A WELCOMED ADDITION TO MAGNOLIA CEMETERY

Magnolia Cemetery is proud to welcome the addition of an exquisite private mausoleum nestled among the beautiful oaks and magnolias located in the Belvidere Section of the cemetery.

The Board of Trustees of Magnolia Cemetery recently approved the architectural/engineer drawings and style of the building. The foundation has been poured and the first row of granite is in place (pictured above). We congratulate the family building this mausoleum and thank them for choosing our beautiful historic cemetery.

If your family does not have memorial property and plan to be buried at Magnolia Cemetery we encourage you to do so while the options are still available. For more detailed information about our services or offerings please contact the Magnolia Cemetery Office at the above contacts or you can stop by the office and talk to one of our staff members.

Magnolia is a perpetual care cemetery. However, it wasn't always required that you purchase perpetual care when purchasing memorial property. The purchase of perpetual care has been mandatory since 1974 and lots that were purchased prior to 1974 and remain without perpetual care are not sharing the financial burden of the cemetery’s upkeep. We ask that you please check with the cemetery office to see if your lot is in perpetual care. Money placed in the perpetual care fund helps increase the dividends and interest needed to fund the everyday operations of the cemetery.

CHRISTMAS WREATHS

         We would remind those of you who use our Christmas Wreath service to please try and have your order in by December 10, 2014. If you are not familiar with our wreath program we will make and place a live wreath with a finished diameter of approximately 20 inches. This includes a red bow and some live embellishments for $30. Those of you who have prepaid for the year will not have to reorder for Christmas 2014 but should renew for the 2015 holidays. Flowers can be place on your loved ones grave on Birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter and Christmas. Please contact the office for details or email magnoliacemetery@aol.com.

2014 SOUTH CAROLINA HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARDS

    We here at Magnolia are truly honored to have been included with the recipients of the Historic Preservation Awards presented by S.C. Gov. Nikki R. Haley. Pictured above from left are Beverly M. Donald, Superintendent, Magnolia Cemetery; Gov..Haley; Robert Gurley, Director of Advocacy, Preservation Society of Charleston; and Craig Bennett, Jr., Bennett Preservation Engineering.

  

    Thanks and gratitude go to the PreservationSociety of Charleston for including the Magnolia Cemetery Receiving Tomb on its “Seven to Save” project, Craig Bennett, Jr. with the Bennett Preservation Engineering PC for his expert contributions to the project, and the family of Ted Ashton Phillips, Jr. for graciously making this project happen.

    On June 11, 2014 at the State House, the Preservation Society of Charleston, Bennett Engineering PC and Magnolia Cemetery Trust all received the Honor Award for Historic Preservation. The South Carolina Historic Preservation Awards in partnership with the PalmettoTrust for Historic Preservation and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History present this Historic Preservation Award in recognition of exceptional accomplishments in the preservation, rehabilitation, and interpretation of South Carolina’s architectural and cultural and heritage.

    The Board of Trustees for Magnolia Cemetery Trust extends gratitude to each of the entities for all their involvement, hard work and interest in Magnolia Cemetery and look forward to working with you all in the future.   

MAGNOLIA'S OAK TREE RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS HORTICULTURE AWARD

Magnolia's landmark oak tree has captured  the attention of the Charleston Horticultural Society. Annually the tree committee of the CHS presents numerous awards to trees in the city of Charleston. This year the grand oak at Magnolia was nominated and won in the non-profit category.

The old oak tree has a circumference of 25 feet and a bough spread of 117 feet. Its height is 60 feet plus. I talked to P. O. Mead of Mead's Tree Service about the age of the tree. He feels safe with 800 plus years. I have a postcard that was published in 1898 and postmarked 1908 on which the publisher states the age as 800 years old. If we add an additional 116 years to the date of 1898 we get an age of 916 years old.

I looked up information about a dinner party held at Col.Willliam Cunnington's house (now the office) here at "Magnolia Umbria." This party was in honor of a visit from Gen. George Washington to his intimate friend Col. William Cunnington. I'm almost sad to report that it was held under the magnificent "Magnolia" from which the whole Cunnington estate was named. However, I feel sure it was one of the old magnolias that was lost due to Hurricane Hugo located by the plantation house and the old oak tree. I feel sure George would have ventured to stroll beneath the branches of such a magnificent oak tree.

In 1989, during Hurricane Hugo, an eighth of the tree that spread across the now paved road to the west was lost. Due to the quick response and diligence of  Mead's Tree Service unfamiliar on-lookers would not be the wiser as to the missing branches. The tree recuperated from its damage with no problems.

Seen below is an old picture of the oak tree dated "Snow Storm of 1898" by Clarke studio and another that I took just this week. 

If you have never had the pleasure of seeing the "grandfather oak" as we here at Magnolia call it please take the time to come by and visit.

                                 

Note the branches are not touching the ground in this 1898 photograph

                                       

The Grandfather Oak as seen today