Reconstruction Era National Historic Park
Visiting Reconstruction Era National Historic Park | Old Sheldon Church Ruins | Beaufort, SC | January 2024
Back when we lived in South Carolina, we made it a goal to visit every National Park administered site in the state. Throughout our 8 months there, we managed to complete this goal. However, a few months after we moved away, a new park was created just 1 ½ hours South of where we lived: Reconstruction Era National Historic Site in Beaufort, SC. We had actually visited the area and walked the streets that would eventually make up the park, but couldn’t really count that as having visited the park. Today we were driving from Savannah to Charleston, and since Beaufort was right in the middle, we saw this as our opportunity to make things right and visit this new park.
Beaufort was so much bigger and busier than we remembered, at least driving through the suburbs and shopping areas to reach the downtown — I’m not sure if that’s our selective memory or if it’s really grown in the last 8 years. We navigated to the visitor center and then paid for an hour of parking. Curtis went to the visitor center to grab stamps and get an idea of where we should walk, and found out that a walking tour was just about to begin. We readied ourselves for the walk and met at the appointed spot to go on the tour. The rangers that were working in the visitor center all came out to give Charlotte lots of love, and with that we began the walk!
The walking tour led us down the road, passed the old houses, some of which were significant to the history of the town. It was very informative, and the ranger had good answers to all of Curtis’ questions. This park was established to help interpret the stories and history of the Southern African American population post-slavery as more and more freedom and rights were acknowledged during and after the Civil War.
Beaufort was chosen as the center of the park because it was seen as the starting point for so many of the sociological trials following emancipation. The Union captured Beaufort very early in the war (November 1861) and the plantation owners who farmed the coastal islands abandoned their homes and slaves immediately following the battle. The Union Army and Northern abolitionist societies immediately set to work organizing the thousands of now emancipated slaves. The Park preserves one of the first schools for emancipated slaves at Penn Center; Camp Saxton, where some of the first black soldiers volunteered and were trained for the Union Army, and other examples of early social reorganization. But, more importantly, the Park serves as a locus connecting the history of emancipation and integration through the Reconstruction Era Network.
We were quite impressed with what the rangers had accomplished in the last 7 years and we especially enjoyed hearing about the local history and making the connections between it and other places we visited during our time in the Southeast. We ended up staying to talk to the ranger extensively after the tour ended, but thankfully weren’t ticketed for being parked longer than an hour! All this to say, it was definitely worth it to return to this park and give it a proper visit.
Side note, we were so caught up in the tour and talking with the ranger that I didn’t take any pictures today — so here’s a couple from our last visit to Beaufort 8 years ago, which was also around this time of year so these places looked pretty much the same!
After we finished our time here, we drove a short ways to another spot we had visited on the same weekend trip to Beaufort 8 years ago: Old Sheldon Church ruins. Last time we were here, we had just been rained out while camping on Hunting Island, and ended up driving over here in the dark and waiting/napping in our car until the rain passed and the sun came up. It had super eerie vibes, but we really enjoyed visiting, as we always enjoyed finding historic ruins in the woods. Today was pretty much the opposite of that day — bright and sunny, and very pleasant now that the sun had come out. We enjoyed walking around the ruins again, and then had a picnic lunch across the street in the large car lot. Apparently they used to allow overnight parking here, but not anymore unfortunately, so we still needed to move on to find another spot for the night.
I personally thought it would be really fun to return to Hunting Island since we enjoyed camping there (besides the rain) and loved the driftwood beach, but I looked it up online and their most basic tent site cost $45 a night to camp!! Even in the off season!! I’m positive we didn’t pay that much back then. So instead, we ended up driving further North closer to Charleston, where we would be in a nice quiet spot for the night before returning to a city that we once called home.
