Project# 0994.05 Integrated Cultural Resources Management Plan, Naval Hospital Beaufort, SC, 1999 - 2000

Naval Hospital (NH) Beaufort includes a large medical and health-care complex that is set on a picturesque bluff overlooking the Beaufort River. Harbeson, Hough, Livingston, and Larson of Philadelphia designed the hospital, which was constructed in 1946-49. Besides the hospital and associated facilities, the grounds extend to include the site of the former Camp Saxton. This site marks the temporary encampment of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Colored), the first African-American regiment mustered into service in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and where the Emancipation Proclamation was first read in South Carolina. Camp Saxton was listed in the NRHP in 1995.

At the outset of the project, HHM conducted a comprehensive, intensive-level survey of extant buildings, structures, and objects at the naval installation, identifying and documenting a total of 57 resources. The crew photographed and recorded salient physical characteristics of each identified resource. Concurrent with the survey, project historians reviewed previous cultural resource surveys and reports archived at NH Beaufort. The project also included supplemental archaeological investigations of Camp Saxton, conducted by an outside, local firm, which led to recommendations for expansion of the NRHP boundaries.

The ICRMP recommended that the cohesive collection of hospital-related buildings meets NRHP criteria and possesses sufficient significance and integrity to be eligible as a historic district. HHM subsequently developed a management plan that recommended procedures for future preservation and cultural resource management for all resources listed in or eligible for the NRHP. The ICRMP was completed in accordance with DoD Instruction 4715.3 and provided guidance for compliance with the NHPA, ARPA, and other cultural resource laws and regulations.