Tale of 2 cemeteries: Citizens express concerns about upkeep of Belleville Memorial Gardens

Orangeburg County Council has received a few letters of complaint about the management of Crestlawn and Belleville, which are owned by the same company, Faithful Heritage Holdings Inc. The complaints state that the two legally designated perpetual care cemeteries are not being cared for in the same manner.

Belleville is located at Cook Road and Belleville Road while Crestlawn is on Columbia Road.

In a letter written to County Council and the Orangeburg County Administrator’s Office dated Oct. 19, Orangeburg native Terrence Cummings said he visited both cemeteries on Sunday, Oct. 17.

In the letter, Cummings notes during that visit, he found the graves at Belleville covered with grass and debris and flags missing. He said it was not until that October visit that the lawn was maintained. In previous visits, it had not been.

“In comparison to BMG, it (Crestlawn) is as day is to night or as black is to white,” Cummings wrote, noting he visits Belleville at least every six weeks and says the issue has been ongoing for at least the past 4-1/2 months. “The status quo is deplorable.”

A call placed to Crestlawn/Belleville was answered by an individual who said she would pass this reporter’s information to the correct personnel. This reporter was later given the name of a spokesperson for the company and a message was left but not immediately returned.

Cummings said he has been told by cemetery officials that the condition of the cemetery is based on a number of factors, including COVID, staff turnover, staff inadequacy, equipment, changes in management and leadership, the weather, etc.

“However, because of the differences that one is historically Black and the other is historically white, I must use critical thinking not to discount the possibility that this too possibly is a contributing factor,” Cummings said. “Why the difference in maintenance of the two properties with the same owner?” 

Cummings said he has emailed and called cemetery management and there have been some positive measures taken.

“There is slight improvement but much more that should be done ‘perpetually,’ ” Cummings said in the email. “It should be noted that Jasmine Williams at Crestlawn has been trying to do all she can to make change, which is not in her power to do so.”

Cummings said a visit to the Belleville cemetery as recent as Oct. 28 revealed issues still needing to be addressed, such as scattered debris.

“Given whatever the excuse, we know it is a perpetual care cemetery and these owners have failed to keep covenant with the laws of perpetual care in South Carolina,” Cummings said.

Cummings told The T&D that when a family contracts to inter loved ones, there is a “perpetual care fee” of 3% that goes into the perpetual care fund that is supposed to be used for “perpetual care.”

Perpetual care, according to state law, is all the general work necessary to keep property in a presentable condition at all times. This includes cutting the grass, seeding or sodding of graves, replacement and pruning of shrubs and trees, and the repair and maintenance of the enclosures, buildings, drives and walks.

Cummings’ grandparents, father and uncle are all buried at Belleville and his mother will also be buried there.

In the letter to council, Cummings said in September, he along with his mother and two sisters, traveled from Blythewood with rakes, brooms, dust pans, clippers, cleaner flowers and trash bags to clean family spaces in the cemetery.

Cummings said his grandfather, Earl Franklin Cummings, has been buried at Belleville for 51 years.

“We have never seen BMG in this condition,” Cummings wrote to council. “If we didn’t know precisely where our family plots were, we would have never found them,” Cummings wrote. “They were covered completely with grass and the cupholders turned down.”

Orangeburg native Deborah Herring said upon her visits to Orangeburg, she is “sad, hurt, and so disappointed with what I see at Belleville Memorial Gardens.”

“As a child I remember a peaceful and serene final resting place,” Herring wrote to council and county administration in October. “The grounds were impeccable and absolutely beautiful. My parents were clear and deliberate as they made plans for a final resting place in a perpetual resting place.”

Herring said upon her visit to Orangeburg in August, she went to both the Crestlawn and Belleville cemeteries.

“It (Crestlawn) was well kept and beautiful,” Herring said, noting the next day she attended a service at Belleville. “I was appalled at what I saw in the way of overgrown grass, untrimmed shrubbery and overflowing waste containers. As I visited my parents’ graves, I had to navigate jungle weeds and ant dwellings.”

“A tale of two cemeteries is unacceptable in 2021,” Herring wrote. “The monies spent on a final resting place includes funds in a trust to keep the grounds manicured. This is not the case at Belleville Memorial Gardens.”

Council Vice Chair Janie Cooper-Smith told fellow council members at their Monday meeting that since the citizens voiced their concerns, Belleville Memorial Gardens grass has been cut and the cemetery has been cleaned up.

“However, the concern is for the cemetery to receive continual perpetual care,” Cooper-Smith said. “The citizens don’t want Belleville Memorial Garden to look like a cemetery of the forgotten. They are only asking the Belleville Memorial Garden to receive the same perpetual care as Crestlawn Memorial Garden.”

Cummings ended the letter by asking council to communicate with Crestlawn and management to “insist that Belleville Memorial Gardens … be restored to its once beauty in which we all took pride and cherished.”

Orangeburg County Council Chairman Johnnie Wright said the matter was brought to council by Cooper-Smith and will be further discussed going forward.

The problems at the cemeteries are not new.

A decade ago, when the cemeteries were under different ownership, family members complained about delays in the placement of grave markers.

In many cases, customers had to wait a year or more to receive markers when Mike Graham and Associates of Houston owned the cemeteries.

Some families even tried legal action to secure markers.

The cemeteries were sold and improvements were made.