In the decades after the Revolution, the woodland surrounding the battlefield was gradually converted to farm fields and pasture. In 1845, James A. Witherspoon led an effort to raise money for a grave monument and recorded first-hand accounts, including one recalling that 84 men killed on the day of battle were buried in one large pit or grave and that 25 who died of their wounds the next day were buried in another grave about 300 yards away. The monument was not realized until 1860, when Charleston sculptor William T. White was commissioned to design and create the marble obelisk marking the grave. The Buford Monument Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was built on this site in 1894, remained there about five years, and later moved to the Pleasant Hill community. Several marked and unmarked graves date from this period. In 1946, the A.R.P. Synod deeded Lancaster County two acres surrounding the mass grave for use as a public park, and this tract was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. In 2005, planned safety improvements at the intersection of SC Route 9 and SC Route 522 prompted archaeological work that helped resolve long-standing debate over the exact location of the Waxhaws battlefield. Archaeologists determined that battlefield evidence extended beyond the two-acre tract containing the mass grave, and a more intensive 2010 study recovered numerous musket balls, gun parts, and uniform accoutrements extending east across SC 522. Analysis showed this was Colonel Buford's battle line, overwhelmed by Tarleton's troopers, and that the 84 Virginia Continentals were buried here close to where they fell on May 29, 1780. By studying artifacts and their context, archaeologists identified troop locations, weapons used, and where individuals were killed, shedding new light on how the battle was fought.