Magnolia Cemetery, rural cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Magnolia Cemetery is a historic burial ground in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1849 and laid out across a large tract of land along the Cooper River. Its paths run through open lawns and beneath old oaks, past grave markers ranging from simple stones to tall Victorian monuments.

The cemetery's first board was assembled in 1849, and it was dedicated in 1850 with an address by Charles Fraser, on the grounds of the former Magnolia Umbra plantation. Architect Edward C. Jones laid out the grounds and designed a Gothic chapel near the central lake, completed around 1851. The chapel and porter's lodge were heavily damaged during federal occupation in the Civil War; the lodge was demolished in 1868, but the chapel remained in use until at least 1876. It was listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Magnolia Cemetery holds the graves of dozens of Confederate soldiers, and their headstones are often marked with symbols from that era. Alongside military plots, the grounds also contain memorials to families whose names still appear on buildings and streets across Charleston today.

The grounds are open to visitors and can be explored on foot, with most of the terrain being relatively flat apart from a few gentle slopes toward the back. Allow plenty of time since the site covers a large area and the inscriptions on the stones reward a slow, unhurried walk.

The cemetery opened on land that had been Magnolia Umbra plantation, whose five-room house stood there by 1820. Its Gothic chapel, designed by Edward C. Jones near the central lake, was still under construction in early 1851 and was badly damaged when federal forces occupied the grounds during the Civil War; the entrance porter's lodge was demolished in 1868.