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wI leave the forest with the morning sunlight filtering through the trees. Soft pine needles litter the earth beneath our feet. Following the wooden path that crosses the marshland, we reach a small gazebo and look out towards the Atlantic Ocean. It was at this very spot 160 years ago that formerly enslaved African American men and women would have seen boats arriving with news of the passage of the 13th Amendment; A change to the US Constitution that formally and completely abolished Slavery Throughout the United States.
This is one of the stories Lola Campbell told me while we were exploring historic Mitchellville Freedom Park on Hilton Head Island. America’s Deep South,
“A lot of people don’t know this place exists,” she says, “but it’s literally where freedom began.”
With long sandy beaches surrounded by lush greenery and a pleasant mild climate all year round, the beautiful island of Hilton Head off the coast of South Carolina It is perhaps best known as the best vacation spot for America’s affluent people.
But beyond the meticulously well-kept golf courses (there are an impressive 23 on the island) and beautifully designed beach homes, Hilton Head has a rich cultural history that is integral to America’s story.
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Historic Mitchellville Freedom Park is a place that sums this up well. Established in 1862 during the American Civil War, Mitchellville was the first self-governing town of formerly enslaved people in the United States, established under Union Army protection before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
Starting in the early 1700s, enslaved people – most of whom were from West African countries including Cameroon, Angola and Sierra Leone – were forcibly brought to Hilton Head to work on the island’s 20 plantations producing cotton and rice. In November 1861, Union troops occupied the island after the Battle of Port Royal and many planters fled. They took some slaves with them but left behind more than 10,000 men, women, and children, who were tired and worried, but saw a future of freedom.
Mitchellville is more than a historic site – it is a blueprint for liberation, self-determination and dignity. And this is not a story of slavery, but a story of freedom.
lola campbell
General Ormsby Mitchell founded the town of Mitchellville to house this community as well as other formerly enslaved people who came to the island during the Civil War. At the time, they were described as “restricted” and the city was seen as a radical “experiment” in black freedom and independence. Since the 1980s, historians, archaeologists, and descendants of Mitchellville residents and other former enslaved African Americans have been studying the town and working to preserve its history. The Freedom Park built on the site now symbolizes hope and freedom.
Lola, who is on the board of the historic Mitchellville Freedom Park and is a sixth-generation Hilton Head Islander, explains: “What makes Mitchellville so important is not only its firsts – the first black elected city officials, the first compulsory education law in the state. South CarolinaThe first self-governing black community on American soil – but the vision it represents.
“These men, women, and children were not just freed – they were empowered. They built homes, planted crops, built churches, elected leaders, and founded schools. They showed the world what freedom could really look like when formerly enslaved people were given the opportunity to lead themselves. They went from owning property to owning property.”
On the land where Mitchellville once stood, Freedom Park now welcomes visitors to learn about the history of the city and the culture of the people who lived there – a culture that you can still see reflected in the communities that still live on the island.
“Ghosted” metal frames have been constructed on the sites where homes once stood, aligning with the town’s original layout and providing insight into how formerly enslaved residents lived, worked, worshiped, and raised families.
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While walking the park’s trails, visitors will also find “Toni Morrison’s Bench by the Road”, a monument to the revered author that symbolizes the absence of historical markers honoring enslaved men, women and children and their journey to freedom.
Mitchellville Historic Freedom Park is also currently home to Harriet Tubman’s “Journey to Freedom” sculpture by artist Wesley Wofford; A wonderful symbol of the courage, spirit, and strength of the abolitionist who led hundreds of slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Depicting Tubman in flight from the South with a young boy, the sculpture, which is a traveling exhibit that will be in Freedom Park through January 2026, serves as a starting point to learn about Tubman’s impact on the residents of Mitchellville and her impact on American history.
Born and raised in Hilton Head in one of the oldest original families of the Spanish Wells community, Lola explains how Mitchellville is one of the ways visitors can learn about Gullah Geechee history and culture.
She describes how, before Hilton Head became a global resort destination, it was shaped by Gullah Geechee families like hers “who fished, farmed, built boats and homes, and passed on oral histories and traditions connected to the land and water”.
Gullah Geechee communities found in the Lowcountry (the South Carolina marshlands, deltas, dunes, and small towns that make up the state’s coast) are descendants of enslaved Africans who were brought primarily from the rice-growing regions of West and Central Africa. Lola explains: “The Gullah have retained a distinctive language, traditions, food ways, crafts and spiritual practices that survive today.
“Their agricultural knowledge – especially rice cultivation – was central to South Carolina’s early economy and wealth, making the Gullah Geechee’s contributions inseparable from the state’s development.”
She adds: “So preserving Gullah Geechee culture on Hilton Head is not just about honoring the past – it’s about protecting a living culture and ensuring that the island’s original stories, people and identity are not erased as the community continues to grow and evolve.”
Quite simply, you can’t tell the story of Hilton Head without the story of the Gullah Geechee people. Beyond Mitchellville, Lola takes me to Spanish Wells, a historic Gullah neighborhood, where her shop, Binya, which sells gifts from Lowcountry and Gullah artisans, sits near the fruit and vegetable store run by her mother, Della.
That evening, we had dinner with Chef Sally Ann Robinson, who not only came to our home to cook an impressive meal of authentic Gullah cuisine, but also told us stories of growing up on Daufuskie Island (just off Hilton Head Island) and shared the traditions of her ancestors and their cultural heritage.
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The need to preserve Hilton Head’s history and tell stories truthfully and honestly feels especially important in a year when these values are under direct threat. President Donald Trump signed it in March An Executive Order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity in American History” He attacked “divisive, race-focused ideology” within American cultural institutions.
Taking aim at the Smithsonian specifically, Trump demanded that federal funding be stopped from exhibitions and programs that “demean shared American values, divide Americans by race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy”, which critics have seen as an effort to whitewash America’s history.
Lola tells me: “Mitchellville is more than a historical site – it is a blueprint for emancipation, self-determination and dignity. And it is not a story of slavery, but a story of freedom.
“Preserving and sharing its legacy allows us to confront a fuller, more true version of American history and honor the strength and ingenuity of those who lived it.”
She adds: “As a sixth-generation native who grew up in a church that was the original church of Mitchellville, yet didn’t know what Mitchellville was until my late twenties, it is imperative that future generations, near and far, carry the story of Mitchellville with respect and pride. Sharing the story will help ensure that.”
Admission to Mitchellville Historic Independence Park is free, although donations are appreciated. Guided tours cost $10 per person, with children under 10 free
A private Gullah tour with Lola Campbell costs $1,500 (£1,110) for six people. Prices for a private dinner with Sally Ann Robinson start at $1,750 (£1,300) for six people, including materials
Annabelle travels to Hilton Head Island as a guest Visit Hilton Head and Bluffton Visitors and Convention Bureau