HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: Preserving Memories For The Future Version 1.0, 19-Oct-2003, H-37.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Oct-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Oct-2003 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Anna Simon at asimon@greenvillenews.com in Oct-2003 NEW DEVELOPMENT TO PRESERVE OLD CEMETERY By Anna Simon CLEMSON BUREAU asimon @ greenvillenews.com SENECA - A new, gated Lake Keowee-area subdivision will begin to offer estate- sized home sites for sale Oct. 18, even though some local residents are concerned about the fate of an old cemetery that will be behind the gates. "If something happens to that, the history's gone forever," said Russ Kelly, of Greenville, whose mother-in-law lives near the cemetery. The developer said the cemetery would be preserved, maintained and open to visitors. Waterford Farms, a Crescent Community, will offer 17 home sites ranging from 15 to 35 acres, said Scott Munday, director of development for Crescent Communities on Lake Keowee. Crescent is part of Duke Energy's real estate and land development arm. Waterford Farms is located on State 130 and Katelynn Lane and is adjacent to Crescent's Waterford and Waterford Pointe communities. Home sites will range in price from $100,000 to the low $200,OOOs, Munday said. Plans for the gated community include a trail system that allows residents to Lake in the beauty of the natural environment by foot or horseback. The wooded home sites are situated among rolling hills and natural creeks and are near Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell but not on the water. Community boat slips are planned to offer residents lake access. The cemetery will be part of the common open space within the community, said Tonya Jones, a spokeswoman for the developer. The cemetery will be fenced, un- locked and accessible by road. The homeowners association will maintain it. Anyone who wants to visit it must contact the homeowners association to request access, Jones said. The cemetery contains around 60 graves, Kelly said. Some of the graves are marked with big rocks, some have headstones and some are marked only by depressions in the ground. Kelly said he has heard it was an old slave cemetery, and it doesn't appear to have been maintained in years. "Certainly it is a piece of history that should be preserved," Kelly said. "Fuzz" Hoilman, of Six Mile, grew up near the cemetery and remembers running quickly by it on the way to catch the school bus as a child. "This was off in the middle of nowhere, about a half a mile from houses in any direction. Kids thought there were ghosts there," Hoilman said. The cemetery was next to the New Foundation Baptist Church, according to research by Paul Kankula, of Seneca, who is compiling an online database of cemeteries in Oconee and Pickens counties for genealogical research as part of a national project called GenWeb. The old church burned down decades ago and members moved to the New Canaan Baptist Church, Kankula said. (It was actually torn down, not burned) Members of New Canaan Baptist Church could not be reached for comment Thursday.