Plumbers in Lincolnville, SC

With an invitation to dinner and a call to all those with a story to tell, the Lincolnville Preservation and Historical Society is requesting the community’s presence at its upcoming Family Reunion Weekend in celebration of its history and living legacy.

The weekend kicks off Saturday, July 1, with the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Lincolnville Elementary, one of about 500 Rosenwald Schools built in South Carolina and 5,000 built all over the South from 1917 until 1932. Julius Rosenwald was a poor German immigrant who grew up in Chicago and became the first president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Having read Booker T. Washington’s book “Up from Slavery,” he and the Tuskegee University founder later became friends and together built the Rosenwald Schools specifically for Black children at a time when public schools across the country were segregated.

The Family Reunion Weekend continues July 2 with Sunday Dinner Under the Big Tent, an event to be held from 3 to 7 p.m. in Lincolnville’s Bishop Richard Harvey Cain Community Garden. The dinner features cuisine from award-winning Gullah chef and author Charlotte Jenkins, with the tables set for okra soup, baked chicken, macaroni and cheese and sweet potato pie. While there are few left, dinner tickets can still be purchased at www.lincolnvillesc.org.

Guests will dine to the sounds of Gospel artist LaVondra Greene and the Black Diamond Band, while Victoria Smalls, executive director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, serves as the evening’s Mistress of Ceremonies.

According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Rosenwald School endeavor was the most important initiative to advance Black education in the early 20th century. Lincolnville Elementary was one such school, standing in the Charleston County independent municipality from 1924 until 1953.

Lincolnville Family Reunion event organizers hope that all those in the surrounding community with personal anecdotes and oral histories of their lives in Lincolnville will come to the school on July 1 to share those memories and help ensure that the city’s place in the fabric of Lowcountry history doesn’t fade.

“The goal of this weekend of events is to bring awareness to the rich history of Lincolnville. It’s for those who share in that history to come together and it’s about the importance of telling these stories and making sure they’re cemented,” said Dr. Pernessa Seele, a Lincolnville native who owns the land on which she grew up and is the founding president of the Lincolnville Preservation and Historical Society. She worked as an immunologist and was named by Time magazine as one of the most-influential people in the word for founding the Balm in Gilead, Inc. — a 35-year-old organization centered on the mobilization of faith communities around the health crises of HIV and AIDS.

Seele explained that Dr. Val Littlefield, a professor of history at the University of South Carolina and the college’s Interim Director of Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era, is leading the process of gathering Lincolnville’s oral histories.

Lincolnville is a Black-founded city established in 1867 by seven formerly enslaved men who purchased the original 620 acres from the South Carolina Railway Company for $1,000. That effort was led by Richard Harvey Cain, an abolitionist who became Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Conference and led Charleston’s First Emmanuel AME Church.

Lincolnville’s inception is an example of what was necessary for Black people to forge a home in the midst of continued White resistance to the former slaves’ new emancipated status following the Civil War.

“This event is about the community coming together as past, as present and as future,” said Seele. “In many ways, Lincolnville has been left behind. Now, we are making people in the area aware of the rich history that is so unknown. Lincolnville is an untold story, and we are about the mission of telling it.”

Through a partnership with the Dorchester Alcohol and Drug Commission, the Save A Life Tour visited Dorchester District 2 high schools.

The Save A Life Tour is a comprehensive, high-impact safe-driving awareness program that informs, educates and demonstrates the potentially deadly consequences resulting from poor choices and decisions made by the operator of a motor vehicle. Students that participate receive a message about the dangers of driving under the influence as well as texting and driving, and are given the opportunity to simulate driving while impaired and distracted.

“We just talk to them about making that choice,” said Taryn Floyd, athletic director at Fort Dorchester High School. “It’s all about providing more information and getting the information out there. They watch a 45-minute video leading up to the simulated driving tests, then they take an assessment survey. After the simulated driving tests, they do a post assessment survey.”

A major component of the program is knowledge retention. After completing the tests, students were asked to sign a pledge card and a recognition banner presented to the school to be displayed when the event is complete.

LINCOLNVILLE — This small town may be South Carolina’s least understood, most unique historical place. Its relative anonymity stems partly from its tucked-away site along railroad lines where Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties meet up, partly from its small size, and partly from its origins during one of the most tumultuous chapters of the state’s history, Reconstruction.

The town, which I’m guessing is the state’s only public place named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, didn’t merit an entry in the South Carolina Encyclopedia — not even in the index. Many people who live in the Charleston region don’t even know where it is.

But Pernessa Seele, whose ancestors helped found this incorporated African American town and who grew up and went to school and church here before moving away for work, hopes to change that. She seems uniquely positioned to do so. Her professional experience includes having founded and run The Balm in Gilead Inc., a 33-year-old Virginia-based nonprofit that works with faith communities in the United States and in the United Republic of Tanzania in East Africa to reduce health disparities.

“Lincolnville and its history live in me. It’s in my blood,” she says. “Lincolnville has just been sitting here waiting for me to come back and get busy.”

And she has. She still hasn’t moved back full time, but she has founded the Lincolnville Preservation & Historical Society and printed brochures and newsletters to share the town’s story. She has reached out to the Clemson’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation for help documenting and assessing the town’s Bible Sojourn Cemetery and one of its most curious surviving buildings. And she has plans for a historical park as well as walking and biking trails that would make the town’s past more accessible to present eyes.

While many people driving along U.S. Highway 78 south of Summerville might notice a Lincolnville town limits sign, it’s hard for passing motorists to appreciate what’s here, particularly beyond the town hall at 141 W. Broad St. (originally the 19th-century Williams Graded School, a Rosenwald School) that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 but suffered a severe fire two years later. It was rebuilt as the Town Hall in honor of former longtime Mayor Charles Ross.

The town’s story began just two years after the end of the Civil War when U.S. Rep. and Emanuel AME pastor Richard Cain led a group of seven black Charleston men, all of whom were likely frustrated with their treatment in the city, to find a place for a new community they could call their own. They found a site along the train line about 20 miles north of Charleston and spent $1,000 to buy 620 acres from the railroad. The tract was known as “Pump Pond” and formed a perfect circle around the stop where the train’s engineer could get fresh water.

Unlike many other 19th century settlement communities, Lincolnville incorporated in 1889 and survives to this day as a local government still led largely by African Americans, many descended from the town’s early generations.

In that sense, it’s unique. The historic African American town of Atlantic Beach began in the 1930s but didn’t incorporate until a year after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts had passed. Maryville, just two miles west of the Charleston peninsula, was incorporated in 1886 but was dissolved in 1936. Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island began during the Civil War as a military mission and evolved into a self-governed community of formerly enslaved people, but it never incorporated, and it slowly faded after the war.

Lincolnville’s past can still be read on the landscape, if you know where to look — not unlike the historic cornerstone on Wesley Methodist Church, which notes its 1887 beginnings but which also is obscured by lattice placed around the base.

Officially incorporated in 1889, Lincolnville quickly became a place where formerly enslaved families flocked during Reconstruction. In these early years, community leaders built a one-room jail, established a small school and formed churches.

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Lincolnville Elementary School class from the 1940s. Provided

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To many, Lincolnville is a place on the route between Ladson and Summerville. Wade Spees/Staff Friday, October 12, 2018

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Lincolnville’s history was compiled and written by Christine W. Hampton and Rosalee Washington. Wade Spees/Staff Monday, October 15, 2018

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Thought to be the oldest house in Lincolnville. Wade Spees/Staff Monday, October 15, 2018

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“Community is oneness. We want them to know the love of God. We want to demonstrate the kind of character Christ has,” said Jane Bruno and Donna Turner (right) during a noonday prayer meeting in Lincolnville on Monday, October 15, 2018. Wade Spees/Staff

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Lincolnville’s long history is tied to its location near a railroad artery. Wade Spees/Staff Friday, October 12, 2018

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Lincolnville’s jail is its oldest building, from the late-1800s. Wade Spees/Staff Monday, October 15, 2018

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“Our goal is to help get the town on the map,” says Rev. Edward Johnson who wants to highlight community’s history — including its oldest building — a jail from the late-1800s.

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Efforts to obtain a historical marker for Lincolnville were led by New Vision Cathedral’s Rev. Edward Johnson. Wade Spees/Staff Monday, October 15, 2018

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From Sue Austin of Summerville, “This is an artist in action in Loreto, Italy. It is in the piazza of the Basilica della Santa Casa in the LeMarche region of Ancona.”

From Sherrill Biggers of Charleston, “Walking north on Anson Street and looking down Guignard Street, you have to look twice to see that the horse, and his/her window, are not real, but instead are street art at its most realistic. Taken in the summer of 2021 at Old South Carriage Co. in Ansonborough.”

From Kay Bilisoly of Goose Creek, an image of Graffiti Park in Goose Creek.

From Ronald Allan Charles of Goose Creek, “Interesting painting on wall of a café in Corte, Corsica.”

From Merv Gibson of Charleston, “The ‘Hat Man’ mural was painted on the wall of the 48 Broad Street building in Charleston, SC, to advertise the Plenge Haberdashery. The entire painting is a montage of hats.”

From Carl Johnson of Mount Pleasant, “Cologne, Germany in August 2022. A message from the street artist that rings especially true in today’s crazy world.”

From Rosemary O’Grady of Goose Creek, “Photo taken in Philadelphia, PA, in 2011.”

From Russell Read of Mount Pleasant, “Photo taken in Hattiesburg, MS at the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum.”

From Ken Schaub of Daniel Island, “Framed art on the side of an old building in Pickens, SC.”

From Herbert Schiller of Mount Pleasant, “Street art in Valparaiso, Chile.”

From Lara Wilson of Mount Pleasant, “A mural on a street in Lisbon, Portugal.”

From Louis Yuhasz of Sullivan’s Island, “This photo was taken at the Mas X Menos grocery store in Jaco, Costa Rica, where the street art is truly amazing.”

LINCOLNVILLE, SC (WCSC) - Military families are rallying to preserve an abandoned Lincolnville cemetery with veterans buried from World War I and World War II.

There are also veterans buried dating back to the 1800s.

The cemetery is tucked behind the woods off of Lincolnville near Greenwood Street.

Disabled Veteran Shirley Zinn has been on a mission since 2015 to protect the property and find out who is buried there.

"This angers me. These people are forgotten. How many stones out here say 'gone but never forgotten.' This is forgotten," Zinn said.

For the past few years she along with others have placed flags by the graves of veterans for Memorial Day.

The property has not been maintained so several markers have been covered and it's difficult to walk through the grave site because the grass and plants are overgrown.

"Honestly our veterans need to be honored. We need to have stones where they lay," Zinn said.

Zinn says at least 15 grave markers are gone since her first visit a few years ago.

While at the site she uncovered one today.

"They're not in here or they're so deeply buried we can't find them," Zinn said.

Leaders of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3433 in Ladson are helping to preserve the cemetery.

They have a vision of transforming the space.

"Make it into a park where people can come out and visit their loved ones," said Junior Vice Commander of the VFW Post 3433, Robert Zdenek.

They're asking for help in restoring the property because there is a large amount of work to do.

"For them to be forgotten completely and literally just thrown to the rubble the way this place has been maintained is totally unacceptable," said Commander of the VFW Post 3433 Todd Howard.

The cemetery backs up to the Lakes of Summerville. There's a fence that separates them.

"They deserve to be remembered for their lives for what they've done, not only the veterans but the other people who are buried here as well," District 1 Commander for the VFW Department of South Carolina Edwin Tufts said.

Zinn says in 2015 she counted 27 non-military people buried there and about 21 World War I and World War II veterans buried there.

"If you put on that uniform, no matter what uniform it was, you honored our country and we deserve to honor you back," Zinn said.

The group will attend the Lincolnville Town Hall Meeting next Wednesday at 7 p.m. to make town officials aware of the conditions of the cemetery in hopes of getting help to maintain it.

If you'd like to help with the efforts you can reach the Junior Vice Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3433 at 843-568-6811.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.

It’s not every day that a whole town gets added to a national historic network, but that’s what happened Tuesday for Lincolnville, a town of about 2,500 people on the edge of Charleston County near Summerville.

The National Park Service announced Tuesday that Lincolnville and four other sites were new additions to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, a group of sites largely centered on South Carolina that help to tell the story of American Reconstruction after the Civil War. It’s part of an effort established in 2019 to create the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park in Beaufort.

Lincolnville’s part of the Reconstruction story is key to understanding the transformation that the United States underwent as newly freed African Americans became integrated into the country’s social, political, economic and labor systems.

Lincolnville, the Park Service said in a news release, is a “freedmen’s town founded in 1867 by seven African American men who purchased 620 acres to create a community of homes, churches and schools for African American people, primarily of Gullah Geechee heritage, who had migrated from the Sea Islands.”

Some of the descendents of original settlers still live today in the small town “among original structures, cemeteries and live oak trees, actively preserving their rich Gullah Geechee heritage and celebrating their ancestors’ ability to overcome adversity during Reconstruction to found Lincolnville.”

“These sites tell critical stories related to the Reconstruction Era,” said Reconstruction Era National Historical Park Superintendent Scott Teodorski in the release. “They join sites from across the country that focus on this important period in our history. We are pleased to welcome these new sites to the network and work with them to share their stories.”

The Rev. Richard Cain (1825-1887), a major Reconstruction leader who pastored Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church after the war, is credited with leading the effort to found Lincolnville. He later was elected to the state Senate in 1868 and served two terms in the U.S. Congress.

“He also purchased more than 500 acres of land about 25 miles north of Charleston and sold lots to African Americans,” according to “We Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel” by Herb Frazier, Bernard Powers and Marjory Wentworth. “These initial sales were the basis for the settlement of Lincolnville, which Cain planned to become an all-black town in which the residents could show their capacity for discipline, order and prosperity.”

About half of Lincolnville’s residents today are Black, according to Census Reporter.

Three other South Carolina sites added to the Reconstruction network Tuesday were Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site in Aiken County; Randolph Cemetery in Columbia; and the Schofield Normal and Industrial School in Aiken. Also added was the D.C. Legacy Project: Barry Farm-Hillsdale in southeast Washington, D.C.