For Immediate Release:
Mar. 18, 2025
Contact:
Olivia Mitchell
Marketing Manager
Culture & Heritage Museums
www.chmuseums.org
803.909.7244
Public Welcomed to Reconsecrated Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground Opening
McCONNELLS, S.C. – One of the largest known enslaved burial grounds in the Carolina Piedmont will open to the public this month. Descendants of the Enslaved and the enslavers joined Culture & Heritage Museums (CHM) to reconsecrate the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground, the final resting place of at least 481 people of African descent, in a moving ceremony last month. Historic Brattonsville is proud to open the site to the public on March 29 with special educational stations discussing how we honor, remember and preserve the legacies of those buried in this hallowed ground.
Archaeologists will lead discussions on tools and techniques used to identify the graves, including ground penetrating radar, or GPR. This will offer a rare look into the science behind preserving historical sites. Staff preservationists will discuss the delicate process of care, cleaning and reinstalling the gravestone for Watt and Polly, the only named people, who rest within the burial ground. CHM’s exhibit manager will share insights into the design and fabrication of the steel grave markers that now identify the graves. Guided tours of the Burial Ground and the adjacent Revolutionary War era road, will take place throughout the day, providing visitors with a deeper understanding of the site’s historical significance. Descendants of the Brattonsville Enslaved community will share personal family histories and their work to preserve and memorialize the burial ground.
“There is a collective weight of the individuals here that, despite oppression and terrible trials, lived, worked, interacted and raised families. Each one loved by someone who was left behind to carry out their hope for a better tomorrow. The legacy of this burial ground is not the graves that we have recently re-discovered, it is the descendants of those who were Enslaved here – those who endured collective and individual hardships so that their children, and their children, and their grandchildren, could have something better,” Director of Historic Properties for Culture & Heritage Museums, Carey Tilley stated.
Throughout the day, visitors will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on activities on Brattonsville’s main site, including basket-making and watercolor painting, in addition to embroidery, and historic cooking demonstrations. Battlefield tours will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., highlighting the significant role Watt played in the Battle of Huck’s Defeat turning point of the Revolutionary War. A guided site tour will begin at 1:30 p.m. Food concessions will be available for guests to enjoy a full day of learning, remembrance, and community.
To continue to honor the memory of those interred, the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground will be accessible during Historic Brattonsville’s operating hours, upon check-in at the Visitor’s Center.
A generous grant from the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission, who will also be onsite on Mar. 29, was instrumental in providing funding to document, preserve, and interpret the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground at Historic Brattonsville.
WHAT: Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground Public Opening at Historic Brattonsville
WHERE: 1444 Brattonsville Rd., McConnells, S.C. 29726 (Brattonsville Road will be closed for the Public Opening to ensure safety of pedestrians. Please follow detour signs.)
WHEN: March 29, 2025 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
HOW: Please RSVP by Mar. 28 to omitchell@chmuseums.org. Also direct all media inquiries and interview requests to same.
DETAILS: chmuseums.org.
Reconsecration media alert can be found here.
VISITOR SERVICES: 803.684.2327
IMAGES:
- Descendants gather around Watt and Polly’s gravestone at the Feb. 22 Reconsecration Ceremony to lay wreaths in their memory.
- View of the gravestone and steel grave markers in the Enslaved Ancestral Burial Ground.
All images courtesy of Culture & Heritage Museums. Contact omitchell@chmuseums.org for high resolution images.
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