Taking Stock of Historic Resources

Surveying historic resources lies at the heart of a good preservation program. Every state in the country works to develop a comprehensive and accurate database of its resources. In Virginia, the statewide survey has been underway for 40-plus years. During that time, more than 165,000 architectural and archaeological properties have been recorded and added to the state’s inventory of historic sites.

Developing an accurate and comprehensive inventory is an ongoing process, with thousands of new entries being made each year. Each individual property must be photographed and mapped on U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps. Information about the style of the building, its construction date, and who built it is accompanied by a detailed architectural description and an evaluation of the relative significance of the property. For archaeological sites, the period from which the site dates, the cultural affiliation, and a detailed description of the attributes of the site and its artifacts are recorded.

Survey is not limited to properties like 18th-century plantation houses or grand public buildings such as churches and courthouses that are traditionally thought of as "historic landmarks." Survey includes simple vernacular 19th-century dwellings, streetcar suburbs, planned communities, barns and other agricultural structures, bridges, cemeteries, factories, commercial structures, statues, and even carousels, tugboats, and structures associated with space exploration. All artifacts of society’s efforts to house its population and accommodate its activities that are at least 50 years old are targets for a survey.

Today the Department of Historic Resources receives the great majority of its new surveys from two sources: survey projects that are carried out to fulfill requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act ( environmental review) and survey projects performed under this department’s Survey and Planning Cost Share Program.

Virginia's unique Survey and Planning Cost Share Program was designed to develop a cultural resource database for Virginia’s local governments while concurrently aiding in the expansion of the state’s cultural resource database. Localities compete to participate in the program. DHR provides all the administrative functions for the selected projects by securing consultants to do the work, paying the bills, monitoring the work, and ensuring the delivery of the products. The primary products of a survey project are the completed forms, the photographs, and the mapping information. The projects require a written, illustrated report and a scripted slide presentation to expand public education about a locality’s history and resources. Local governments can use this valuable information in their long-range planning activities as well as to develop effective heritage tourism programs.

All collected survey data is housed in the department's electronic computer database, known as the Data Sharing System or, simply, DSS, which DHR developed in partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation and launched in 2001. DSS provides ready access to resource information for local governments and professional cultural resource management consultants.

Since the inception in 1991 of the Survey and Planning Cost Share Program, more than 100 communities have joined DHR to conduct 150-plus projects in every region of the Commonwealth. As a result, each year this department’s inventory of architectural and archaeological historic resources grows with the addition of more than 4,000 newly recorded properties.

Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Virginia

The Department of Historic Resources, in close cooperation with the Council of Virginia Archaeologists, has been working to update and revise the Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations in Virginia . After careful review by both parties, the avocational community, and the public, the Guidelines were approved by Council of Virginia Archaeologists and Department of Historic Resources and are hereby adopted as the official guidelines for DHR.

A number of important changes will be noted with regard to reporting, the survey of battlefields and underwater resources, and the testing of deeply buried sediments, to name a few revisions. Many of the guidelines remain the same. As the guiding premise for revision was the appropriate consideration of the archaeological resource base, it is hoped that the guidelines prove adequate for the task.

New archaeological surveys that started on or after July 15, 2009 should be using the latest guidelines.

The guidelines were designed to be flexible where changes can be made as needed. Suggested changes to the Guidelines for Archaeological Investigation in Virginia should be made to the State Archaeologist.

For further information regarding the survey program, contact Bob Carter at (434) 381-6321.
 

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last update: January 19, 2010




 

 

These commercial buildings in Winchester were among the primary resource types identified in a citywide survey.






Cemeteries, such as Cedar Grove in Portsmouth, represent an important aspect of our shared memory and history. Recording these sites is an essential element of surveying a locality's cultural resources.


 

Surveys of cities and counties have helped identify canals, such as the Kanawha Canal, in Richmond, that dot the state and comprise Virginia's early transportation system.