New housing development moving forward in old village area of Mt. Pleasant

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) - Edwards Place, a new housing development in Mount Pleasant will move forward with a symbolic groundbreaking on Wednesday.

Some local historians say it is located on the largest piece of undeveloped land left in Old Village.

Edwards Place will be a community of ten homes on historic property.

The property is located at the site of the late South Carolina Governor Jim Edwards' home.

Preservationists and Mount Pleasant officials believed that the land could have been put to better use as a public space.

Grant Gilmore is the director of historic preservation at the college of Charleston and lives across the street from the property. He says the land has not been properly assessed for historic artifacts. Last year Gilmore Led a fundraising effort to try and purchase the land.

“We did our best to purchase the land for the town. and unfortunately we didn’t get anywhere near the amount of money that we had hoped for the property," he said. “But I’ve personally worked closely with the developer and I think they’re doing a great job.”

Gilmore says that development and building is to be expected. However there should be more measures put in place to preserve historic sites.

“As our coastal communities become more and more densely populated, we have a certain urgency to begin to put legislation in place to permit recording of our history before it goes under a bulldozer.”

The developer for Edwards Place says he recognizes the historic importance or the area and plans to work with Gilmore to preserve that history.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.