4 New sites added to Reconstruction Era National Historic Network

The National Park Service has announced the addition of four new sites to Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This national network connects sites across the country who provide education, interpretation and research related to the period of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Era (1861-1900) is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood periods in American History and includes stories of freedom, education and self-determination.

The new community sites in South Carolina and Virginia that have been added to the network include: 

• The Grand Army Hall in Beaufort, South Carolina was home to the David Hunter Post #9 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the largest Civil War veterans organization. Many of the post’s members had served in Black regiments raised around Beaufort during the Civil War, and the site is a tangible connection the community of Black veterans during Reconstruction.

• The Gilmore Cabin at James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia, was built in the 1870s during Reconstruction by George Gilmore, a man who had been enslaved at Montpelier prior to the Civil War, but as a citizen later owned part of the property. Restored in the early 2000s, Gilmore Cabin serves to teach the public about the legacies of slavery in America including political status, land ownership, and economic production.   
• The Hamburg-Carrsville African American Heritage District in North Augusta, South Carolina interprets the history and legacy of the Hamburg Community, which was a Freedman community established after the Civil War, and was the site of the “Hamburg Massacre,” an attack by former Confederates and Red Shirts against Black citizens during the 1876 election period.  
• The Center for African American History, Arts, and Culture in Aiken, South Carolina is located in the building that was home to the Immanuel School, a Reconstruction era school built in the 1880s for Black children in the Aiken community.