MYSTERY PHOTO: Boxy building

Here is a picture of a building you might have seen but not noticed.  This one may be a little tougher than usual because it probably won’t turn up on photo search engines.  Send your guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous Mystery Photo

Our June 10 mystery, “Looks like another cemetery,” was, in fact, a cemetery — the beautiful and wild cemetery of the Unitarian Church on Archdale Street.  If you haven’t visited, you should stop by and enjoy how an array of foliage runs in and around grave markers that have been there for decades.

Congratulations to those who correctly identified the cemetery: Jim McMahan, Joseph DuRant and Stephen Yetman, all of Charleston; Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant; Bill Segars of Hartsville; Archie Burkel of James Island; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Marnie Huger of Richmond, Va.; and Jay Altman of Columbia.

Segars observed: “ I’ve been to this graveyard and was impressed with the “different way” that this final resting place is kept.  The Atlas Obscura website says of this graveyard, “That’s how the dead would want it, which is why they wanted to be buried here: to spend eternity giving back to nature.”.  Sounds reasonable to me.

Burkel added, “The theory behind its natural look is that cemeteries SHOULD be left natural.  ‘Mother Nature” is the best designer of them all.”

Graf figured out the graveyard thanks to a clue embedded in the photo: “My best clue besides the overgrown vegetation was seeing a peek of the grave obelisk for Edward Henry Strobel.  Did you know he was born in Charleston in 1855 and died in Bangkok, Siam, in 1908?

“In 1884, Strobel participated in the presidential campaign and after Cleveland won the election, he offered Strobel the post of Secretary of Legation at Madrid.  Strobel accepted this position and worked in Spain for five years, where he worked as charge d’affaires for part of the time. In 1894, he became Minister to Ecuador and then also the Minister to Chile.  From 1894-1905, Strobel traveled around the world working for the American government. In 1905, Strobel returned to the U.S. after being poisoned in Egypt. Strobel suffered for 15 months to fight off the poison. After he survived the poison, he returned to his work in Siam, Thailand, but Strobel never really fully recovered. He died three years later in Siam where he was greatly respected. “

What a great story! Thanks, George.

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.