The first crew of the Civil War submarine “HUNLEY” drowned when the ship was just pulling away from the dock and the wash from a passing ship went into an open hatch. Their graves were just discovered a few years ago and moved to this location with full military ceremonies. They were doing some work on the football stadium at the Citadel Military Academy and dug up the bodies. It turns out that the stadium is built on top of an old Mariners cemetery. When the bodies were recovered from the ship, they were quietly moved to the cemetery for burial, much like today when we don't need the bad press, especially when one of them was a 13-year-old boy. The second crew of the Hunley drowned about 10 days after the first crew. This time they made it away from the dock but apparently not too much farther than that. If you notice (in the picture), the designer of the sub, Horace Hunley, waited until the second sailing before he got on board. Of course, the third crew of the Hunley drowned the first time the ship went into battle, and it, along with their bodies, were not recovered until a few years ago.
This cemetery is really hidden and took us awhile to find, even with directions, but any cemetery that has a sign just inside the gate that says, "Five hundred dollar fine for feeding the alligators," well, you just have to love it. We ended up spending about 2 hours walking and driving around, looking at some of the great tombstones. There are a lot of famous people buried here.
Location: From I-26, take exit 219B (Meeting Street), turn left at second light, and then turn right at Cunnington Avenue. The cemetery is at the end of the block.