As part of the video interviews that the Archives committee is doing, I had an opportunity to interview the Cochranes, and asked Jill to give me a tour of the artifacts in the nature center.  She showed me a rusty cannonball that Esther Doyle found on the North End of the Island.  It was small and rusty, but might have been large enough to hold powder.  Since we found one in our backyard in Mount Pleasant in April and friends suggested that we call the fire department to have it checked out to see if it is live, I passed that suggestion along to Jill.

In an email to the archives committee, she writes:

We called Randy Snipes, who called the Sheriff’s Department.  Very soon the “bomb squad” arrived (6 people!).  One person very carefully scraped off all of the rust and barnacles, looking for a hole that could have held a fuse.  Finding none, he announced that it was safe to keep.  A digital photo was taken and sent to the Charleston Museum.  In a few minutes we had a reply from the Curator of History, identifying it as a Revolutionary War Cannon Ball!  It is probably the oldest artifact that we have, except for the Indian pottery shards.

As soon as we have a secure exhibit case, it will be on display.  I will also send the photos to Amy to put on the POA website.

We were told that where there is one cannon ball, there are probably others.  So keep your eyes open as you walk around the island!