A radar survey found 617 graves in Springwood Cemetery's old potter's field, and each now has a permanent marker. The city says the burials date from about 1865.

Six hundred seventeen graves in a forgotten corner of Springwood Cemetery now carry permanent markers. A ground-penetrating radar survey found them, the City of Greenville said Tuesday.

The graves are in Section V, an area historically known as a potter’s field. The city knew there were burials there. It did not know exactly where they were or how many people were buried.

“This has been here for 150 years, really unobserved,” Murphy Armstrong, chairman of the Springwood Cemetery Advisory Committee, said in the city’s announcement.

Who is buried there

According to historical records cited by the city, the graves date from about 1865 and later. The city said the people buried there may include:

  • formerly enslaved people
  • poor Black and white sharecroppers
  • workers and others who could not afford a headstone

Armstrong said the section was once separate from Springwood. It was known as Elford Cemetery and did not become part of the larger cemetery until the 1970s.

Only about 10 old markers survive, committee member Edward Stall said. One of them dates to 1860.

“We wouldn’t have known this 10 years ago. We wouldn’t have been able to find it,” Stall said.

How the graves were found

Debbie Weeks, a cemetery preservation advocate, arranged the radar survey, according to the city. Omega Mapping of Forsyth, Georgia, carried it out.

Ground-penetrating radar sends signals into the soil and records changes below the surface. Trained surveyors use the readings to find places where the ground was once dug, such as grave shafts, without disturbing them.

Early counts during the survey put the total at more than 500 graves. The finished survey identified 617, more than committee members had expected, the city said.

Who paid for the markers

  • The Greenville County Historical Society gave $6,000 for permanent disc markers.
  • Nat Greene Landscape, owned by advisory committee member Jason Forister, donated the labor to install most of them.
  • City parks crews placed the rest.

Each disc sits at the center of a grave the survey identified. The discs carry no names, because the identities of most of the people buried there are unknown.

“Even though we don’t know the names, we don’t know the people, we know they were Greenvillians,” Stall said.

What comes next

The advisory committee is considering more ways to remember the people buried in Section V, the city said. Ideas include a larger memorial marker and a small garden of yucca and daffodils where visitors can stop and reflect.

The committee’s next meeting is at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the McPherson Park Log Cabin, 102 E. Park Ave., according to the city’s meeting calendar. The agenda had not been posted by Thursday.

What it means for you

  • You can visit. Springwood Cemetery is a city cemetery at 410 N. Main St., at Main and Elford streets, close to downtown.
  • Questions about the cemetery go to Greenville Cares at 864-232-2273 or the city’s cemetery liaison at 864-467-4091.
  • Committee meetings are public. Anyone with ideas for the Section V memorial can attend.
  • Springwood’s older history, and the city’s other landmarks, are on our history and landmarks page. For green space nearby, see our parks and trails guide.