Scanlonville Cemetery, which dates to 1870, is a public graveyard that was never formally abandoned, wrote Mikell Scarborough, the Charleston County master-in-equity, in his Sept. 6 order. According to South Carolina law, abandoned cemeteries can be relocated to make way for development.

"From a preservation standpoint, this is an exceptional victory," says Michael Trinkley, director of the Columbia-based Chicora Foundation, Inc., who testified at a weeklong trial in June. "This is the first time we have had such a significant victory in cemetery preservation, particularly for African American cemeteries."