Grace Chapel Baptist Cemetery Project

The story of Grace Chapel Baptist Cemetery, a historically significant Black cemetery in Adams Run, Charleston County.

Reverend Davis of the church, wishing to cleanup and restore the cemetery, had an initial meeting to discuss the initiative with quite a few folks, including Councilwoman Anna Johnson, Charleston County Public Library Executive Directory Angela Craig, Deputy Director Darlene Jackson, and South Carolina Room Manager Marianne Cawley. The next meeting would include  Lish Thompson and Charlotte Smith of the South Carolina History Room.

Lish and Charlotte focused on uncovering burials utilizing public records and Charleston County Public Library’s research assets. They took over 340 photographs, transcribed marker inscriptions, and identified ninety-nine burials. They gave each interred person their own individual page and typed contact pages with an index. Smith also typed out each of the official death and funeral notices from the local newspapers.

Thompson and Smith would like to thank Councilwoman Anna Johnson, Reverend Damita Richardson Davis and South Carolina Room Manager Marianne Cawley for involving them in the project of documenting the burials at Grace Chapel Baptist Church.