National Endowment for the Humanities Deep Mapping Syposium held in Sumter, South Carolina

The Keweenaw Time Traveler team, in partnership with Wayne State University's Hamtramck Explorer team, and the Mapping Forest to Furniture project, led by the University of South Carolina hosted the First bi-annual Community Deep Mapping Symposium. The event took place in Sumter, South Carolina, from Monday, September 28th through Wednesday, September 30th. 

The event brought together participants from around the world to engage in the hard work of developing a foundation of deep mapping practice. Events included presentations from 2024 Community Deep Mapping Fellows as well as 18 new project teams who are based in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Sardina. 

Thanks to the generous support of the City of Sumter, Sumter Economic Development, and TheLINK, attendees were also treated to unique field trips and dining experiences within and around the City of Sumter. These tours included a City of Sumter tour led by the last general manager of William's Furniture, Drewry Penn and a walk through Congaree National Park led by John Grego, President of Friends of Congaree Swamp.

The event would not have been possible without the generous support of these community groups as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities, Congaree National Park, Friends of Congaree Swamp, The History Center, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina, the Center for Geospatial Research and Technology and Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University, and the Department of Anthropology at Wayne State University.