Nesbitt's Limestone Quarry (38CK69)

National Register Listing

Street Address:

Address Restricted (Cherokee County)

Alternate Name:

Limestone College Limestone Quarry

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817711016

Description and Narrative:

Nesbitt’s Limestone Quarry is the most extensive and best preserved limestone quarry directly associated with early iron production in the northwestern Piedmont of South Carolina. It was utilized as early as the eighteenth century, and through the first half of the nineteenth century was the primary source of limestone for the region’s ironworks. It is the only remaining limestone quarry with any contextual integrity. Since quarrying activity at Nesbitt’s ceased in the early part of the twentieth century, it was not exploited by modern mining methods. This lack of large-scale mining activity has been the principal reason this quarry, unlike the others, has retained much of its integrity. The site covers approximately 30 acres and has exposed vertical faces of limestone visible at the edges. It is the largest body of limestone in a series of deposits which trend northeast-southwest and extend in a linear fashion from Limestone College to across the South Carolina state line. Listed in the National Register May 8, 1987.

Level of Significance:

National

Area of Significance:

Industry;Archeology: Historic - Non-Aboriginal

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

May 8 1987

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