Archaeologist work to uncover a piece of Wilmington history

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Under the remains of the old Water Street parking deck an organization went digging for an old historic feature the Rock Spring of Wilmington.

The Rock Spring was known as a source of water hundreds of years ago and legend says the water was something special.

“If you drank the waters from the rock spring you made Wilmington your home,” Associate Professor of History at UNCW Chris Fonvielle said.

Fonvielle said even though the waters were so pure, clean and sweet as time went on many forgot about the spring.

“It was a big part of the landscape in the 19th century and the early 20th century, but it got contaminated. They had to plug it up and eventually they built the parking deck over it in the 60s so it was kind of sealed off,” Archaeologist and Executive Director of The Public Archaeology Corps Jonathan Schleier said.

The Public Archaeology Corps searched for the piece of history on the remains of the old Water Street parking deck after getting approval to dig a little deeper into the past.

“It was a huge part of the past and huge part of the history so I think it’s just really cool if we can bring it up to the future and ya know kinda keep the legend alive,” Schleier said.

Meanwhile as they searched for the noteworthy feature they made history themselves.

During the excavation ‘X’ marked the spot because Fonvielle said the legend of the Rock Spring has been uncovered.

“The history is everywhere in Wilmington,” Schleier said. “I mean you cant turn over a stone and not find anything.”

The Public Archaeology Cops said the construction company developing the new structure on the site of the Rock Spring said they would be interested in trying to incorporate the history somehow.