A group is developing a plan to turn a tiny sliver of town-owned land into a living history museum to commemorate Mitchelville, the first freedmen’s village in the United States.
Museum planners would build replicas of the freed slaves’ 12-by-12-foot wooden tract houses and general stores, said town community development director Charles Cousins.
The idea is in the very early planning stages, said Curtis Coltrane, assistant town manager.
Foundations of tabby — a building material made of shell, lime, sand and water — are all that remain of the village’s former structures. The village once stood on a parcel now occupied by the Hilton Head Airport and parts of Port Royal Plantation. The only marker to commemorate the site is a plaque at Mitchelville Beach Park.
The village, built during the Civil War, drew international attention for its efforts to create a sustainable, self-governing community of freed slaves. It was named Mitchelville after Union Gen. Ormsby Mitchel, who oversaw its construction.
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