Unearthing the Inclined Plane

Unearthing the Inclined Plane. . , For many years, all we knew about how the Charleston to Hamburg railroad was constructed and what it looked like were descriptions by several of the railroad's engineers including Horatio Allen, the records of the SCC&RR Company, and some rough drawings of the railroad structures from books written at the time. In 1944 a small section of original tracks was discovered during sewer construction near Warrenton, SC. This discovery gave us a glimpse of what the track looked like and how they were constructed., New Findings , In 2017 archaeologists conducting a cultural resources research survey of Hitchcock Woods documented remnants of the Inclined Plane's tracks discovered by Hitchcock Woods visitors and staff. The remnants were uncovered by decades of stormwater runoff that had carved a deep canyon in the wood's sandy soils. In 2018 archaeologists from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) returned to excavate and document this important site., What Did They Find? ,

❶ Two sets of parallel tracks from the Inclined Plane still in their original position. , ❷ A pulley with iron roller to support and guide the rope cable. , ❸ Sections of wooden rail with L-=shaped iron caps spiked to their top to protect them from the train wheels. , ❹ Crossties notched to hold the rails. , ❺ Longitudinal sills to support the tracks in sandy soil

, It's Like a Time Capsule , The remnants of the Charleston to Hamburg railroad and its Inclined Plane are some of the most important intact features associated with early American railroading ever found in the United States. This archaeological site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.,

"The significance of this find is profound. As far as is known, no original wooden rail track remains in existence in the U.S., even in museums, nor is there any intact iron-capped wooden rail anywhere in the world … As such, these tracks deserve recognition as one of the most important artifacts of early American industry, and possibly as one of the most important artifacts of the early history of the U.S. in existence today." , - Railroad Tracks belonging to the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, c. 1839-1952", Howard Wayt, , Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology

, Researching and Displaying These Artifacts , Further research at this site is now controlled by SCDNR. Most of the recovered artifacts remain buried in sand, which protects them from the elements and preserves them for future study. A few objects have been preserved. Plans are underway to display these important artifacts at the Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum, where visitors can learn more about the contributions of this railroad to US railroad history and its role in the founding of Aiken., Special thanks to archaeologists Carl Steen and Keith Stephenson and SCDNR archaeologists Sean Taylor and Tariq Chaffar for their work at this site and the use of these photographs..