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Cultural Resource Management is a professional field that employs practices of historical research, archæology, and land-use planning to identify the historic landscape and to help resolve or avoid potential conflicts between development and heritage interests. Our CRM practice helps clients implement solutions that avoid costly delays and regulatory confrontation.
Heite Consulting provides a special level of local expertise for Delaware projects, that helps clients avoid project delays occasioned by encounters with unsuspected historic or prehistoric archæological sites or cemeteries. Since our establishment in 1980, we have worked on dozens of development projects and preservation plans. Clients have included DelDOT, all three Delaware County Governments, and private developers througout the Mid-Atlantic region.
Heite Consulting has worked througout the Mid-Atlantic region with completed projects in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Through our parent company, we have completed projects in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Heite Consulting is a process oriented company. We will get your project through the Section 106 process as well as relevant state regulations and guidelines, guiding the effort from start to finish with a view toward getting the project built and working to an equitable solution to cultural resource issues.
How We Do What We Do...
Heite Consulting provides a wide variety of expertise. We have all RPA Principal Investigators working for us. When you hire us, you get top qualified people working on your project. Brief descriptions of our capabilities and people follow.
Pre-Acquisition Parcel Analysis |
Project Planning |
Archæology |
Historical Research |
Land Use Planning |
Cemetery Delineation |
Federal and State Permits |
National Register Documentation |
HABS/HAER Documentation |
Municipal Planning Studies |
Marketing Archæology |
Pre-Acquisition Parcel Analysis...
If you are considering the purchase of a parcel, but you suspect that the property may contain, potentially cost-prohibitive, significant cultural resources, allow our knowledgable staff to identify any Locations of Archaeological Interest on the parcel before you commit to the purchase.
Project Planning...
Renewal projects, building renovations, redevelopment, and almost any ground-disturbing activity is likely to involve cultural resources and the regulations surrounding them. In previous projects our clients have retained the services of HCI to help anticipate and deal with any regulatory issues before they become a problem.
Archæology...
Before a client buys a property, we perform an analysis to determine whether archaeological sites or standing structures are present, are likely to be present, and if so, what the problems will be and we present possible solutions. We advise as to the possibility of permit involvement that will trigger hidden costs. Strict confidentiality is assured.
Environmental Impact Studies:
For projects with federal funding, or those which require permits, we provide a full range of services from Environmental Assessments to full Environmental Impact Statements concerning cultural resources.
Identification/Reconnaissance/Intensive Surveys:
Phase I Survey is done to: identify the presence or absence of cultural resources, determine the extent, probable date and function of archaeological sites, and standing structures, and make recommendations for further work or no further work as required. A report documenting the findings is prepared.
Significance Assessment Surveys:
Phase II Surveyed are done using National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criteria, on sites and structures located during the Identification/Reconnaissance Survey to determine eligibility for the NRHP. A report documenting the findings is prepared.
Mitigation Planning and Excavation:
When a site or structure is determined eligible for the NRHP, Phase III mitigative action to lessen the effect on the site is required. This can take the form of avoiding the site, covering the site with protective fill, green space easements, moving a structure, photo-documentation, measured drawings, excavation, preservation in place, and partial or complete excavation. Normally, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is required. This legally binding document spells out the actions to be taken on the affected site.
Historical Research...
The objective is to find out what was there as far back as necessary from historic documents, State Agency records, maps, predictive modeling, and deed/title searches. The depth and breadth of the effort vary according to the client's needs. A report documenting the findings is prepared.
Deeds, family papers, chancery papers, land and personal property tax records, land patents, survey and plat books, and processioner's returns are used to trace a property history from the present to the first patenting. Over 350 years of information is available on some counties. This information can be used in other stages of investigation.
Used at all stages of investigation, the location of sites and structures through the analysis of historic maps provides information not obtainable any other way. These maps guide survey efforts, allow spot checks for accuracy to be made and cut out expensive field survey time.
Land Use Planning...
Through identification of resources from maps, documents, field survey, geophysical survey and other means, we provide our clients with evidence of past land use so that intelligent decisions can be made as to where problem areas might be, how to adroitly minimize impacts through slight design changes and avoidance, and most importantly supply a clearance where no resources are within the project boundaries.
When a developer encounters significant cultural resources, we provide expertise at the planning stage to minimize the cost entailed by excavation and other mitigative options and at the same time to protect the cultural resource. Our aim is to be part of the solution, not the problem. We provide ways to foster development in accordance with the resource types present to enhance the final product.
Cemetery Delineation...
Cemeteries comprise a significant portion of archaeological investigations in Delaware. Whenever a cemetery is to be affected by construction, the developer must establish its boundaries and identify its occupants. Due to the large number of burials left unmarked (or poorly marked) throughout history, a professional archaeologist is frequently needed to determine the extent and nature of burials within the project area.
Heite Consulting has been called upon to delineate unmarked, or poorly marked cemeteries throughout Delaware. Typically these surveys do not require any type of artifact analysis.
Federal and State Permits...
We know the Federal and State regulations that govern archaeological and architectural resources. It is our job to guide your project through to the successful completion of the permitting process. We have a close working relationship with the Delaware State Historic Preservation Office (DESHPO) which acts to ensure compliance with Federal regulations.
National Register Documentation...
NRHP nominations can include historic research, background research, survey, excavation and other documentation in order to complete a nomination. Sites or structures on the NRHP are eligible for various tax benefits and are accorded legal protection. NRHP designation increases real property value, provides a focus for development within an appropriate context and provides enormously beneficial positive publicity.
HABS/HAER Documentation...
In order to document significant architectural, engineering and industrial resources, a permanent structural record, isometric CAD drawings, structure profiles, engineering drawings, photographic documentation, photogrammetry, video documentation, measured drawings, graphic and written productions may be used.
Municipal Planning Studies
Through identification of resources from maps, archival research into deeds, land taxes and other documents, field survey, geophysical survey and other means, we provide our clients with evidence of past urban land use so that intelligent decisions can be made as to where problem areas might be, how to adroitly minimize impacts through slight design changes and avoidance, and provide advice on historic hazards that have been documented but forgotten.
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Marketing Archæology...
Archæology provides an excellent avenue to establish good relations between developers and the local community. Developments that are respectful of the area’s history and designed in a manner that celebrates and promotes an understanding of that areas unique history is not only appealing to local citizens, but prospective buyers as well.
There are many ways of incorporating the local history into development plans, whether they are shopping centers, recreational centers, residential developments, or even private development projects. At the most basic level, archæological themes can be included in the development plans in the form of development names or street names.
However, the information produced during surveys may also be used as signage along nature/archæological trails. It can be incorporated into the architectural themes of the development, such as designing commercial and residential structures to look like they were part of the original town. It can even be used to recreate what was once there. Artifacts can be used in presentations for the local community or in public displays. Sites can be used as educational tools by allowing the local community to be involved in ongoing archæological excavations supervised by professional archæologists.
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Heite Consulting, Inc. founder, the late Ned Heite, MA / RPA
Edward "Ned" Heite served as Historic Registrar and Chief of the Bureau of Archives and Records Management for the state of Delaware. Assignments included directing the statewide survey of historic sites and restoration of the Old State House. Under his supervision, Heite Consulting has completed photographic recording projects for various types of historic properties, including both background research and large format photography. The firm has prepared historic structure reports of mills and other industrial buildings, residences, and bridges. Ned incorporated ethnographic and genealogical research on remnant Native American populations in ground breaking discoveries on cultural adaptation over three centuries.
Lyle Browning, RPA - Owner........................(Scientific Archæology / Molinology / Geophysical Survey)
Lyle was graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1971 with a BA in History. He has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Scientific Methods in Archaeology from Bradford University, UK and later specialized in Geophysical Survey. Lyle set up and ran the VDOT Cultural Resources program from 1980-1988. Long interested in streamlining and computerizing processes, he has compiled databases from mills to ironworks to Civil War earthworks to speed the planning process. He has pioneered the use of geophysical survey in VA, the use of mechanical means of site location and investigation, and has promoted the integration of science into archaeology.
Craig Rose
Craig Rose, MA / RPA - Project Coordinator / Graphics.............(Field and Analytical Techniques in Archæology)
Craig graduated from the University of London with a MA in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archæology. He is proficient with Mac OS X, MS Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Vectorworks CAD software, and the Internet. At HCI, Craig is responsible for the creation and implementation of project-specific field and laboratory methodologies designed to inventory and evaluate archaeological sites. This includes: conducting test excavations, analyzing artifacts, preparing reports, maps, and photographs, and the curation of artifacts. Assistance in efforts to reconcile conflicts and problems regarding the preservation of archaeological sites and cultural materials is also required.
Glen Mellin, MA / RPA - Site Supervisor / Artifact Illustration................................................(Prehistoric Archæology)
Glen received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the Universtiy of Delaware. He is an accomplished field archaeologist with over thirty-five years experience in nine different states, the US Virgin Islands, and the Czech Republic. Exploring Woodland I economic patterns (3000bce - 1000ce) in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States has led to the formation of important alternative explanations. These explantations focus on settlement patterns, the appearance of domestic structures, and site development, while advocating the concepts of white-tailed deer herding and dairy husbandry.
Jamie Kuhns
Jamie Kuhns - Lab Supervisor / Architectural History
Employed with the company since 2004, Jamie has assisted us by identifying prehistoric and historic artifacts, performing archival research, and maintaining the laboratory. Currently working on her Ph. D. in the History of American Civilization from the University of Delaware (A.B.D.), she maintains a B. S. in History with a Minor in Anthropology from Radford University (1998) and a M.A. in History with a concentration in Material Culture, Museum Studies, and Public History from James Madison University (2001).
Melaine Minear - Office Manager / Bookkeeper
Melaine runs our office and keeps our books. Coming from a viticulture background with an interest in the past, public education and interpretation, museology, horseshoe crab regeneration, old house rehabilitation and public service activism, she brings a wide ranging set of interests to HCI.
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