CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University anthropology students will be scratching below the surface of upstate history in a cemetery where former slaves were buried and, until recently, forgotten.
The cemetery, located in a community settled by freed slaves in the 1800s, was discovered about four years ago by surveyors working on the church property.
“It’s been hidden history for so long,” says Mable Clarke, whose great-great-grandfather Joseph McJunkin founded the community of descendants of Liberian slaves.
A nearly impenetrable thicket encased the cemetery. Volunteers from area churches brought earth-moving equipment and chainsaws “and inched their way in so not to disturb the graves,” says Clarke.
The cemetery has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, added to the state’s Heritage Corridor, and there are plans for a kiosk and brochure about the cemetery and the history of the early Black community and church.
Recently, Dr. Mike Coggeshall, a Clemson University anthropology professor studying the mountain cultures in Pickens and Oconee counties, stopped his car in a driveway along a mountain road to take a picture of Table Rock. It happened to be Clarke’s driveway.
Thinking Coggeshall was lost or stranded, Clarke offered help. It seems they were able to help each other.
