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Commissioners offer resources to Charleston groups working on Black burial grounds; staff cite limited field capacity
Summary
Following a preservation conference, commissioners said Horry County can share research and cemetery data with Charleston-area groups working on Black burial grounds, but staff cautioned the county lacks capacity to lead out-of-county fieldwork and will provide documentation instead.
A commissioner who attended a recent preservation conference reported meeting representatives of a project documenting Black burial grounds in Charleston and suggested the commission offer Horry County's research as a resource. "I met the people who did this black burial grounds in down in Charleston, and...they're starting the cemetery project," the commissioner said, urging the county to share its materials.
Staff explained the county's GPR (ground-penetrating radar) equipment came from a federal grant and that current work focuses on historically significant cemeteries rather than all burial sites; staff emphasized they can provide documentation and guidance but do not have capacity to perform extended out-of-county fieldwork. "We do that, but we are not doing any new cemeteries at this point...we have few volunteers who signed up; they're just gonna be on standby," staff said.
