March 4, 2025 Story by: Editor
YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A York County homeowner has uncovered 144 graves of enslaved individuals in his backyard after working alongside archaeologists and has since been dedicated to restoring the site.
Andrew Lazenby, the property owner, was informed of a gravesite on the land when he purchased his home. Initially, he estimated there were around 30 to 40 graves. However, after encountering several large, carved stones, he realized the burial site was more extensive than expected. Seeking answers, Lazenby enlisted the help of an archaeologist.
“We would also find stones [unmarked] that were pretty much just sitting at the head and it was just a simple marker because to our understanding after a certain point in time – they weren’t allowed to mark graves anymore,” Lazenby explained. “It’s made me realize a lot of local history that I thought I knew. But the more I dug into it, I realized I didn’t know.”
Through archaeological research, it was confirmed that the burial ground belonged to enslaved individuals. Since then, Lazenby has dedicated himself to preserving and honoring the site.
“Being able to accurately assign names is close to impossible. Unfortunately, these folks and the way they were treated, didn’t have a chance to record family members and where they were buried,” he said. “There’s very little record of what these folks looked like or how they lived. They actually put ads in the local paper for runaway slaves and then you would get a really good description. So in a way, that’s the only way we got a snapshot of what they were wearing, what they were dressed like.”
Given the difficulty in identifying individual descendants, Lazenby has placed numbered headstones at each site, all of which he personally purchased. These markers serve as a tribute to those buried there and include magnetic trackers to ensure their locations remain preserved.
“These are folks that had hopes and dreams and lives and children,” Lazenby said. “And these folks, they really built what we have now.”
Lazenby suspects there may be additional burial sites yet to be discovered, but they have not been officially confirmed as graves. He remains hopeful that with advancements in technology, further gravesites will be identified and acknowledged.
“We felt that we could always add to it later if technology improves,” he said. “We didn’t ever want to be in a position where we were subtracting graves. So we were pretty conservative on what we counted as a grave.”
As restoration efforts continue, Lazenby plans to fence off the area and designate it as an official cemetery. “Our goal is not to disturb these folks. But it is to make sure that they’re getting the respect they deserve,” he emphasized.
Source: WCNC
