People often get confused about where to look for a Post and Courier death notice when they lose someone in the Lowcountry. It’s a heavy time. You're dealing with funeral homes, out-of-town relatives, and the sheer weight of grief. Then, there’s the technical side of things. How do you actually get the word out in Charleston?
The Post and Courier has been the paper of record in South Carolina since 1803. That’s a massive legacy. Because of that history, the way they handle obituaries and death notices is a bit different from your local weekly or a digital-only startup.
The Difference Between a Death Notice and an Obituary
It sounds like a semantic argument. It isn't.
A death notice is basically a legal or "just the facts" announcement. It’s short. It usually lists the name, age, city of residence, and maybe the funeral arrangements. In many cases, these are handled directly by the funeral home as part of their standard package. They are efficient. They get the job done.
An obituary is the story. That’s where you talk about how they loved fishing at Folly Beach or how they spent thirty years teaching at The Citadel. It’s longer, more expensive, and usually written by the family. Honestly, the price difference can be startling. You might pay a flat fee for a notice but hundreds—sometimes even thousands—for a full-scale obituary with a photo in the Sunday edition.
Why the Post and Courier specifically?
Charleston is a "who knows who" kind of town. If someone passes away in Mt. Pleasant or Summerville, the Post and Courier death notice is still the gold standard for making sure the community knows. Digital memorials on Facebook are great, but they don't reach everyone. They don't reach the older generation who still sits down with a coffee and the physical paper every morning.
How to Find a Notice Without Losing Your Mind
If you are looking for someone who recently passed, don't just wander onto the main homepage and hope for the best. The website is dense. It’s full of paywalls and ads.
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The most direct way to find a recent Post and Courier death notice is through their partnership with Legacy.com. Most major newspapers outsourced the "search" functionality of their archives years ago. It’s a bit of a bummer for local feel, but it makes the database much easier to navigate. You can filter by date, by name, or even by the funeral home that handled the services.
- Go to the "Obituaries" tab on the main site.
- Use the search bar for the last name first.
- If nothing pops up, try searching by the funeral home's name.
Sometimes there’s a lag. If a person passed away on a Friday, the notice might not hit the system until Sunday or even Monday. The newsroom and the classifieds department are separate entities. Just because the news reports on a person doesn't mean the death notice is live yet.
The Cost Factor Nobody Likes Talking About
Let’s be real: putting a notice in the paper is pricey. It’s basically buying advertising space. The Post and Courier charges based on line count or word count, plus a flat fee for the "digital archive" that stays online forever.
If you're writing one, be concise. Use abbreviations for states. You don't need to list every single second cousin. Focus on the service details first so people can actually show up. You can always put the long, beautiful life story on a free memorial website or the funeral home’s own page.
- Line rates: These change annually.
- Photos: Adding a black and white or color photo adds a significant surcharge.
- Deadline: Usually, you need to have everything submitted by early afternoon the day before you want it to run.
What Happens if the Notice Has a Mistake?
It happens. Grief makes people typo names. Or the typesetter at the paper makes a mistake. If you spot an error in a Post and Courier death notice, you have to act fast.
Call the classifieds department immediately. If the funeral home submitted it, call them first. They usually have a dedicated representative at the paper they work with. If it's the paper's fault, they will usually run a "correction" or "re-run" for free. If it was your typo? You’re likely paying for the second run. It’s harsh, but that’s the industry standard.
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Archives and Genealogy Research
Maybe you aren't looking for someone who died yesterday. Maybe you're looking for an ancestor from 1924.
The Post and Courier’s archives are a gold mine for historians. However, the recent stuff (post-2001) is mostly on Legacy. For the older stuff, you’ll want to look at the Charleston County Public Library. They have microfilms and digital databases that are often more robust than the paper’s own public-facing search tool.
Searching for a Post and Courier death notice from the 1800s requires looking for "The Charleston Courier" or "The News and Courier." The names merged over time.
Dealing with the Paywall
The Post and Courier has a fairly strict paywall. Sometimes, you can view a death notice for free because they view it as a public service, but often, clicking around the site will trigger a "subscribe now" popup.
Pro tip: Many funeral home websites mirror the exact text of the notice for free. If you know which home is handling the body—like J. Henry Stuhr or McAlister-Smith—check their "Obituaries" page first. You’ll get the same info without the pop-up ads.
Actionable Steps for Families
If you are currently tasked with handling these arrangements, take a breath. It's a lot. Here is how to handle it effectively.
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Verify the deadline immediately. If you want the notice in the Sunday paper (which has the highest readership), you often need to have it finalized by Friday afternoon. Don't wait until Saturday morning.
Draft in a Word Doc first. Do not type the notice directly into an email or a web form. Use a spellchecker. Read it out loud. Better yet, have a friend who isn't currently in the depths of grief read it. They will catch the "died in 202" instead of "2025" errors that you’re too tired to see.
Ask about the package deal. Many funeral homes in the Lowcountry have a flat-rate agreement with the paper. It might be cheaper to let the funeral director handle the submission than to try to do it as an individual.
Keep a copy. Once it runs, buy five copies of the paper. You think you’ll remember to do it later, but you won't. Those physical clippings matter to people.
Managing a Post and Courier death notice is one of those tasks that feels like a chore until you see it in print. Then, it feels like a tribute. Just make sure you double-check the dates and the spelling of "Charleston"—you'd be surprised how often people get the simple stuff wrong when they're hurting.
Keep the text simple, get the service times right, and make sure you’ve got a clear photo if you're going the full obituary route. The community will take it from there.