Most of Charleston has been fascinated by the recent discovery of a previously unknown graveyard at the site of the Gaillard Center renovation project. In February and March of this year, a team led by Dr. Eric Poplin, senior archaeologist with Brockington and Associates, unearthed the remains of
Dr. Poplin and the Brockington team
37 individuals who were laid to rest at that site, on the east side of Anson Street, sometime between 1680 and 1740. Many among the community are curious to know more about these people: Who are they? How and when did they die? Why were they interred at this spot–well outside of the “walled city”? Wouldn’t we all like to know the answers to these questions?
Well, now’s your chance to hear the latest conclusions from the experts. The Charleston County Public Library invites the public to a free program on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013, at 6 p.m. CCPL’s public historian, Dr. Nic Butler, will provide a brief overview of this early history of the site on which the Gaillard Center now stands, and then introduce the featured guest, Dr. Eric Poplin, who will describe the discovery and excavation of the bodies. Using photographs and maps, Dr. Poplin will discuss the clues discovered in the graves that inform his conclusions about the dates of the burials and the status of the individuals interred there. We may not have all the answers at this early date in the research process, but we hope to give the public a better understanding of this fascinating discovery in Charleston’s own backyard. So please join us for
“Graves at the Gaillard Center: The Rediscovery of a Forgotten Resting Place”
Charleston County Public Library Auditorium
68 Calhoun Street
Wednesday, May 1st 2013
6:00 p.m.
Rediscovering Charleston's Colonial Fortifications 
29 April 2013 at 9:54 pm
Looking forward to your talk tomorrow night. I’ll be there with my husband Michael Maher.
2 May 2013 at 4:03 am
[…] Nic Butler, the historian for the Charleston County Library, painstakingly researched the ownership of the property where the graves were found. In the early 1700′s, the land was well outside the walls of Charles Towne. The Crown first granted the land to a French Huguenot immigrant, Isaac Mazyck, who promptly sold it to Thomas Gadsden, an English shipping magnate. […]
4 May 2013 at 7:22 pm
Really enjoyed the video of the program that CCPL put up on Youtube. I miss going to these history lectures since moving away from Charleston.