The "Contraband" Hospital in Beaufort, South Carolina was established during the Civil War for the medical care of freed African Americans on the Sea Islands.
Camp Saxton was established in the Fall of 1862 as home to the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, later renamed the 33rd United States Colored Troops. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the men of the regiment, along with hundreds of other formerly enslaved people, in a stand of live oak trees at the site of Camp Saxton.
The Combahee River Ferry crossing is marked by the Harriet Tubman Memorial Bridge, where Tubman and African American soldiers of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry emancipated of over 750 enslaved people in June 1863 during the Combahee River Raid.
Beaufort's First African Baptist Church was started during the Reconstruction Era by freed people, and has been an active African American church since 1865.
In 1868 Rachel Mather purchased twenty acres of land with a cottage for eighty-seven dollars. The cottage acted as Rachel Mather’s home, and later became known as Mather Cottage.
Coleman Hall overlooks the Beaufort River. Constructed by Charles A. Eshleman, the building was completed in 1928. Coleman Hall was the seventh building to be built on the Mather campus.
The Wildy Memorial Gymnatorium on the Mather School campus was named in honor of Melvin T. Wildy, an honorable citizen of Beaufort County, as well as a member of Brick Baptist Church, and the Beaufort County School Board.
Many students who lived on the Mather School campus needed a place where they could buy various goods to meet their needs. A store house was erected in the late 1800s for students to utilize and receive goods from.
Rachel Mather died before the end of the school year in 1903, however, her legacy with the Mather School continued to thrive. New buildings were added to the campus, starting with Stoughton Hall. The building was completed in 1907.
Founded in 1862 as a school for freed slaves, Penn School established a commitment to Black education, community welfare, and cultural heritage that has remained strong for over 150 years. Penn School functioned as an educational institution, health clinic, farm bureau, catalyst for community action, and a repository for preserving St. Helena Island’s unique Gullah heritage and written history.
The Technical College of the Lowcountry Beaufort Mather Campus is located at the site of the Mather School, a Reconstruction era educational institution located in Beaufort South Carolina. Established by Rachel Crane Mather in 1868, today the campus is a part of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.
