The city had contemplated hiring an archaeology firm to handle the work before Weeks, who describes archaeology as his avocation, offered his services.
“I’ve done five cemeteries — African-American, Colonial and Antebellum — already in South Carolina,” he said.
Weeks, assisted by the city’s Public Works Department, could get to work as early as Monday, weather permitting.
“We’ll remove the top layer of soil, locate the graves and measure the shaft sizes,” he said. “We’ll survey the cemetery accurately so we’ll know exactly where those graves are within a 16th of an inch, then we’ll cover it all back up.”
The cemetery is located on what will be a city park near the southeastern corner of George and Egmont streets.
“This is a really great discovery we’ve made,” Mayor Bryan Thompson said. “We’re not going to disturb the graves, just identify where they are and memorialize the site.”
Weeks will not receive extra pay for the work.
“Having Bill, with the expertise to do this, is going to save the city an awful lot of money,” Thompson said.
Weeks found the first grave on Sept. 6 and called in local archaeologist Fred Cook, who had said that the cemetery existed on the site. Weeks and Cook found four more graves that day.
“This was a Colonial cemetery from before Brunswick was laid out in 1771,” Cook said. “They came out here and picked out this place to bury people.”
That was when Brunswick occupied a narrow band along the western side of what is now the city peninsula. The city later took in all of the peninsula, which included all the uplands east of the cemetery.
Cook will continue to be involved in the excavation, Weeks said.