SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – There’s a three-block piece of land in Surfside Beach that serves as a burial space for 50 people, but most would never know it. It’s an abandoned cemetery, and one that the Surfside Beach Historical Society wants to preserve.

Many people who live in the area don’t even know there’s an abandoned cemetery. The area is located along Hollywood Drive South, bound by Cypress, Juniper, and Sixth Avenue South. 

The abandoned burial ground has been developed with homes, and the owner of the last remaining portion of the cemetery is giving the historical society 90 days to come up with $119,000 to buy the land.

If they’re successful, the society wants to turn the land into a community park. 

“People can walk down the sidewalks, sit on benches, enjoy the flowers, just enjoy the atmosphere and that it’s not intrusive to the neighborhood or the town. We are not looking to do that,” explains Mary Beth Mabry, spokesperson for the Surfside Beach Historical Society.

Because the graves are so old and the cemetery was declared abandoned, there aren’t many physical markers of the people who are buried on the land. 

“And if we don’t preserve it, it’ll be gone forever,” Mabry said. 

Edward Hunt owns one of the houses built over the cemetery. He’s lived there for 25 years and says up until a couple years ago he never knew what was in his backyard. 
 

“They found two grave sites,” he said. The Horry County Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation confirmed the graves. One has a red flag marking its location. A rock sits over the other, and Hunt said it could have served as a headstone. 


He is all for saving the last lot remaining lot, which is down the street from his home.  “I’m sure the descendents of the people buried here would appreciate it too,” he said. 


But not everyone appreciates it. “You don’t put a funeral in a residential area, especially where there’s kids,” said one neighbor. 
 

Some people who live in the area worry a park drawing attention to the cemetery would decrease surrounding property values. 


Mabry says the historical society is taking that into consideration. “We’re gonna have to work with the neighbors, and we’re gonna have to make this neighborhood friendly.”

Tuesday night the Historical Society will ask Surfside Town Council’s help in figuring out funding options. The society has three months to come up with the $119,000 needed to buy the remaining lot.

They’re having a fundraising event June 1 and also starting a Go Fund Me page.