Group in Beaufort conducting search for Stuart’s Town

BEAUFORT, Sc. (WTOC) - A group in the city of Beaufort is digging holes all around the city, looking for something they might not ever be able to find.

It’s called the search for Stuart’s Town.

“There was a Scottish colony somewhere in this locality, it was founded in 1684, and a lot of people were religious refugees,” said Charles Cobb, co-director of The Search for Stuart’s Town.

The group of archeologists and historians is pretty positive it was here but...

“There’s no guarantee even if we knew it was here, right here, that we’d find anything from it,” said Larry Koolkin, the coordinator of Stuart’s Town Action Group.

They’ve got four teams spread out around the city, all with one goal.

“The main thing we’re hoping to find is one of the structures the Scotts built”

Along with over 300 years of buildup, there’s one slight hurdle to finding some of those original Scottish structures.

“The Spaniards came up in a kind of flotilla of small ships, three ships, and they burned Stuart’s Town to the ground.”

It was gone after just two years of existence. Over 300 years later, this group is hoping for any look into the past they can get.

“Right now just long shot exploration to see what we can find out.”

“This is a one-week test case just to see what we can find and if there are things we encounter that are worth coming back and exploring, we’ll come back for another week and open bigger holes,” said Chester DePratter, the director of The Search for Stuart’s Town.

Whether that is the case or not, they’re excited to preserve whatever history they find.

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