Columbia Star

1963        Celebrating 60 Years      2023

Early Columbia Cemeteries

Part 17: State Hospital African American Cemetery


Marker from the State Hospital African American Cemetery

Marker from the State Hospital African American Cemetery

By 1909, African American patients were being buried at the edge of the hospital’s farm in a 3.6 acre cemetery “north of the dairy farm.”

Access was by a dirt road (now called Sligh Avenue) cut by a “county chain gang” in 1899.

The cemetery was used until 1923 and intermittently after that.

In 1983, the city used the cemetery for reburial of 37 individuals removed from Potters Field.

By 2003, the city had cleared and grubbed the cemetery for construction of a golf course using funds from the Tiger Woods Foundation.

All outward evidence of the cemetery has now been removed.

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