The Scuppernong River Project

This project emerged from conversations between three individuals, Dr. Lawrence Babits (Program in Maritime Studies, ECU), Dr. Nancy White (UNC-Coastal Studies Institute), and Feather Phillips (Pocosin Arts Folk School) in the spring of 2011. This meeting was focused on a very simple question, “how can we work together?” Coincidentally, I had recently become the Interim Program Head at the Coastal Studies Institute (a joint appointment with the Program in Maritime Studies), and was scheduled to teach HIST6835: Advanced Research Methods for Maritime Archaeology (a class for MA students centered on utilizing technology in maritime archaeology and focused on instructing students in utilizing remote sensing instrumentation). It was obvious that with these three organizations in the lead, we could start the process of concurrently researching the largely unexamined Scuppernong River (and adjacent Bull Bay) while also teaching students how to conduct a remote sensing survey. Consequently, I was thrown into the fray. At first I felt some trepidation – after all, not all rivers are the same – not all rivers hold the potential to teach our students about the techniques and technologies at our disposal, and even fewer rivers guarantee us the promise of engaging our intellectual curiosities.