Old artillery shell removed from SC work site

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — An artillery shell found in Charleston and thought to date from the Civil War is being disposed of by military personnel.

Area media outlets report the projectile was found shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday at a construction site where the College of Charleston is expanding its Jewish Studies Center.

A nearby street was closed for three hours and people working in nearby buildings were also asked to leave their offices for a time. Personnel from Joint Base Charleston took the shell to an area where it can be safely detonated.

Finding old shells in Charleston is not unusual.

Historians say that during the Civil War, Charleston and Fort Sumter were the objects of the longest military bombardment in the history of the Western Hemisphere.