PICKENS — “If you want to make your mark on the world, don’t carve it on a tree — a tree will die,” said naturalist and outdoor writer Dennis Chastain. “If you carve it on a rock, it’s here forever.”

Officials with the Pickens County Museum of Art and History want to make sure that a message from the past survives into the

future.

Officials have kicked off the official fundraising campaign to secure funds to build a structure to protect petroglyphs — prehistoric rock art — from the elements while providing visitors an opportunity to view and learn from the rock art.

The campaign, “Preserving a Place of Ancient Voices,” seeks to raise $400,000 for the SC Rock Art Center, which will not only house the ancient art that was discovered at the Hagood Mill site, but also provide an overview of the SC Rock Art Survey.

The rock art, discovered at the mill in 2003 by a member of the survey, are a message passed down through generations — ancient voices, said Museum Director Allen Coleman.

“They’re pecked into the side of a rock, they’re scrawled on the side of a mountain, all from a time before our Native American ancestors put pen to paper, a time before our American History had even begun to write,” he said. “What we seek to do is make those voices forever heard, and these petroglyphs forever seen.”

The building will preserve and present the 40 plus petroglyphs, including 17 depictions of human figures — a rarity in prehistoric art — for all to enjoy.

The fact that the petroglyphs lie on easily accessible, publicly owned land at the Mill allows them to be protected while giving the public an opportunity to view them, Coleman said.

“By virtue of its ownership and its location on this National Register of Historic Places property, it is possibly the only petroglyph site within many hundreds of miles that meets the criteria for long-term preservation, while simultaneously serving the public as an educational center for Native American rock art,” he said.

Plans for the center call for the building to be completely handicapped accessible — another rarity, as many sites where prehistoric art has been discovered require long climbs or hike, Coleman said.

“It’s such a trek to get to some of the rock art sites,” he said. “We want this to be a fully-accessible site.”

The two-room structure’s first gallery will house photograph and artifacts from the 10-year survey, conducted by the SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, with the Hagood Mill petroglyphs housed in the second room, complete with viewing platform, which will be built over the rock art without disturbing or unearthing the artwork.

Building the center will allow the petroglyphs, which are hard to see with the naked eye, to be brought to life with special lighting, said Hagood Mill Site Manager Ed Bolt.

“You shine a light on them and they just pop,” he said.

Time is of the essence, as each year the art is exposed to weather damages them further, Coleman said.

“Those voices are fading,” he said. “They’re soon to become a memory.”

Bolt agreed.

“There’s a chance of them disappearing this century,” he said. “Once a building is over this, it’s not going to be rained on again, it’s not going to go through the freezing and thawing cycle (again.)”

Pickens County Museum Curator Helen Hockwalt said the Rock Art Center will effect not only education, but the county economy.

“This is going to impact the economy not only local, but internationally,” she said. “People will come from all around to see these petroglyphs.”

To learn more about the campaign, and how to help, call the Museum at 898-5963 or the Hagood Mill at 898-2936.