For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2025
Contact:
Olivia Mitchell
Marketing Manager
Culture & Heritage Museums
www.chmuseums.org
803.909.7244
omitchell@chmuseums.org
Shear Fun During Sheep Shearing Season
McCONNELLS, S.C. – An annual family favorite and part of Historic Brattonsville’s Living History Saturday series, Sheep Shearing allows visitors an up-close look at how sheep are sheared, using original hand shears! Watch live shearing demonstrations, try your hand at carding, spinning, or weaving wool and learn how fiber arts were an essential part of early American life. Natural dyes, using native and exotic plants, shows how wool was transformed into textiles for clothing and household goods throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
Shearing demos will take place at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. There will be a guided site tour at 2 p.m. and an animal feeding at 10:30 a.m. Historic Brattonsville’s heritage breed livestock can also be seen anytime during daily admission. Live animal feedings are ongoing throughout the year.
Living History Saturdays are part of Historic Brattonsville’s year-around programming where history comes to life through demonstrations, hands-on activities, and farm life.
WHAT: Living History Saturday: Sheep Shearing
WHERE: Historic Brattonsville 1444 Brattonsville Rd. McConnells, S.C. 29726
WHEN: May 3 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
WEBSITE: chmuseums.org/event/sheep/
VISITOR SERVICES: 803.684.2327
IMAGES:
- Part of Historic Brattonsville’s Heritage Breed Sheep Flock
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.
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