Site with Great Potential Lost

[CladMoonRising]

The church in the picture below was built in the 1880's and is associated with interesting local history. There's an undeveloped field in front of it that has been fenced off since the 1970's. Through research I found that the field was essentially the church's parking lot.

For the last 18 months I've been trying to get permission to search but the land was owned by an investment group and I was never able to reach anyone with authority. They finally sold the lot to a developer and,, when I reached out to them, I got a flat out "no".

Drove by the site yesterday and, sadly, the condos are going up. I gave it one last desperate attempt and the developer cited liability issues. I told him what I knew about the site's history and he said they have an archaeologist "on standby" in case the construction crew finds anything.

Hopefully someone like us got to it years ago but now we'll never know.

 

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[cudamark]

Check with the construction crew and find out where they hauled out any dirt.

 

[villagenut]

I have been involved with historically sensitive sites and the state sent in out of area archaeologists to dig shovel tests throughout the property and although their report shows their findings, it was not enough to pursue any further digging....according to their report. I thought, are you kidding me....but progress seems to always be the winner. Interestingly, when I overlaid their gridded test hole survey map over the map I had made from my digging the site over the past six years, it was obvious that their shovel tests were spaced every 80 feet....missing the main trash pit of the old homestead. I then reached out to a local archaeologist acquaintance of mine with these overlaid maps and now he and a colleague are helping me document the site using my map and GIS technology to get the site recorded in the state's master file and hopefully noted on the NRHP. Sorry for the bla bla bla but I do feel your pain, historic sites are vanishing way too quickly.

 

[Dug]

If anything of archeological significance is found it could halt construction which developers do not want to experience so I think that is the real factor involved rather than liability.

I wonder if a digger was to show the developer both a copy of a release from liability form that the digger was willing to sign along with a copy of proof that the digger carried his own liability insurance; what would be the next reason for a no?

 

[Goldfleks]

Sounds like a black ops mission to me. Black clothes, black detector, black shovel black headphones.

 

[Palmetto Pony]

If anything of archeological significance is found it could halt construction which developers do not want to experience so I think that is the real factor involved rather than liability.

I wonder if a digger was to show the developer both a copy of a release from liability form that the digger was willing to sign along with a copy of proof that the digger carried his own liability insurance; what would be the next reason for a no?

Dug I can somewhat address both of your question from local and personal experience. If you're familiar with the Coosaw Creek subdivision in North Charleston, that is one example of local relic hunters versus developers. I met several local guys that mostly hunt for fossils along the Ashley River area. When Coosaw Creek was still being developed they had the obligatory archeological survey done and got the green light. These guys were hunting the area and discovered ancient indian artifacts. Everything came to a screeching halt and to hear them describe it, the developers sounded like they wanted a hit put out on these guys! Of course as usual, a few artifacts were recovered by the State, the right palms got greased, paperwork glossed over and "progress" eventually carried on.

Regarding the insurance issue, I recently went through exactly what you described. The property I was seeking permission on was owned by an LLC. I was welcome to hunt it, but the person with authority wanted me to have a personal liability policy and sign a legal release of liability. Long story shortened, no need to have personal liability insurance and I whipped up a release and gave it to them. To bad for all of that trouble the site was a iron-fest!