Len took a break from his scanning and I took that as an opportunity to conduct the interviews for the podcast.
Len told me about his background and how he got into GPR. He had served as a pastor in various Southern Baptist churches for 40 years, but had burned out. Several of his friends were undertakers, so he started working with them. One of his tasks was to locate graves in cemeteries, which he did through non-technical means such as probing. As technology improved, Len began learning how to do GPR and eventually started his own company. He has scanned over 300 cemeteries in the 15 years that his company has been in business. In addition to cemeteries, Len is often contracted by municipalities to find pipes and other underground utilities.
Not only is Len a pastor and GPR expert, but he is a licensed pilot. Prior to starting work on the Antioch cemetery he had been doing Angel Flights to bring supplies and help to those in North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene. Len was full of stories about his work with GPR and other life experiences. He was very affable and we hit it off right away. I could have listened to him all day, but I had to get back home.
On Wednesday I arrived at Antioch early. Len had mostly completed his GPR work, and was now using a highly accurate GPS to measure position of all of the graves and to photograph and transcribe each headstone. Combining the GPR and GPS data, Len will create a map of all of the burials in the cemetery, also indicating which spaces are still available for future burials.
As Len continued his work I looked around, amazed at what he had accomplished. The open area around the obelisk was now filled with marker flags. Len had found 107 unmarked graves in that area. Most unusually for that type of burial, the graves seemed to be aligned in an east-west orientation along with the rest of the cemetery. Even more surprising, many of the graves were casketed, which wasn’t usually the case for slave or Cherokee burials.
As I explored the cemetery further I found two headstones with the surname “Leopard.” This couple had died young, at ages 20 and 30. However, those ages are deceptive as Leland Leopard was 18 years older than his wife, Carrie. I did a quick bit of research on Find-a-Grave and determined that they were either fourth or fifth cousins of mine. Leland had a Woodmen of the World headstone.
Zach and Debbie arrived not long afterwards, then others arrived for the show-and-tell. My fellow explorers Alan Russell and Matt Richardson were there, as well as a contingent from Clemson. Dr. Spencer Roberts had worked with Alan’s daughter in the Emory University archives, and was now a research historian at Clemson specializing in historic churches and cemeteries.
There were also some members of the church and two homeschooling families present. Zach began the presentation with a description of the project’s purpose and why Len was there. Debbie then introduced Len to the group.
Len recounted some of the same stories for the group that he had told me on Monday. One of the points he drove home was that by locating these graves he was putting these individuals back on the map. We might not ever learn their names, but at least the lives they had lived would be remembered.
Len passed around samples of the types of maps he creates from the data. In addition to printed maps like these, he creates interactive websites using GIS to which churches and other cemeteries can link.
After the talk Len gathered the group around his equipment and did a demonstration of GPR. He used the Confederate Veteran’s grave that we had discovered on Monday as an example.
There were lots of questions from the group. I asked about the approximate cost of this type of GPR survey. A simple survey with GPR and geolocation runs about $1400 and acre. A more in-depth analysis with interactive map is about $3000 per acre. The price seems reasonable and within the budget of a church with a small cemetery. For larger cemeteries it can run into lots of money, but there are cost benefits. One large cemetery discovered that it had 900 open plots available for interments. At a sale price of $3500, that more than covered Len’s fee with plenty of profit for the cemetery.
Len took the GPR and walked around the cemetery, trailed by a group of homeschoolers. I chatted with Alan, Matt, and Spencer Roberts about his work at Clemson. He has some interesting projects underway, and we said we should stay in touch.
Len’s next stop was Hopewell Methodist Church in Simpsonville, where Alan had attended and where I had briefly served as music director. I was particularly interested in what Len found in that cemetery since I have two great-aunts and a great-uncle buried there. Debbie had hoped to have another show-and-tell at Hopewell, but the church had declined. They only wanted members of the church present. Oh well. I wished Len good luck on his next stop and vowed to maintain contact with him.
This had been a great break from all of the Hurricane Helene mess. I made some new contacts and there is the possibility of future activity with both the UCPA and Clemson. As for Len, I told him that he was what I want to be when I grow up.
One final note about another, different type of demise. Alan, Matt, and I headed to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. Over lunch we decided that Lowcountry Unfiltered had run its course and it was time to put it to bed. With Matt now in the Upstate and busy on weekends with his pastorate, the Second Saturday outings had fizzled out. Matt, Alan, and I would continue to get together for paddling adventures and other explorations, but these wouldn’t have the semi-formal organization it once had. When I got home I placed a cancel order for the lowcountryunfiltered.com domain name and web hosting service. From here on out the Wayback Machine, as well as all of the photos we’ve posted to Flickr will have to serve as the cemetery for that once great group of adventurers.