The Preservation Society of Charleston initiative to document threatened burial grounds has earned recognition as a 2025 recipient of the South Carolina Preservation Service Award for its contribution to the continued advancement of historic preservation.
The project was honored with others from across the state on June 18 at the South Carolina capitol, during the annual State Historic Preservation Awards ceremony, hosted by Gov. Henry McMaster, Preservation South Carolina, and the S.C. Department of Archives and History.
The Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds Project is a community-led initiative, spearheaded by the Preservation Society of Charleston (PSC) in partnership with the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project (ASABG), to identify threatened gravesites in the City of Charleston. Made possible by funding from the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grant Program, the project’s digital map aims to increase public awareness of Black burial grounds to strengthen protections for these sacred spaces as Charleston grows and develops.
A first-of-its-kind resource, launched in October 2024, the map is publicly accessible on the PSC’s website, and can be referenced by residents, descendants, policy makers, and members of the development community to better understand and protect gravesites citywide.
This project was years in the making due to increasing threats to under-documented Black burial grounds, including development pressures, flooding and sea level rise, as well as gentrification and displacement, which result in disconnectedness between historic cemeteries and descendant communities. Several high-profile examples of impacts to unmarked burial grounds catalyzed community activism, led by organizations like PSC and the ASABG. As a result, Charleston City Council adopted a gravesite protection ordinance in 2021. The PSC identified a mapping project to produce a citywide inventory of burial grounds as the critical first step to proactively protecting these sacred sites.
"Awareness and education are the best tools we have to preserve burial sites and other underground cultural resources that lack real protections at the state and local levels,” said Brian Turner, President and CEO of the Preservation Society of Charleston. “Building on significant community input, the Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds project is an invaluable resource for property owners, project teams, and public officials to ensure these sacred places are not lost.”
(l-r) S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, Madison Lee (PSC Staff), Laurel Fay (PSC Staff), Anna-Catherine Alexander (PSC Staff), Brian Turner (PSC President & CEO), W. Eric Emerson (S.C. State Historic Preservation Office, Agency Director), John Hildreth (Preservation South Carolina, Chair). (Credit: S.C. Office of the Governor, courtesy Preservation Society of Charleston)
“With more than 202 burial sites already documented and included in the map, the jury recognizes that the Black Burial Grounds project enables proactive protection and awareness of these sites,” said John Hildreth, Chair of Preservation South Carolina, at the June 18 ceremony at the state capitol. “And the project itself has helped build networks, relationships, and communication throughout the region.”