HONORING PAST USES

At the site of the College of Charleston Solar Pavilion, the historic Sanborn fire insurance maps from 1888 showed that there had been a kitchen house. With this information in hand, the College of Charleston archaeology department performed work prior to construction, discovering the hearth of an old kitchen house dated to the mid nineteenth century. During the excavation of the hearth the archaeology team discovered an enslaved African-American’s badge from 1853. The hearth and enslaved African-American’s badge are important steps in the College of Charleston’s Discovering Our Past initiative to tell a fuller story of the university’s long and complex history. Visitors to the Solar Pavilion today can hold their smartphone to a QR code to find out more about the history of the site and the enslaved workers who occupied the kitchen house. Additionally, the physical artifact of the hearth was unearthed and displayed.