We spent a lot of time soul searching Thursday and then we got down to business Friday morning. Once an agreement is reached with the University of South Carolina Department of Archaeology, we will begin Phase 1 of the project. We expect it to take a year to do all the archaeological and historical work in Phase 1.

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I dare say there has never been an assemblage of so many distinguished Francis Marion and Revolutionary War scholars outside an academic context in the state. We had some of the top people on the Revolutionary War and Marion involved in the discussions.

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Those were really the two pillars of this retreat: The list of sites and the authorization letter to enter into a contract for Phase 1. We are contracting with USC to do it because they can do it cheaper than anyone else. Basically they do it at cost, plus they have Steve Smith, the preeminent Marion scholar, on their staff.

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