What Lies Beneath Bethel UMC?

Bethel United Methodist Church harbors great history in its existence. This church is nearly 220 years old and holds the title of the oldest standing methodist church in Charleston. It has been established since 1797 and is distinguished as an National Historic Landmark.

Bethel served both black and white members in its early years, during the 1800's. This fits Bethel's welcoming personality to this day. As described on the website, Bethel UMC is overwhelmingly open to participants of diversities, and embrace these differences in the community as a gift from God.

We went to Bethel UMC together as a class on October 17. The graveyard itself was smaller in size, but what it lacked in acres, it gained in graveyard symbols!

This first symbol, picture above, is that of a wreath. I researched this symbol online, using the website http://msghn.org/usghn/symbols.html to find its meaning. The United States Genealogy and History Network stated that the wreath symbolized victory in death. This dates back to ancient Greeks and was adopted by Christians as a symbol of victory and redemption, I read in the book, Stories Told in Stone by Gaylord Cooper.

The next symbol depicted is more of an illustration. In this illustration, an angel is seen to be possibly weeping in front of an urn with a wreath in her hand. As we found out prior, the wreath symbolizes victory in death. The angel represents spirituality and the mourning of an untimely death (because this one has her hand over her heart.) The urn represents immortality and is the greek symbol of mourning.

The weeping willow is the most common of all Victorian symbols. It is popular throughout 19th century gravestones. This tree symbolizes perpetual mourning and grief for the deceased. 

The next symbols depicted are more light hearted than the previous. In the above picture, a dove is descending with a twig in its mouth upon flowers. The dove is an important symbol in Christianity, representing the holy spirit. The descending bird symbolizes the Spirit from heaven upon the deceased.  

The next symbol is a broken flower which symbolizes a life terminated, or mortality. Flowers in general represent the frailty of life as they are dainty and delicate in nature. 

This symbol is simply a cross inside a circle. The circle signifies perfection or eternity in the afterlife. The cross represents, in general, Christianity. The man buried here was a graduate of the College of Charleston in 1839. He became a Citadel mathematics professor in 1843. nearly 20 years later during the Civil War he was Brigadier General of the division of Georgia troops. 

This headstone depicts a crown over a cross. This symbolizes sovereignty or extreme power of authority of the Lord.

The flowers as previously stated represent the frailty of life. Draped cloth over the top of a grave represents mourning and the separation of the living and the dead. This I read on a website describing gravestone symbolism, http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html

This particular grave has four symbols. The first three are symbols which I have already described, those being the flowers representing the frailty of life, the wreaths representing victory in death, and the drapery representing mourning. The bible on top of the cloth represents a religious layperson or a cleric. 

The final symbols I am going to share come from my favorite illustration in Bethel's graveyard. This headstone depicts a weeping woman under a weeping willow in front of an urn. The weeping woman and the weeping willow both represent mourning of the deceased. The weeping and sorrow meant to be shown in this particular headstone is immense.