Fort Hill Slave and Convict Cemetery

Front: African Americans enslaved at Fort Hill were buried along the hillside below the Calhoun family plot in graves marked only by field stones. The exact number of burials is unknown. Beginning in 1890, Clemson College leased prisoners, primarily African Americans, from the state to construct campus buildings. Until 1915, those who died during their incarceration were buried adjacent to the slave cemetery. Reverse: Clemson University’s Woodland Cemetery began as statesman John C. Calhoun’s Fort Hill Plantation graveyard. Early maps show the hillside had been an orchard. The first known burial was a child, also named John C. Calhoun, who died in 1837. Clemson College laid out the present cemetery in 1924 as a graveyard for faculty and staff. Many prominent Clemson University leaders are buried here.