A group of a few more than 50 area residents gathered in Marion’s Opera House recently to hear from the state’s underwater archeologist, Chris Amer, diver Bob Butler and historian Ted Gragg.

Today at 6:30 p.m. in the Marion Opera House, Christopher Amer, the state’s underwater archeologist with the University of South Carolina and the state’s Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, will give a talk about recent findings at a Marion County Civil War Navy Yard.

As part of their field studies program, ECU students made presentations to the public about their findings during their underwater research in the Great Pee Dee near the Mars Bluff Navy Yard in Marion County.

Archaeologists took the first step in uncovering what life was like for people living near a historic Civil War naval yard where a famous warship was launched more than 100 years ago.