Delineation of the Jameson Family Cemetery, Pickens County, South Carolina

The LAMAR Institute researchers were employed by the Jameson Family Cemetery, Inc. to delineate the Jameson Family Cemetery in rural Pickens County, South Carolina. Fieldwork for this two-day project was completed on February 6, 2009. The survey was accomplished by transit mapping, grave documentation, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data collection. The data was post-processed in the lab using multiple software programs. The results include a series of scaled maps that show various features within the cemetery, a set of digital photographs of the grave markers, tabular data on the graves identified by surface markers and historical search, and GPR radargrams, plan maps and animated jpeg maps of the subsurface of the cemetery. These lines of evidence were integrated to create a more complete story of the cemetery and its contents. A total of 121 graves was identified in the cemetery. This study represents the first documented use of GPR technology to define cemeteries in Pickens County, South Carolina. GPR proved to be a highly effective and useful tool in documenting the Jameson Family Cemetery. A brief reconnaissance visit to the Freeman-Fowler-Jameson Cemetery, which is located within a few miles of the Jameson Family Cemetery, also was conducted by the LAMAR Institute team. Only one hour was spent in this effort, however, so the findings were quite limited. Field conditions in the wooded setting also restricted the GPR survey that could be accomplished. More fieldwork is recommended to properly delineate this historic cemetery.