Three local historians are the featured speakers for the March Conversation at the Cultural Arts Center. The free lunchtime lecture will begin at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 1. The topic is “Gone But Not Forgotten: Who’s Who in the Historic Old Presbyterian Church Cemetery.”
Dr. Ernest Jenkins, Robert Folks and Gavin Witherspoon Jr. will talk about the lives of many of those buried in the graveyard surrounding the Lancaster Cultural Arts Center. This past weekend, they walked through the sacred space and pointed out a few notables among the nearly 300 who found their final resting place there over the last 187 years.
The historians, all members of the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation, share a deep love for the past and the people who lived it. Jenkins is an associate professor of history at USC Lancaster. Folks is a local attorney. Witherspoon works for Comporium.
Many of those buried in the cemetery played a prominent role in Lancaster’s history.
“You can’t have a talk about Lancaster’s history without talking about this church and this cemetery,” Folks said.
The first burial was in 1836, and it was the only cemetery in Lancaster until 1897. The graveyard was the village cemetery and people of all walks of life were buried there.
Folks said the cemetery was open to all people — “Methodists, Baptists, atheists, even Union soldiers.”
Two editors of The Lancaster News (formerly The Lancaster Ledger) found their final resting place in the cemetery. Washington McConnico Connors, the paper’s second editor, died in 1875. David J. Carter died in 1889.
The most famous person in the graveyard is Leroy Springs, founder of Springs Mills. An 8-foot-tall monument pays homage to the textile magnate. His grave was moved from the site of the Lancaster Cotton Mill to the cemetery in March 2019.
Folks’ kindergarten teacher, Margaret Moore, who died in 1981, is buried there, along with many members of the Moore family.
The most recent burial there was Brent Burgin, the beloved archivist for the USCL Native American Studies Center, who died June 20, 2022.
“He took a special interest in safeguarding and maintaining the cemetery while on the Historical Society board and did research on persons buried for our records,” Folks said.
On the far back side of the cemetery, there is a raised ledger, which is a stone slab that covers a grave. The ledger is about 2 feet high. Underneath are the remains of John Brown, a doctor who died in 1836 at the young age of 23. He was the first to be buried in the graveyard. As the church membership outgrew the available space, Sunday school teachers provided lessons for the children outside. Brown’s grave became a table, the perfect height for the children to use to draw and color.
“These people out here were loved by someone and we want to preserve their memory,” Folks said.
Witherspoon has a direct connection to many buried next to the CAC. Many monuments bear the Witherspoon name. He will talk about his family history, which has been traced back to 11th century Scotland.
“In this cemetery, my family goes back four generations,” he said.
Jenkins will talk about the connections those buried had beyond the local community.
Folks hopes the talk will inspire people to listen to the stories their older family members tell, in order to preserve their personal histories.
“It gets to be too late pretty quick,” he said.
“Robert Folks, Ernest Jenkins and Gavin Witherspoon are the perfect team to lay out the rich history behind those buried in the Old Presbyterian
Church Cemetery,” said John Craig,, organizer of the CAC Conversations and concerts. “The cemetery is one of the city’s great public spaces and is an important resource for historical and genealogical research.
“Robert was instrumental in restoring it, and the cemetery is going to gain in importance since burial sites are now available in the French Street Expansion side. Those interested in acquiring a site should contact me at jecraig66@gmail.com or Johannes Tromp at jtromp@comporium.net.”
A beautiful slideshow will be part of the presentation, and after the talk, the audience is invited to walk through the graveyard. It’s a local history lesson that will hopefully inspire attendees to dig into their personal family histories.
The CAC lecture series, “CAC Conversations,” features authors, researchers, civic leaders and entrepreneurs and relies on donations to the Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation. Donations can be mailed to LCSHP, 1859 Craig Farm Road, Lancaster, SC 29720; or made online at lcshp.org. The Cultural Arts Center is housed in the Old Presbyterian Church at 307 W. Gay St.
The free noontime lectures are held on the first Wednesday of each month. The next lecture is April 5, and features Ann Evans, the Springs family archivist, who will present “Life and Achievements of Fort Mill-Lancaster Textile Magnate Elliott White Springs (1896-1959).”
For more information on the Cultural Arts Center and Lancaster County Society for Historical Preservation, visit www.lcshp.org.
