Aiken Colored Cemetery

Front: This cemetery, established in 1852 as a city cemetery, became Pine Lawn Memorial Gardens in 1988. The only burial ground for African Americans in Aiken until the mid-20th century, it was laid out by the City of Aiken on 4 acres, and later expanded to its present 9.5 acres. In 1892 the city deeded it to the Aiken Cemetery and Burial Association, helping that association maintain the cemetery. Reverse: The earliest graves here are of slaves, free blacks, and freedmen from the mid-to-late 19th century. Many African Americans prominent in politics, the law, medicine, religion and education throughout the 20th century are buried. The cemetery also includes the graves of veterans of American wars from the Civil War to the present. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.