Historic Brattonsville
Experience living history at this 800-acre historic site. Explore the struggle for liberty in America.
, Historic Brattonsville presents the history of the Scots-Irish and African-Americans in the South Carolina upcountry through preserving and interpreting the buildings and stories of the Brattonsville community. Featuring more than 30 historic structures from the 1760s to the late-19th century, the site provides visitors with an opportunity to see the evolution of Southern culture and architecture in the Carolina Piedmont. Currently, two of the Bratton family houses are closed for preservation.
Learn how people farmed the land, cooked their food, and entertained themselves in the 18th and 19th centuries through interpreters in period clothing. These historical activities and others are presented year-round, Tuesday through Saturday.
Delve into the founding struggle for liberty by walking the American Revolutionary War battlefield of Huck’s Defeat and watching a video documentary that brings to life the events of July 1780. Come away with an understanding of the continued struggle for liberty in the years following the American Civil War by visiting the new exhibit entitled, “Liberty & Resistance: Reconstruction and the African-American Community at Brattonsville, 1865-1877” inside the recently restored Brick House.
If you would like to learn more about what South Carolina is doing for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, click here.
Battle of Huck’s Defeat
Huck’s defeat was one of a series of significant Revolutionary War battles that resulted in a Patriot victory.
African American History
Historic Brattonsville is one of the few living history sites with African-American interpretation.
Historic Structures
There are more than 30 different historic structures that you can visit at Historic Brattonsville.
Hightower hall
First known as “Forest Hall,” this two-story, Italianate house with a three-story tower, was built for John Simpson Bratton Jr. and his wife.
The Farm
Home to an award-winning Heritage Farm Program, the farm currently keeps sheep, poultry, cattle, and pigs.
Walt Schrader Trails
This 6 mile network of backcountry paths crosses land steeped in local history and tradition.
History
In 1766, William and Martha Bratton purchased 200 acres along the South Fork of Fishing Creek in present-day York County, South Carolina. During the American Revolution, the war came to the Bratton doorstep when a detachment of the British Legion was searching for Colonel William Bratton, a Patriot militia officer, in July 1780 which resulted in the Battle of Huck’s Defeat.
The Bratton’s 1766 purchase of 200 acres established the Bratton plantation that grew to more than 4000 acres over the next century under the management of their youngest son, John Simpson Bratton. The growth of the plantation came as a result the agricultural labor of the enslaved people, owned by the Brattons, in the production of cotton. By 1819, the Bratton plantation became known as Brattonsville with John Simpson Bratton opening a post office inside of his store.
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