Officials: Possibly hundreds of unmarked graves discovered in Woodland Cemetery on Clemson campus

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    Clemson, SC (WHNS) — Clemson officials say recent testing has revealed the possibility of up to 200 unmarked graves in Woodland Cemetery, located on Clemson University’s campus.

A press release from the university says the graves are thought to be those of enslaved people that worked from about 1830 – 1865 on John C. Calhoun’s Fort Hill Plantation and later as sharecroppers, laborers, and convicted individuals, in the construction of the university from 1890 – 1915.

Using ground penetrating radar, the school discovered disturbed soil roughly five feet beneath the surface indicating possible burial sites. The school says continued investigation of the cemetery will be needed to identify additional potential burial sites in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Many of the possible graves are in an area of Woodland Cemetery to the west of the Calhoun family plots long thought to be the site of graves of African Americans dating back to the 1800s.

Clemson requested a court order in September 1960 approving the school’s plan to locate graves in this area marked with field stones and to move them several hundred feet to an area to the south. The number of graves that were moved is currently unknown but the university says it appears many are still in their original location.

The school installed protective fencing around a roughly one-acre section to the south in 2002 and identified it as the “Site of Unknown Burials.” Twenty-five of the grave sites recently revealed by radar are located within and around this fenced area.

“We are committed to taking all the critically important actions to enhance these grounds, preserve these grave sites and to ensure the people buried there are properly honored and respected,” said Smyth McKissick, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “Clemson is dedicated to developing and sharing a full and accurate history of this area and to develop a preservation plan to protect it and those who rest here.”

The school has hired a dedicated historian to assist Dr. Paul Anderson, the university historian who is leading the research. All of their research will be posted to a website the school started to document their role in Woodland Cemetery and give voice to those buried there.

In 2016, Clemson erected historic markers at the cemetery designating the area as the site of the Fort Hill Slave and Convict Cemetery and acknowledging the roles played by enslaved and convicted individuals buried here.

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