The list includes almost 2,500 state-owned historic buildings and archaeological sites that Limehouse, R-Charleston, hopes can get further scrutiny for preservation.

Historian Katherine Hurt Richardson of Sumter — the first employee ever hired by the then newly formed Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation — pinpointed 2,176 buildings built before 1947 and 307 archaeological sites that are at least as old.

Limehouse called the list a great find. “We've got a matrix to work off of,” he said. “This is a big step in the right direction.”

Limehouse proposed the bill after this newspaper reported the deteriorating condition of the Bennett's Rice Mill, a significant ruin of early 19th century industrial architecture now owned by the State Ports Authority.

Preservation groups are looking at what can be done to stabilize it, but the incident showed how public ownership of a historic property doesn't necessarily ensure its proper maintenance. Limehouse said the bill is still needed so lawmakers from each county can keep better tabs on the condition of state-owned historic sites there.

The survey project was funded by a $12,000 grant from the S.C. Department of Archives and History and aided by the Historic Columbia Foundation, said Mike Bedenbaugh, director of the Palmetto Trust.

“We're going to save the state some money because that surveying now doesn't have to be done,” he said.

The S.C. Department of Archives and History runs the State Historic Preservation Office and helps state and local governments with specific preservation issues, but it mainly has advised on restorations or other changes proposed to historic buildings or sites. It has not been able to inspect the condition of historic state-owned buildings to guard against demolition by neglect.