National Cemetery undergoes construction to repair irrigation

FLORENCE — A Pennsylvania construction company will begin to repair irrigation systems in Florence National Cemetery during the next few months.

The system was damaged when construction to expand the cemetery stopped abruptly in 2006 after excavators unearthed human remains. The repairs will help with maintenance of the soil and the headstones at the cemetery.

R&R construction services, a Pennsylvania construction and engineering company, was awarded a $258,000 contract to complete the repairs left unfinished by ESA, a construction company that previously worked on the site, according to an award letter dated March 5.

R&R will provide the cemetery with a working irrigation system and proper drainage for runoff, sod and some corrective work on irrigation near the S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs’ Pee Dee Regional Center, said Mike Nacincik, a spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration.

R&R was one of the contractors working in the cemetery during the Florence expansion project. The original plan was to extend the cemetery 10 acres to the south to allow more space for burials. R&R was chosen for the contract based on its knowledge of the site.

The irrigation system is vital to a cemetery because it controls the flow of treated water in the cemetery, a National Cemetery Administration official said. The water is treated with chemicals that prevent mineral buildup on headstones and prevent discoloration. The goal is preservation.

Repairs on the irrigation are expected to start this spring.

“We will send them a notice to proceed, and they will be able to start as soon as they get it, probably late March or early April,” Nacincik said.

Section 16 is located on the south side of Florence National Cemetery where the expansion began. Tagged site 38FL2 by archaeologists, the Florence Confederate Stockade is historically known as a Civil War prisoner of war camp where Union soldiers were kept after the two sides stopped trading POWs. It shares its borders with the national cemetery.

When construction began, Mark Buyck III, chairman of the Friends of the Florence Stockade, contacted the Veteran’s Administration and the S.C. State Historic Preservation office with concerns about the potential historic value of the area.

Shortly thereafter, construction was postponed after human remains were unearthed at the site. Buyck said it’s not clear if the person was a Union or Confederate soldier, but it is obvious he was a soldier.

Archaeologists commissioned by the VA to examine the site found 5,828 historic and 228 prehistoric artifacts in addition to evidence suggesting the area was a Confederate camp for the soldiers guarding the stockade.

The final report said the remains belonged to a 25- to 30-year-old man buried with artifacts suggesting he was a soldier, but maybe not a Union soldier like most of the bodies found in the stockade. Union soldiers were buried in trenches north of the site. Based on dental analysis, he had a diet similar to Southerners of the period.

“This is a find because this is the only Confederate camp excavated in South Carolina,” Buyck said.

The Friends of the Florence Stockade plan to bury the body later this year.

“They have been good stewards of that property,” Buyck said of the National Cemetery Administration.

The complete report can be found on the S.C. Archives and History Center Web site at www.palmettohistory.com.