Richland Cemetery
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Hilly Street and Sunflower Street, Greenville, SC (Greenville County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817723060
Description and Narrative:
Richland Cemetery played an important role in the development of a distinct, self-sustaining African American community in downtown Greenville. The cemetery is significant as the final resting place for many of Greenville’s most notable African American educators, health practitioners, and community leaders. The cemetery features a variety of funerary art, landscape features, and cultural artifacts which distinguish it as a traditional African American cemetery and provide important information about ethnic burial customs in the American South. Richland Cemetery was established by the City of Greenville in January 1884 as the first municipal “colored” cemetery. It is named for nearby Richland Creek, a branch of the Reedy River. The cemetery occupies approximately six acres on a small hill northeast of downtown Greenville, in a traditionally African American area known as the Greenline-Spartanburg neighborhood. Family plots within the cemetery are defined by stone, brick, and concrete block borders. Gravemarker types and materials range from natural stones to elaborate Victorian monuments. Manufactured funerary art includes monoliths, engraved tablets, ledgers, and ornamental stones. Symbolic images are found throughout the cemetery. Gravel covers the ground of some graves. Artifacts peculiar to West African burial traditions like seashells, vases and iron pipes are present around many of the graves. The total number of graves is estimated at over 1400. Listed in the National Register October 4, 2005.
Period of Significance:
1884
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Community Planning and Development;Ethnic Heritage: Black
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
October 4 2005
