Lawton-Seabrook Cemetery
National Register Listing
Street Address:
7938 Steamboat Landing Rd., Edisto Island, SC (Charleston County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817710191
Description and Narrative:
The Lawton-Seabrook Cemetery is a walled cemetery containing seven original gravestones for members of the Seabrook and Legaré families of Edisto Island, South Carolina. These markers are attributed to Charleston and Philadelphia carving masters of the late eighteenth and early to mid-nineteenth centuries, with all but one of them connected to Thomas Walker, his apprentices, and/or their descendants. Several other unmarked graves for the Lawton and Tilly families are believed to be on the site, commemorated by modern (non-contributing) markers. Situated on private land near the northern end of Steamboat Landing Rd. on a low bluff overlooking a small tributary of Steamboat Creek, the cemetery is somewhat rare among Lowcountry family plots, given the survival of its impressive brick perimeter wall and its unusual design, which is believed to be the work of famed Charleston stone carver Thomas Walker. The cemetery was listed under Criterion A in the area of Social History for its ability to convey information about the burial practices of the Lowcountry planter elite. It was also listed for significance under Criterion C for its outstanding representation of eighteenth and nineteenth century funerary art and architecture. Not only does the Lawton-Seabrook Cemetery contain an assortment of several types of grave markers that were common to the period, but nearly all of these markers were produced by master marble cutter Thomas Walker and his descendants, who dominated the Charleston marble trade from the 1790s until at least 1860. Listed in the National Register June 12, 2017.
Period of Significance:
circa 1757 – 1852
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
June 12 2017
