Civil War cannonballs emerge on SC shore in wake of Hurricane Matthew

Rachel Reeves

A man walking along South Carolina's Folly Beach got quite a surprise on Sunday morning.

CNN reports that the individual discovered roughly 12 Civil War cannonballs on the shore.

Hurricane Matthew had caused them to surface from beneath the sand, and explosives experts were called to manage their detonation.

Experts from both the US Air Force Explosive Team and Charleston County Sheriff's Office performed most of the job at the site and several people in the area reported hearing blasts; however, some of the cannonballs were taken to a naval base for deactivation.

During the Civil War, the locale served as a place for Union soldiers to organize, notes Gizmodo.

Over the years, a number of relics have been found in the area, including some exposed by 1989's Hurricane Hugo.

See images of Hurricane Matthew's aftermath:

Advertisement