Archeologist to present “time capsule” findings one year after John C. Calhoun statue was removed from Marion Square

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – It has been one year since a controversial monument was removed from Marion Square in downtown Charleston.

The process to remove the John C. Calhoun monument – which once towered over the park – began in late June 2020 only hours after Charleston City Council unanimously voted in favor of its deconstruction.

It was a decision that came shortly after protests and a riot erupted in downtown Charleston over racial inequality following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg promised the city would be “very careful about respecting history” and that an advisory task force would assist in deciding an appropriate home for the statue.

One year later, a permanent location for that statue has still not been announced. Members of the Charleston Museum’s executive committee voted in July 2020 not to accept the statue.

But as work continued in removing all traces of the monument from Marion Square, crews tasked with its removal discovered a long-rumored “time capsule,” or cornerstone that has a number of items inside like a cannonball, a case containing a banner, and other objects.

Archeologists who have been working to recover and restore the items since February are now expected to present and answer questions about their findings on Thursday – marking one year since the statue’s removal.

News 2 will have a crew at that meeting.