John Custodio
Unitarian Cemetery,
Charleston, South Carolina

Unitarian Cemetery
Charleston, South Carolina

The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? — Edgar Allan Poe

The vague boundaries between life and death are well illustrated in the churchyard of the Unitarian Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In use as a burial ground since the late 18th century, its most striking feature is its lush overgrowth and moss-draped oaks. Vegetation is left to grow wild as a symbol of life even after death. The early Unitarians saw death as a natural life passage to be welcomed as a reunion with nature and a blending forever with the elements. They created a garden where both the living and dead could mingle with nature.

Several ghosts supposedly haunt the cemetery, the most famous being that of Anna Ravenel. Legend has it that she would meet her young soldier lover here before her disapproving father found out about the affair and locked her away. She later died of yellow fever, and her father had her buried in the Unitarian Cemetery in an unmarked grave to prevent the soldier from mourning her death. Charleston is a location that Edgar Allan Poe is known to have visited while stationed at nearby Fort Moultrie in 1827. Local legend claims that the soldier was Poe, and this tale of doomed love inspired him to write his poem Annabel Lee.