This proposal could expand a Beaufort County monument to tell a national story

Beaufort County's national distinction as a hub for Reconstruction Era history could be expanding to make it easier to tell the story nationwide.

The Reconstruction Era National Monument would become a national park under a bill filed in April by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. The bill would formally expand the monument's footprint to include the city of Beaufort's historic district and St. Helena Island, making it easier for sites in those areas relevant to Reconstruction to be added to the park.

The proposal would also create a national network of Reconstruction Era sites overseen from Beaufort County.

"We think it's the next logical step," Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling said.

The national monument was established in 2017 and includes four initial sites in northern Beaufort County — Darrah Hall and Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena, the old firehouse in downtown Beaufort and Camp Saxton on what is now Naval Hospital Beaufort in Port Royal.

Clyburn's bill would allow the U.S. Interior Secretary to add sites on St. Helena and in downtown Beaufort that are historically significant to the era, the period during the Civil War and decades following when newly freed African Americans taught and governed themselves, owned property and operated businesses.

The firehouse is within a short walk of other significant sites not yet part of the monument, including Tabernacle Baptist Church where former slave, Civil War hero and former congressman Robert Smalls is buried and Smalls' house on Prince Street, which is for sale.

The monument sites are not yet open to the public. But the monument celebrated National Park Service Week in April, with programs including a Reconstruction exhibit displayed at firehouse on loan from the Beaufort History Museum.

The federal budget should allow for a permanent park superintendent in the coming year, Keyserling said, but doesn't include money for a list of projects the monument needs to get started.

Work includes stabilizing Darrah Hall, outfitting a building at Brick Church to use as an interpretive center and a visitor's center in Port Royal's Naval Heritage Park. The National Park Service will have its own projects before a final list is in place.

Port Royal plans to move its historic Porter's Chapel to the park to tell the town's Reconstruction story and some other aspects of town history, including honoring the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney who preached in the building.

"We were hoping it would move a little faster," Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray said. "But it takes money to do this, and it takes time."

Changing the name from a monument to a national park will "remove confusion for those who believe the monument is a carved granite stone rather than a significant collaboration including four important sites, each with its own story," local officials wrote in a letter to Clyburn and Sanford supporting the bill. The letter was signed by Keyserling, Murray, Penn Center director Rodell Lawrence and Brick Church pastor Abraham Murray.

"We also believe creating a "Reconstruction Network" will enhance collaboration with other parts of our state, country and region opening the gates to an even deeper understanding of the history that has yet to be fully uncovered and told, the letter said.

The bill, called the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park Act, was introduced by Clyburn on April 17 and is in a House natural resources committee.

This story was originally published May 2, 2018 at 3:42 PM with the headline "This proposal could expand a Beaufort County monument to tell a national story."