Randolph Cemetery

Randolph Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Western terminus of Elmwood Ave., Columbia, South Carolina
Coordinates	34°0′34″N 81°3′15″W
Area	4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1872 (1872), 1899
NRHP reference No.	94001573
Added to NRHP	January 20, 1995

Randolph Cemetery is a historic African-American cemetery located at Columbia, South Carolina. It was established in 1872, and expanded in 1899. It was named for Benjamin F. Randolph (1820 – 1868), who was reburied at the cemetery in 1871. Gravemarkers include both manufactured and vernacular homemade varieties. It is the burial site for eight Reconstruction-era state legislators.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

History

Randolph Cemetery was established as the first cemetery for Columbia's African-American population (up until then, African-Americans has been buried in the local potter's field called Lower Cemetery between the river and the current Randolph Cemetery) It initially consisted of three acres purchased from Elmwood Cemetery in1872. An additional acre was purchased in 1899. Today it spans about six acres. But how those additional two acres were acquired is not clear.

The cemetery fell into decline as the descendants of those interred and the owners of the remaining plots moved away, many as part of the Great Migration, eventually becoming a wilderness by the middle of the 20th century. The city of Columbia began to clear it out with bulldozers as part of its urban renewal program in 1959, but the clearing was halted when a Minnie Simons Williams, a local resident, drew the city's attention to the historical significance of the cemetery.

Mrs. Williams, along with descendants of the founders of the cemetery, reestablished the Randolph Cemetery Association and were given (through a legal suit) stewardship of the cemetery. The association has organized donations and volunteers to restore and maintain the cemetery.