Cherokee County Schools is looking further into the possibility that its new School of Innovation & Technology is being built on a sensitive historic site in Peachtree.
At the board of education meeting Thursday night, attorney Dean Shatley said there was a known graveyard of enslaved persons on the property. After contacting the Office of the North Carolina State Archeologist, it was determined that the known graveyard had been previously mapped on the opposite side of U.S. 64, below the planned school site.
“When (the state Department of Transportation) put (U.S.) 64 through there, we understood that they had kind of flagged this as a site, but yet we still did not know exactly where it was,” Shatley said.
Shapely said he had been in contact with both the state archeologist and the state’s historic preservation office on the issue.
“We have notified the contractor, so the contractor knows who to call if they find something,” Shatley said.
The area was allegedly the home of a high-ranking Confederate military officer at one point.
“I don’t necessarily think that we have to take any further review,” Shatley said. “We are asking the state archaeological office on just guidance of what happens, if they have any recommendations, but they have indicated again that the project can move forward and that there’s not been any triggers for a state or a federal review of the situation.”
He added that the office was not giving much more information on what might have been on the site in an effort to discourage people from going out searching for artifacts.
Board member James Ellis still expressed concerns about the possibility of construction workers happening upon remains or another artifact at the site as well as its possible financial and time effects on the project.
“I understand that the graveyard itself is not supposedly on our property, but there was a camp that was possibly on our property,” Ellis said. “I have a huge problem with moving forward with that, not knowing that information, when it sounds like the state archaeologists are willing to come out, look at it and give us recommendations.”
Ellis said he felt like the board needed to “exhaust everything” searching for any potential sites on the property. He proposed letting the archaeologists come in to at least do a survey and let the district know what, if anything, was on the site.
“What if it’s right up in the middle of it and we run up on it? I can’t imagine the PR when they get two weeks, three weeks, six months into it and dig up who knows what,” Ellis said.
Board scribe Joe Wood expressed similar concerns.
“An artifact can be defined as many different things,” he said. “What I’m looking for is that professional legal opinion. It’s very possible if something like that happens, we could be in a position to lose a lot of money.”
Superintendent Jeana Conley said the state archaeologist’s office offered to go further if the board desired. However, the office stopped short of volunteering to come to the site, if its paperwork on the area showed it was not warranted. She also emphasized the importance of the district handling the situation correctly.
“Nobody’s making any demands,” Conley said. “Our decision to do this is solely because we’re an educational institution, and we would like to pursue what is right.”
She also said the contractor for the project was on hold. Shatley said due to the lack of any “triggers” in the state archaeologist’s eyes, any further physical assessment on the site would come out of the district’s pocket.
“We would have to hire somebody,” Shatley said. “What the state has basically told us is that we can proceed the project.”
The archaeologist’s office is scheduled to contact the district based on its own information on the site, including documents from a previous DOT survey completed when U.S. 64 was built.
“There are actually existing studies on this piece of property that we will be requesting ourselves,” Conley said.