Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery

Recently I realized that I have numerous photos taken several years ago at the Zion Chapel of Ease & Cemetery on Hilton Head Island which I have never included here. For those of us who love cemeteries, this is a wonderful gem. This ethereal plot of land beside a busy thoroughfare on Hilton Head Island contains a cemetery established 250 years ago.

Originally a chapel of St. Luke’s Parish, it was established on May 23, 1767, and a chapel was built of wood shortly after 1786. "A well appointed chapel, 30x40 feet, of wood with brick foundations, boasting a sterling Communion Service imported from London, was erected in 1788 under the direction of Captain John Stoney and Isaac Fripp. It was consecrated in 1833. Members of the Barksdale, Baynard, Chaplin, Davant, Fripp, Kirk, Mathews, Pope, Scott, Stoney and Webb families worshipped there until 1868 when the church was abandoned and gradually destroyed." (Peeples, An Index to Hilton Head Island Names (Before the Contemporary Development), p. 43.)

SACRED
to the memory
of
SAMUEL B. WEBB
who
departed this life
2nd March 1836
aged 37 years

His amiable and pious character
was manifest in the warm
affection of husband, the tender
loved of parent, the sincerity and
kindness of friend and humanity
of master

Death's terror is the mountain
faith removes
Tis faith disarms destruction
Believe and look with triumph
on the tomb

SACRED

to the
Memory
of

MARTHA DAVANT

(unreadable) born
June 4th 1781 and
died June 6th 1818
aged 37 years & 2 days

From Hilton Head, A Sea Island Chronicle, p. 113-114, by Virginia C. Holmgren:

In 1867...the lovely silver chalices of the Communion Service, brought from England in 1834 had already disappeared. No doubt they had been stolen after the fall of Fort Walker. When next heard of they would be in a pawn shop (in Philadelphia) covered in rust and tarnish, and the man who bought them mistook them for antique goblets. When the tarnish was removed he was amazed to see the sacred Christian symbols and the words ‘Zion Chapel of Ease’. They were returned to the parish and are in use at St. Luke’s on Hilton Head.

Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery

Hilton Head to Vicksburg - I

While driving along a major street on Hilton Head Island, I noticed an abandoned, once elegant cemetery with a mausoleum at the back of a vacant undeveloped area. The cemetery beckoned me to turn around and have a closer look.



It is called the Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery although the chapel was destroyed prior to 1868.




The mausoleum was vandalized during World War II and the cast iron coffins of William E. Baynard and his wife Catherine were thrown into the nearby marsh.

William E. Baynard
1800-1849

Catherine Adelaide Scott Baynard
1812-1854

(Many thanks to Dickie who helped me overcome technical difficulties to save these photos from a disk malfunction.)