevel marker

Edwin Kerrison Leiding, died May 22, 1872,
at the age of 18

Cornelia, born June 3, 1848, died April 24,
1871

Pedestal and column mixture grave marker

Die on socket grave marker

Edwin Lane Kerrison, died April 22, 1893, aged
30 years

"Their virtues we forbear to tell. They are registered in Heaven."

"Thy will be done."

"My trust is in the tender mercy of God. Forever and ever."

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."

" They do rest from their labour and their works do follow them."

" In peace let me resign my breath. And thy salvation see, My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me."

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."

"Saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

These epitaphs have strong meaning for their loved ones who have passed. They are written beautifully, and with love, no matter the length of them. I enjoyed looking at all of the epitaphs and the difference in each one.

Wonderful, Majestic, Magnolia Cemetery!

Charleston's most beautiful, historical grave markers lay at Magnolia Cemetery, right off of Cunnington Avenue. I thought that the cemetery was beautiful and each grave marker was beautiful on its own as well! The cemetery was very big, much larger than I expected. I enjoyed the experience of getting to see the cemetery in person and getting a lot of great pictures!

A picture of one of the ponds and the bridge that connects
the two sides together.

There were ponds at the cemetery, there were walkways, there was even a bridge that connected the two sides together! It was so big that I thought I would have gotten lost, but it was not as bad as I thought.

The walkways were nice in the front and the back. The cool thing about going toward the back, we got to see the older grave markers. The walkways and driveways are nice for people to go through the cemetery. The area is 150 acres, so there was a lot of ground to cover, but we did it!

The ponds just make the cemetery better! There are always birds in the ponds, or around it which is cool to watch if you're there.

The walkways/road for people to go through the
cemetery.

This is toward the entrance of the cemetery.

I had many favorites from this cemetery because there is so much beauty and art around! I loved how detailed and sentimental these grave markers were. Out of all of them, below are my top three. It is amazing how different they compare to today's markers!

Lizzie Patrick's grave marker

Lizzie Patrick died of scarlatina.

  "Our Darling Lizzie, Died Nov. 27th, 1885. Aged 4 years, 1 month and 3 days/Patrick"

Rosalie Raymond's grave marker.

This beautiful masterpiece, an angel holding a cross, in sadness. This represents that the little girl is going to be taken care of in heaven.

Rosalie Raymond died of cyanosis.

Rev. Issac E.H. Seymour's grave marker.

"Infant daughter of B.L. et R.R. White, Born January 27th, 1882, died September 5th, 1882/Rosalie Raymond"

I am not sure on how Rev. Issac E.H. Seymour
died. I looked into it but the death record on
ancestry showed his daughters death record and
not his own.

This is considered a masterpiece as well! The blue in her face represents what she died of, the "blue disease", aka cyanosis. It looks like a stroller, designed that way because she was a baby when she died.

"Rev. I.E.H. Seymour, Late Pastor of the Baptist Church of Unionville, S.C., This young and faithful minister of the cross, fell asleep in Jesus on 17. Jany, 1861."

This is another masterpiece with some extra symbolism. There is an hourglass, which represents the passing of time and shortening of life.

Our class picture, because I forgot to take a selfie, oops.

I loved the visit to Magnolia Cemetery! It was amazing to see all of the historical grave markers, including the ones Mr. Harwood mentioned in his book. Overall, I enjoyed taking the field trip and looking all around the cemetery. I may even show my family whenever they come back just so they can see a some of the history behind Charleston's cemeteries. It was a very fun visit!

Thanks to Mr. Harwood for letting me use some of his information from this book for my blogpost!

Dr. Columbus DaVega's Mark on Charleston!

Dr. Columbus DaVega

Dr. Columbus DaVega, born December 23, 1830, was one of Charleston's very own! He accomplished so many things during his lifetime and his achievements interested me from the start!

For starters, he was a surgeon and practiced medicine throughout his adult life. In 1852, he got his medical degree at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina (which later became MUSC), in Charleston, SC. He became a physician after obtaining his medical degree and went into the Russian War in 1853 as a surgeon.

Soon after he returned to Charleston from the Russian War, he decided to be surgeon-in-chief for a hospital attached to a floating battery. The cool thing about this is that he designed the hospital himself, during the Civil War! The hospital was a one-story wooden structure outfitted with ten beds and medical supplies to treat soldiers wounded aboard the battery. This battery was designed so that the soldiers could attack Fort Sumter from the water. He was a surgeon in the 23rd Infantry during the Civil War until 1868, whenever he resigned.

The hospital attached to the floating battery.

This is the inside of the hospital.

 Another cool thing about Dr. Columbus DaVega is that he invented the improvement of audiphones, which would be known as hearing aids today. These audiphones allowed deaf people to hear through the medium of their teeth, weird right? The vibrations allow the deaf person to "hear". His invention intention was to be able to provide an audiphone of convenient size for the person using it.

The US Patent Office audiphone patent.

This is the audiphone improvement he invented.

A year after he was awarded the US patent for an audiphone, he died on 27 Coming St., Charleston, SC, in 1882. He died of spinal disease & cerebral effusion. It is known that he was married whenever he died, but the whereabouts of his wife remains unknown.

He is buried in the Coming Street Cemetery, which is the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South. The cemetery was difficult to get into, so I assume it is very private for people to go into. Whenever I went to take the pictures, there were people inside doing yard work. The gates are very small too, so I got lucky to be able to even go in to take the pictures.

This is an up-close picture of the grave marker.

This is a picture of the die on socket, stacked.

These pictures above show his grave marker. His grave marker is a stacked die on socket. There is a vine-like plant on the top of his marker. The vine represents the sacraments, God's blood, or God. It reads "In Memory of Dr. C. DaVega/Born December 23, 1830/Died July 14, 1882/Erected by his wife.

Death certificate

27 Coming Street, where he died.

I chose to use Dr. Columbus DaVega for this project because I thought he did some pretty cool things throughout his life. I also wanted to be different than the class and find a cemetery that I thought no one would use. Also, the cemetery was right down the road, anyways. Dr. Columbus DaVega was very successful throughout his lifetime and he made a huge impact on Charleston during the war.

 I did not look into if any of his ancestors were still around the Charleston area or not, there were not any flowers or anything by his grave. Hopefully, he will be remembered for what he did and his accomplishments will live on in the history of Charleston, South Carolina!

Works cited:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33836698/columbus-davega
https://www.ancestry.com
http://www.thecemeteryclub.com/symbols.html
http://www.charlestonmercury.com/index.php/en/history/66-deep-colonial-roots-for-coming-street-cemetery

Dr. Dickinson's Dandy Visit!

"I've been teaching death and dying since 1975"

-George E. Dickinson

Dr. Dickinson talking to us during his visit.

Thinking of death is kind of scary. We never know what is to come in the "afterlife". We never know when our time is.What we do know is that death is real and it is guaranteed. 

Our class, on April 2, had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Dickinson and hearing his expertise on death and dying. He has been a professor at the College of Charleston for 30 years and teaches death and dying, sociology, and aging. 

During his visit, he explained "the American way of death" to us. I thought there were some really interesting things that he shared with our class!

One thing that stood out to me the most was that our society denies death. "We avoid death conversations, we don't feel comfortable with it." This is so true because a lot of people do not want to face the fact that death is real. Even if they have understood that death is real, it is not a thing that people want to discuss.

Euphemisms are used to explain death in a less harsh way. For example, someone may say "Your mother has passed away, or there's been an accident".

Another point that he made was that there is a fear or anxiety of death. “There is a fear of what is out there in the unknown”. We don’t have a definite answer to where we go, so obviously, there is a fear. Near death, we think about loved ones, things we love in life and sadness takes over. This happens because we are going to lose them and they’re losing that person. “We were taught to be independent”. Near death, the person is losing their independence, if due to medical reasons.

He also mentioned that there is a Swiss-American psychiatrist named Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and her five steps of the dying process.
1. It is very common to deny death because we don’t want to hear it. 

2. Anger as well, if someone is really angry, they may take it out on a person who is working in a medical setting (just being a stage of death).

3. Bargaining and trying to do things for God in order to make it further, rather than dying.

4. There is also depression, in which the person accepts the fact that they're dying but is very upset about the situation.

5. With acceptance, most doctors suggest that most people are pretty accepting that they’re dying, especially at old age.

I was actually very interested in what he had to say. Mostly, because there are so many things that he said and they were true, but I never really thought about them. I enjoyed his lecture and may even take one of his courses throughout my college career!

Discovering Our Dear Ancestors

Do you ever think about your ancestry past? If not, you should take the chance to do so! I recently just did some research on my great-grandfather, Harold Clement McGee, on my mother's side of the family. He is also known by the name "Trigger", but I'm not sure on the background of how that came about. My great-grandmother helped me understand the person he was back then by talking with me throughout my spring break.

When he was 18, first going into the Navy in WWII.

I never had the chance to meet my great-grandfather. He was born March 13, 1925, in Oxford NC, and he died January 24, 1981, in Greenville, SC. I have heard many stories of him throughout the years, but now I know more than I ever have! He was a genuinely good person and cared for others more than himself. 

A picture of when he volunteered at the Hejaz
Shrine Temple

My great-grandmother explained to me that he was in the US Navy during World War II for 3 years, as a Boatswain's mate (2nd class), volunteered for the Hejaz Shrine Temple, and worked in the textile industry for the rest of his years outside of the military.

During his time at the Hejaz Shrine Temple, he was a charter member of Hejaz Air Squadron, which was one of the largest units there at the time. The unit put on air shows and had parades with miniature planes in them!

His pilot license!

Not only was he a part of the Hejaz unit, he even had a pilot's license! It is super cool to me how someone in my family knew how to fly a plane! 

Also, my grandmother explained to me that he worked in the textile industry and took me to one of the mills that he used to work at, in my hometown, Greenville, SC. 

This used to be the old mill in Greenville, but it has been
changed to International Textile Group.

One of the old pictures of him in this same building, to the left

"He was an outside person and he loved his work. He was an outgoing person. He wasn't strict strict with the children, but he was stricter than me," a quote from my great-grandmother, Maude McGee, when I asked her to describe what kind of person he was.

My great-grandfather was happily married to my great-grandmother for 32 years. He died on January 24, 1981, of a heart attack. My great-grandmother also told me that he chose where he wanted to be buried before he died. He is buried at Graceland West Cemetery and Mausoleum, in Greenville, SC.

His grave marker at the cemetery.

He chose to be buried here because he knew of some people who were selling land to people at the cemetery. His grave marker is a flush headstone marker with a cross on the bottom along with his ranking in the Navy in WWII.

I chose to use him for this project because I thought that he was someone I hear about a lot in the family, and I wanted to get to understand more about him! I am glad that I did choose him for the project because I know more about him and more of who he was!

He will be remembered by our family by his achievements, such as being in the Navy, work, and so on. I believe he was a great person from what I hear from my family. I am glad I understand him more than before and I will be able to talk to my future family about him!