This is a story of a death that has taken a life of its own.
I wrote about this colorful, elaborate grave in my 2022 book, “Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston.” It is in fact, deliberately, the last story in a 230-page book that has hundreds of stories about mostly 18th and 19th-century Charlestonians. Herbie’s story is among many I feature in the book’s last chapter that is about the Charleston Historic Cemetery District, an area anchored by Magnolia Cemetery that has 20 or so cemeteries. My book is available for order through this site and my Amazon author's site.
Little Herbert Alonzo Brown was just a few weeks shy of his fifth birthday in 1983 when on March 14 he was struck and killed by a truck on Highway 174 near Edisto Beach. Herbie’s foster mother stopped at a gas station/market, and went inside without the boy who apparently wandered off onto the highway.
What a cute boy he was!
The background story, according to various sources, was that Herbie was at some point taken away from his parents by social services. I don’t know why. When he died in the horrible accident (called a hit and run by one news source), a social services worker sought to get him a proper funeral and burial.
This YouTube video by a guy who posts "Fascinating Graveyards" is really good.