We have recently witnessed two unfortunate incidents that show the growing tension between respecting the dead of the distant past and reusing our increasingly valuable real estate. Both occurred in the city of Charleston, which we hope will soon take significant steps to protect our ancient cemeteries and strike the right balance between property rights and respect for the dead.

The most recent incident involved the owner of the turn of the 20th century home at 88 Smith Street in downtown Charleston, which was built on land with at least two abandoned cemeteries. The city halted foundation repair work, including 16 new helical piles, but then allowed work to resume, despite the risk that they would disrupt the graves.

In May, the state ordered the developer of the Oak Bluff subdivision in Cainhoy to stop work and organize a new archaeological survey for more definitive mapping of an African-American cemetery. Photos showed rectangular depressions indicating potential burial sites, and community members have expressed concern.

Neither incident reflects insensitive landlords as much as the inadequacy of our laws protecting burial grounds. Brian Turner, the director of advocacy for the Preservation Society of Charleston, researched the two incidents and noted that city lawyers say they rely on state law, but the Department of Health and State Environmental Control is only engaged if the work requires a state permit. Even then, there is often no site visit – only an instruction to notify the agency if any remains are found during the work. “The general message is that this is a very unregulated environment,” he said. “Protecting sites is not enough, but neither is it enough to ensure predictability in the land use planning process. Even the most conservative people on the real estate development side would love this. “

It is often said that those who know a particular city or county know where the bodies are buried. Those who know the Charleston area know they are buried almost everywhere. The city of Charleston has uncovered anonymous and unknown graves both during its recent renovation of the Gaillard Auditorium and during initial work on a possible site of the James Island Fire Station.

While the word “graveyard” conjures up images of burial sites next to downtown churches or monumental markers in the Cunnington Street graveyard district, the reality is that thousands upon thousands of people have been buried in graves. more modest tombs that have effectively been erased over time. . This is especially true for the resting place of African Americans and low-income residents, who were less likely to have stone markers or paid maintenance. Fortunately, Charleston has a head start in identifying these burial sites, thanks to more than 100 of them being mapped about a decade ago by the nonprofit Chicora Foundation.

It’s not just a Charleston or South Carolina problem. After the discovery of an obscured mass grave in Tampa, the state of Florida recently created a task force to identify unmarked and abandoned African-American cemeteries across the state; some projects there are about 3,000. And the US Senate has passed a bipartisan bill to provide federal assistance to ensure the preservation and maintenance of African American burial sites. We urge members of the House to pass it as well.

But the city should not wait for this, so we urge the city council to act quickly to establish requirements for the identification and protection of cemeteries. The city should also reach out to the descendants of those in lost or hidden cemeteries to ensure their voices are heard as details are worked out.

“With the development pressure that we have in this region, this is going to happen more frequently,” said Preservation Society director Kristopher King. “We’re a little insensitive to it, but the reality is we have a lot of ground to catch up. We have a lot of work to do. “

And that work should begin – and we hope it ends – before another government official has to order a halt to all construction work.