Section III Previous Investigations at 38CH1049 In 1988 Patricia Cridlebaugh, staff archaeologist of State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), visited the Pritchard site. She recommended that historians and archaeologists conduct detailed historical/archival research on the site to obtain additional information relevent to historic occupation and use of the complex. She mentioned target areas such as the main house, a second unnamed structure, the shipyard, the spring, and other potential areas identified by archival research. Slave quarters might also be located with further historical research and archaeological testing. She further stated a need for systematic underwater and terrestrial surveys of bluffs and higher elevations along Hobcaw creek. In 1989, during construction of a private dock along the foreshore of the Hernandez property, SCIAA conducted a reconnaissance survey that confirmed the presence of 18th and 19th century materials. These included: “ballast rock, brick and ship frames eroding out of the bank, and two distinct areas on the foreshore containing wood cribbing and pilings-the remains of two of the three slipways and a wharf.” (Amer and Naylor 1996). The removal of a live oak to make way for the construction of the Hernandez’s 5,000 sq. foot home uncovered the remains of a brick structure entangled in its roots. This area was the focus of intensive archaeological investigations during the summer of 1993 (Figure 4). The structure consisted: “of the lower remains of three brick walls forming an approximately seven-meter square enclosure. Only the south wall remains to its 7.35-meter length. While the west wall extends 6.9 meters to the north, the east wall has been all but destroyed, with only the southernmost 2 meters of structure remaining. A large live oak root had deflected along the inside of the once extant east wall, and most of the brick that once comprised this wall is absent. No evidence for a wall enclosing the north side of the structure was found…” (Amer and Naylor 1996). Results of these previous excavations are presented in more detail in the proceedings of the Mount Pleasant Archaeological Heritage Symposium held on September 21, 1996 (Amer and Naylor 1996), and are summarized in a thesis written by Sarah J. Morby (2000).
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