SITE DIRECTORY
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Coming Street Cemetery
Coming Street Cemetery
FOUNDED: 1794
ADDITIONAL NAMES: Strangers & Negroes Public Burying Ground, 106 Coming Street Cemetery
AFFILIATION(S): Preservation Society of Charleston, Protect and Respect the Bodies Coalition
HISTORY: Between 1794 and 1807, the City of Charleston operated a public burial ground on Calhoun Street between Coming and St. Philip Streets, where many of the city’s most vulnerable residents were laid to rest. Those interred included poor adults, children, and enslaved individuals who could not afford or access other cemeteries, including captured Africans who did not survive the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The burial ground was in use for just thirteen years before reaching capacity, a reflection of the immense mortality associated with the final decades of the transatlantic trade into Charleston. It represents the lives—and deaths—of individuals who were systematically excluded from traditional memorialization and whose stories have often gone unrecorded. For descendants and the broader community, the site serves as a powerful physical link to ancestry and resilience, underscoring ongoing efforts to acknowledge burial grounds–especially Black burial grounds as essential components of the historic landscape.
BCN Contact Information:
Madison Lee