Springwood Cemetery

Front: Begun in 1812 as a single grave in a family rose garden, this was a private burial ground before being deeded to the City of Greenville and opened to the public in 1829. Its founder was Chancellor Waddy Thompson, Sr. The name “Springwood Cemetery” came into use in the 1870s and likely refersto a nearby natural spring. The landscape was formally laid out in 1876 and designed by architect Gottfried Norrman. Reverse: Springwood Cemetery is one of the oldest municipal graveyards in the state. More than 10,000 people are buried here, a quarter of them in unmarked graves. Occupants range from prominent Upstate leaders to Greenvillians of more modest stations, a diversity reflected in the variety of ornamentation used to mark the cemetery’s gravesites. Springwood was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.