For Immediate Release:
May 26, 2026
Contact:
Olivia Mitchell
Marketing Manager
Culture & Heritage Museums
www.chmuseums.org
803.909.7244
Celebrating Freedom, Culture, and Community
McCONNELLS, S.C. - Celebrate Juneteenth as a national holiday through historical interpretation, music, and hands-on activities honoring the story of emancipation and African American heritage.
Visitors can watch and take part in a variety of ongoing activities throughout the day, including historic cooking demonstrations featuring traditional Juneteenth recipes, quilting with a “Make Your Own Quilt Square” activity, and listen to traditional banjo music performed by local musician, Stephen Hardy. A military demonstration of the 25th Ohio Volunteers will highlight the role of the Federal soldiers who occupied York County at the end of the Civil War and enforced emancipation. A specialized site tour, “The Hope of Emancipation” will be at 11 a.m. and at 2 p.m. there will be a tour of the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground.
Juneteenth is part of Historic Brattonsville’s Living History Saturday series. This year-around programming is where history comes to life through demonstrations, hands-on activities, and farm life.
Historic Brattonsville features more than 30 colonial and antebellum structures across 800 acres, including historic homes, farm buildings, walking trails, and a Revolutionary War battlefield. The site is recognized as part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.
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WHAT: Living History Saturday: Juneteenth
WHERE: Historic Brattonsville 1444 Brattonsville Rd. McConnells, S.C. 29726
WHEN: June 13, 2026 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
WEBSITE: chmuseums.org/event/juneteenth/
VISITOR SERVICES: 803.684.2327
IMAGE(S):
- An interpreter of African American history dressed in period attire looks out over the landscape from inside the doorway of a historic house.
All images courtesy of Culture & Heritage Museums. Contact omitchell@chmuseums.org for high resolution images.
About Historic Brattonsville:
Historic Brattonsville is a living history site that presents the agricultural and social history of the Carolina Piedmont from the American Revolution through the Reconstruction Era. The site features over 30 historic structures, including family houses, that provide the setting for the story of the Brattons, those enslaved on the plantation, and the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground, the final resting place of 481 people of African descent. The site spreads over 800-acres and comprises farmed land with heritage breed animals, a Revolutionary War battlefield, and a nature preserve with miles of walking trails. Seasonal events, reenactments, and living history programs interpret life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Historic Brattonsville is included in The Green Book of South Carolina – a travel guide to African American cultural sites.
Museum Membership:
Become a Culture & Heritage Museums member and enjoy one year of exclusive benefits including free general admission to all CHM museum sites: Historic Brattonsville, Museum of York County and Main Street Children’s Museum. Membership helps support the work of preserving and communicating the cultural and natural history of the Carolina Piedmont. Consider becoming a CHM member and/or give the gift of CHM membership. Details at chmuseums.org/membership.
Museums for All:
As part of the Museums for All initiative, all Culture & Heritage Museum sites provide reduced admission for low-income families; visit museums4all.org for more information. Culture & Heritage Museum sites are also KultureCity® Certified and Sensory InclusiveTM.