Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA 250-year-old Huguenot burial ground deep in Sumter National Forest, holding the Petigru family legacy and storied by local lore of a troll patrolling its ancient stone walls.
Badwell Cemetery Road, McCormick, SC 29835
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; part of Sumter National Forest public land
Access
Limited Access
Unpaved forest road; uneven ground within cemetery
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1764 · Last of seven French Huguenot colonies in South Carolina (New Bordeaux, 1764) · Burial site of Reverend Jean Louis Gibert, founder of New Bordeaux · Associated with James Louis Petigru, noted anti-secessionist statesman · One of a small number of SC cemeteries with an enslaved person's formal headstone · Cast-iron grim reaper gate — rare funerary art recovered after theft
Badwell Cemetery is set within the rolling woodlands of McCormick County, on land that was once the heart of a French Huguenot colonial settlement. The Reverend Jean Louis Gibert, spiritual leader of the New Bordeaux colony, founded Badwell Plantation in the mid-to-late 18th century and is interred on the grounds. New Bordeaux, established in 1764 about three miles south of present-day McCormick, was the last of seven French Huguenot colonies founded in South Carolina and drew hundreds of Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France.
The cemetery passed to the Petigru family, Gibert's descendants, and became the burial place of several prominent South Carolinians. James Louis Petigru — lawyer, state Attorney General, and vocal anti-secessionist who coined the phrase "South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum" — is associated with the estate, though he is not himself interred here. Among the documented burials are Louise Gibert Allston (daughter of Governor Robert F. W. Allston and Adele Petigru) and Joseph Blythe Allston, who eventually came to own the plantation — members of the extended Petigru-Gibert family line.
Among the cemetery's most poignant features is the headstone of an enslaved person known as "Daddy Tom," described on his marker as "a faithful servant and honest." Historians note this as one of only a handful of such memorials erected by enslavers in South Carolina, reflecting a complex and painful aspect of antebellum domestic history.
The original entrance gate featured a cast-iron image of a grim reaper — a striking Victorian-era funerary motif — that was stolen at some point in the 20th century and later recovered. The cemetery's stone perimeter walls, built by skilled masons who also constructed the adjacent spring house, remain largely intact, though showing erosion and partial collapse. In the 1970s, the property was transferred to the Sumter National Forest, and since 2009, the U.S. Forest Service has partnered with local historical organizations and private citizens to undertake restoration and preservation work.
Sources
According to tradition documented on the Old 96 District tourism site and regional haunted-place surveys, Badwell Cemetery harbors a non-human entity — described variously as a troll or shadowy figure — that is said to guard the perimeter of its stone-enclosed grounds. Witnesses over the decades have reported seeing a hunched or shuffling form moving along the outer walls of the cemetery, particularly at night, and have logged unexplained sounds and lights near the enclosure.
The cemetery's striking visual features may amplify its eerie atmosphere: the high stone walls, built without mortar by the same craftsmen who constructed the adjacent spring house, create an enclosed space that feels ancient and sealed. The former iron gate, bearing a cast-iron grim reaper — a memento mori motif — would have made a dramatic entrance; its theft and eventual recovery have become part of local legend in their own right.
Some visitors connect the unsettled quality of the grounds to the layered history of the place — Huguenot refugees, enslaved people, and prominent South Carolinians all buried within its walls — and to its long period of neglect before modern restoration efforts began. Others simply report a pervasive sense of being watched when exploring the grounds alone.
Notable Entities
Walk the perimeter of this remarkable Huguenot burial ground, view the stone enclosure walls, historic grave markers, and the spot where an ornate cast-iron grim reaper gate once stood.
Local tradition holds that a troll-like figure walks the perimeter walls after dark. Accessible via forest road; visitors report strange sounds and lights near the stone enclosure.
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