Historic Resources Survey Update, Charleston County, South Carolina, September 12, 2016

New South Associates; Reed, Mary; Ciomek, Summer; Sullivan, Patrick

From project summary: "The survey area is the entire county, with a concentration on those resources that are in unincorporated Charleston County. Unincorporated areas of the islands of James, Johns, Wadmalaw, and Edisto were also included in the survey, while the portion of the county within the Francis Marion National Forest was excluded from the survey. There were 1,319 properties surveyed. The total area of unincorporated Charleston County is 878 square miles (Figure 1). Of that, approximately 110 square miles was surveyed... The demolition of West Ashley’s Limehouse Produce Shed in the fall of 2013 brought to light weaknesses in Charleston County’s preservation ordinance, which only affords protection to properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Constructed in 1939, the Limehouse Produce Shed was West Ashley’s open-air produce market, providing local truck farmers a space to sell their crops and residents a gathering place, in addition to the fresh vegetables and fruits. Despite its importance to the community, the building was never nominated for the NRHP nor was it the subject of redevelopment during the seven years it sat vacant. The loss of the produce shed was the impetus for the Charleston County Planning Commission to begin reviewing the county’s historic preservation ordinance and identifying necessary changes to ensure local history is not lost due to the county’s continued and rapid development. In early 2014, the Planning Commission formed the Historic Preservation Committee and set out to update the county’s inventory of historic resources. The Historic Preservation Committee worked with the county planning staff to apply for a federal historic preservation grant to update the 1989 and 1992 Charleston County surveys. Understanding there were limited resources available for the project, the survey parameters were set to focus on buildings and structures located in unincorporated Charleston County that date to the mid-twentieth century. Completing an update to the county survey would be the first of many steps in creating an extensive inventory of historic resources in Charleston County, one that consists of both NRHP-listed properties and locally designated sites." Funding was provided in part by a 2015 Historic Preservation Fund grant to Charleston County (project number SC-15-008) administered by the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P15AF00051) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Historic Resources Survey Update, Charleston County, South Carolina, September 12, 2016

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