Login
Login

Randolph Cemetery

{{Short description|Historic cemetery in South Carolina, United States}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Randolph Cemetery

| nrhp_type =

| image = Randolph Cemetery-01.jpg

| caption =

| location = Western terminus of Elmwood Ave., Columbia, South Carolina

| coordinates = {{coord|34|0|34|N|81|3|15|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = South Carolina#USA

| built = {{Start date|1872}}, 1899

| added = January 20, 1995

| area = {{convert|4|acre}}

| refnum = 94001573{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

Randolph Cemetery is a historic cemetery for African-Americans in Columbia, South Carolina. It was established in 1872 and expanded in 1899. It was named for Benjamin F. Randolph (1820–1868), who was reburied at the cemetery in 1871. Randolph was a militia leader protecting African Americans when he was assassinated. A memorial in his honor and for other African-American leaders killed was erected{{when|date=June 2021}}.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0PqDwAAQBAJ&dq=randolph+riflemen&pg=PA152 |title=Cultures of Memory in the Nineteenth Century: Consuming Commemoration |first1=Katherine Haldane |last1=Grenier |first2=Amanda R. |last2=Mushal |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9783030376475 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |via=Google Books}} Gravemarkers include both manufactured and vernacular homemade varieties. The cemetery holds eight Reconstruction Era state legislators.{{Cite web |author=Karen Nickless |title=Randolph Cemetery |publisher=National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory |date=May 1994 |url=http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/richland/S10817740105/S10817740105.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2014}}{{Cite web |title=Randolph Cemetery, Richland County (Elmwood Ave., Columbia) |publisher=National Register Properties in South Carolina, South Carolina Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/richland/S10817740105/index.htm |access-date=January 7, 2014}} It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

History

Randolph Cemetery was established as the first cemetery for Columbia's African-American population (up until then, African-Americans has been buried in the local potter's field called Lower Cemetery between the river and the current Randolph Cemetery).{{Cite web |title=Visit to Randolph and Lower Cemetery |date=January 4, 2014 |url=http://b3atleflute.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/visit-to-randolph-and-lower-cemetery-columbia-sc/ |access-date=August 1, 2014}} The cemetery initially consisted of three acres purchased from Elmwood Cemetery in 1872.{{Cite web |title=Historic Randolph Cemetery – History |url=http://www.historicrandolphcemetery.org/history/ |date=2010 |access-date=August 1, 2014}} An additional acre was purchased in 1899. Today it spans about six acres. But how those additional two acres were acquired is not clear.{{Cite report |author=Michael Trinkley and Debi Hacker |title=A Small Sample of Burials at Randolph Cemetery: What Their Stories Tell Us About the Cemetery and African American Life in Columbia |date=February 5, 2007 |publisher=Chicora Foundation, Inc. |url=http://www.chicora.org/pdfs/RC461.pdf |access-date=August 1, 2014}}

The cemetery fell into decline as the descendants of those interred and the owners of the remaining plots moved away, many as part of the Great Migration. The area became wilderness by the middle of the 20th century.

The city of Columbia began to clear it out with bulldozers as part of its urban renewal program in 1959, but the clearing was halted when Minnie Simons Williams, a local resident, drew the city's attention to the historical significance of the cemetery.{{Cite web |title=Historic Randolph Cemetery – Decline |url=http://www.historicrandolphcemetery.org/history/ |date=2010 |access-date=August 1, 2014}} Williams, along with descendants of the founders of the cemetery, reestablished the Randolph Cemetery Association and were given (through a legal suit) stewardship of the cemetery. The association has organized donations and volunteers to restore and maintain the cemetery.{{Cite web |title=Historic Randolph Cemetery – Committee for the Restoration & Beautification of Randolph Cemetery |url=http://www.historicrandolphcemetery.org/history/crbrc.php |date=2010 |access-date=August 1, 2014}}{{Dead link|date=March 2025}}

Notable burials

Gallery

File:Randolph Cemetery in Columbia, SC, facing east.jpg|Facing eastward

File:Benjamin Franklin Randolph monument.jpg|Benjamin Franklin Randolph monument

File:Grave of Agnes Jackson Simons in Randolph Cemetery.jpg|Grave of Agnes Jackson Simons, who constructed the Mann-Simons Cottage

File:George Elmore memorial in Randolph Cemetery.jpg|Grave and monument to George Elmore

File:Broken grave at Randolph Cemetery.jpg|Broken cross sculpture

File:Broken headstone of Gemima Green at Randolph Cemetery.jpg|Broken headstone of Gemima Green

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{Find a Grave cemetery}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina}}

Category:African-American history of South Carolina

Category:Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina

Category:1872 establishments in South Carolina

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Columbia, South Carolina

Category:African-American cemeteries in South Carolina