As Manager of Preservation & Research, Laurel M. Fay manages preservation initiatives including the Historic Markers Program, Charleston Justice Journey, and the Mapping Charleston’s Black Burial Grounds Project. Laurel also specializes in archival research, content development and visualization, digital mapping, and public meeting advocacy. She earned a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Tulane University School of Architecture after studying marketing and environmental studies at College of Charleston. Her graduate work emphasized cemetery preservation and documentation, digital mapping, neighborhood stabilization, and the exploration of how historic preservation can be used as a tool to heal fractured communities and amplify the voices of those who have been marginalized. Laurel spent four years after her undergraduate career working in Boston as a Marketing Specialist at Shepley Bulfinch, an architecture firm originally founded in 1874 by H.H. Richardson. A Connecticut native, Laurel traces her interest in preservation to New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, where her great-grandfather led the restoration of the iconic constellation ceiling mural during World War II. Family lore says he and other workers recorded personal and historic events among the stars.
