Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainSpartanburg's oldest cemetery lost over 314 of its graves to a 1914 railroad expansion — and local ghost tour operators have made it a regular stop ever since.
Magnolia St, Spartanburg, SC 29303
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit; ghost tour tickets required if visiting with the Spooky Spartanburg tour
Access
Limited Access
Old cemetery grounds with uneven terrain and older grave markers
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1800 · Oldest cemetery in Spartanburg · Over 314 graves relocated to Oakwood Cemetery during 1914 railroad expansion · Featured stop on Spooky Spartanburg Ghost Tour
Magnolia Street Cemetery predates the formal organization of Spartanburg as a city and stands as the oldest burial ground within its limits. For decades it served as the primary interment site for Spartanburg's residents, accumulating generations of graves across its grounds near what is now the downtown commercial corridor.
In 1914, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad's expansion into Spartanburg required land that overlapped with the cemetery. More than 314 bodies were exhumed and relocated to Oakwood Cemetery on Fernwood Drive — a mass disinterment that fundamentally altered the character of the site. Local news coverage documented the relocation at the time, and the Count On 2 television station revisited the history in a subsequent feature on the cemetery's haunted reputation.
The cemetery today sits behind a commercial strip near downtown, a pocket of old Spartanburg that persisted while the neighborhood around it changed. Ghost tour operators cite the disruption of the graves during the 1914 relocation as the central piece of the site's paranormal narrative.
Sources
The paranormal claims at Magnolia Street Cemetery center on electronic equipment anomalies — specifically the rapid drainage of fully charged batteries on cameras and audio recorders, a phenomenon documented across multiple independent investigation visits as reported by Count On 2.
EVP (electronic voice phenomena) captures have also been reported here, with investigators describing audio anomalies that they attribute to the disrupted graves from the 1914 railroad relocation. The ghost tour community treats this site as one of the anchor locations in the Spartanburg paranormal circuit, alongside Oakwood Cemetery where the relocated graves now rest.
The relatively modest physical footprint of the current cemetery — reduced by the 1914 exhumations — has not diminished its reputation. Local lore holds that the disturbance of the original burials created a persistent energy at the site.
Spartanburg's oldest cemetery sits near downtown behind a commercial strip. The site's layered history — including the mass relocation of graves during the 1914 railroad expansion — makes it a worthwhile stop for anyone interested in the city's burial landscape.
The official Spooky Spartanburg Ghost Tour includes Magnolia Street Cemetery as a featured stop, with guides covering local history and reported paranormal activity. Tour tickets available through the Spartanburg events calendar.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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Aerial survey · USDA NAIPSpartanburg, SC
Opened in 1883, Oakwood Cemetery served as Spartanburg's main public burial ground and pauper's field. In 1914, railroad expansion displaced over 314 graves from the city's older Magnolia Cemetery, which were relocated here.