HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: General Andrew Pickens Slave Cemetery (Clemson, SC) Version 1.0, 19-Jun-2003, H-34.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Linda Flynn at ke8fd@@bellsouth.net.com in Jun-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jun-2003 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Chris Day, Seneca Daily Journal in 19-Jun-2003 Old Graveyard Believed To Be Slave Cemetery By: Chris Day newsed@dailyjm.com CLEMSON - There is a forgotten graveyard in a straw-covered forest out back behind a Clemson University facility. One Seneca resident has an idea who is buried there. "It's speculated it's a slave cemetery of General Andrew Pickens," said Paul Kankula, who specializes in compiling research data for applications such as family genealogies. The cemetery is located behind the Morgan Poultry Center, off Old Cherry Road. Kankula believes his theory makes sense, because he said that Pickens' home was situated within walking distance of the graveyard. Kankula said that Pickens' son, Andrew Pickens, Jr., also kept slaves on the property of his home, and the slaves' living quarters were located in close proximity of the cemetery, too. Kankula said the graves are shallow, most likely dug with wooden planks, since slave owners didn't allow their slaves the use of metal tools, like shovels. Added to that, he said, it would have been tough for the slaves to dig through the red clay. Trying to prove that it's a cemetery for slaves, though, is tough, said Kankula. There are readable tombstones remaining. Kankula said that all efforts to contact any possible relatives of the names on the markers came up empty. One stone reads, "In memory of Hannah, the wife of James Reese, who died June 8th, 1857. Aged 49 years. This stone is erected by James Reese." Late last April, Boy Scouts from Clemson's Troop 235, led by Eagle Scout candidate Brandon Blake, 17, spent several days clearing the land on which the cemetery sits. Blake and his crew plotted the cemetery with string and placed a piece of plastic pipe at the spot of each marker. Blake's father, James Blake, said General Pickens' home was located so close to the cemetery that where it stood is now submerged in Lake Hartwell. The father said his son's next project is to map the cemetery, and to number each grave. If it's learned for certain that the 100 by 100-foot graveyard is a slave cemetery, Mr. Blake said the scouts would like to have a sign permanently placed to remember it as such. Kankula said that he learned about the cemetery after a friend, who has conducted 20 years of cemetery research, asked him to compile her information into one source. He is the homestead coordinator for an Oconee County genealogy Web site, www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html, and a Pickens County Web site, www.rootsweb.com/~scpicke2. To view the cemetery, call Carolyn Mosley, manager of the Morgan Poultry Center, at 656-3064.