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We leave the woodland with the morning sunlight filtering through the trees. Soft pine needles carpet the earth beneath our feet. Following a wooden walkway that crosses the marshland we reach a small gazebo and look out towards the Atlantic ocean. It was in this spot 160 years ago that formerly enslaved African American men and women would have watched to see the boats come in with the news of the passage of the 13th amendment; a change to to the US constitution that formally and completely abolished slavery throughout the United States.
This is just one of the stories that Lola Campbell relays to me as we explore Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park on Hilton Head Island in America’s Deep South.
“A lot of people don’t know this place exists,” she says. “But it’s literally where freedom began.”
With long sandy beaches flanked by lush greenery and a pleasantly mild climate year-round, the pretty island of Hilton Head on the coast of South Carolina is perhaps best known as a vacation getaway for America's well-heeled.
But beyond the meticulously well-kept golf courses (there are a rather impressive 26 on the island) and beautifully designed beach houses, Hilton Head has a rich cultural history that is integral to the story of America.
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Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park is a place that tells it well. Founded in 1862 during the American Civil War, Mitchelville was the first self-governed town in the United States of formerly enslaved people, established under Union Army protection before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
From the early 1700s, enslaved people – the majority from West African countries including Cameroon, Angola, and Sierra Leone – had been forcibly brought to Hilton Head to work on the island’s 20 plantations producing cotton and rice. In November 1861, Union troops took over the island following the Battle of Port Royal and many plantation owners fled. They took some slaves with them but left over 10,000 men, women and children – who were exhausted and anxious, but saw a future of freedom.
Mitchelville is more than a historical site – it is a blueprint for liberation, self-determination, and dignity. And it’s not a story of slavery, but instead one of freedom.
General Ormsby Mitchel established the town of Mitchelville to house this community, along with other formerly enslaved people who had come to the island during the Civil War. At the time they were described as “contraband” and the town was seen as a radical “experiment” in Black freedom and independence. Since the 1980s, historians, archaeologists and descendants of Mitchelville residents and other formerly enslaved African Americans have been studying the town and working to preserve its history. The Freedom Park that was built on the site is now a symbol of hope and freedom.
Lola, who is on the board for the Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park and a sixth-generation Hilton Head islander, explains: “What makes Mitchelville so important is not only its firsts – first Black elected town officials, first compulsory education laws in the State of South Carolina, first self-run Black community on U.S. soil – but the vision it represents.
“These men, women, and children were not simply freed – they were empowered. They built homes, planted crops, created churches, elected leaders, and established schools. They showed the world what freedom could truly look like when formerly enslaved people were given the opportunity to lead themselves. They went from being property to owning property.”
On the land where Mitchelville once stood, the Freedom Park now welcomes visitors to learn about the history of the town and the culture of the people who lived there – a culture that you can still see reflected in the communities that still live on the island.
“Ghosted” metal frames have been constructed in the places where homes once stood, aligning with the original layout of the town and featuring information on how the formerly enslaved residents lived, worked, worshipped and raised families.
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Walking along the trails of the park, visitors will also encounter “Toni Morrison’s Bench by the Road”, a memorial to the revered author that symbolises the absence of historical markers honouring enslaved men, women and children and their journey to freedom.
Mitchelville Historic Freedom Park is also currently home to the “Journey to Freedom” sculpture of Harriet Tubman by artist Wesley Wofford; a striking symbol of the courage, spirit and the strength of the abolitionist who led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
Showing Tubman in flight from the South with a young boy, the sculpture, which is a travelling exhibit that will be at the Freedom Park until January 2026, acts as a starting point to learn about Tubman’s influence on the residents of Mitchelville and the impact she had on American history.
Having been born and raised on Hilton Head into one of the oldest native families in the Spanish Wells community, Lola explains how Mitchelville is one of the ways that visitors can learn about Gullah Geechee history and culture.
She describes how before Hilton Head became a global resort destination, it was shaped by Gullah Geechee families like her own “who fished, farmed, built boats and homes, and passed down oral history and traditions tied to the land and water”.
Gullah Geechee communities are found across the Lowcountry (the South Carolina marshland, deltas, dunes and small towns that make up the state’s coast), descended from enslaved Africans who were brought primarily from rice-growing regions of West and Central Africa. Lola explains: “The Gullah retained a distinct language, traditions, foodways, crafts, and spiritual practices that remain alive today.
“Their agricultural knowledge – especially rice cultivation –was central to South Carolina’s early economy and wealth, making Gullah Geechee contributions inseparable from the state’s development.”
She adds: “Preserving Gullah Geechee culture on Hilton Head is therefore not just about honouring the past – it is about protecting a living culture and ensuring that the island’s original stories, people, and identity are not erased as the community continues to grow and evolve.”
Quite simply, you cannot tell the story of Hilton Head without the story of the Gullah Geechee people. Beyond Mitchelville, Lola takes me to Spanish Wells, a historic Gullah neighbourhood where she owns a store, Binya, that sells Lowcountry and Gullah artisan gifts, sitting alongside the fruit and vegetable stall run by her mother Della.
That evening we have dinner with chef Sallie-Ann Robinson, who comes to our home to not only cook an impressive meal of authentic Gullah cuisine, but to tell us stories of growing up on Daufuskie Island (just off Hilton Head Island) and share the traditions of her ancestors and their cultural legacy.
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The need to preserve Hilton Head’s history and tell stories truthfully and honestly feels particularly important in a year when these values are under direct threat. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", attacking what he called "divisive, race-centred ideology" within American cultural institutions.
Targeting the Smithsonian specifically, Trump demanded that federal funds be withheld from exhibitions and programmes that "degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programmes or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy”, in what has been viewed by critics as an attempt to whitewash America’s history.
Lola tells me: “Mitchelville is more than a historical site – it is a blueprint for liberation, self-determination, and dignity. And it’s not a story of slavery, but instead one of freedom.
“Preserving and sharing its legacy allows us to confront a fuller, more truthful version of American history and honour the strength and ingenuity of those who lived it.”
She adds: “As a sixth generation native islander, who grew up in a church that was an original church of Mitchelville, yet had no idea what Mitchelville was until my late 20s, it is imperative that future generations, near and far, carry the story of Mitchelville forward with honour and pride. Sharing the story will help make sure of that.”
Entrance to Mitchelville Historic Freedom Park is free, although donations are appreciated. Guided tours cost $10 per person, with children under 10 free.
A private Gullah tour with Lola Campbell costs $1,500 (£1,110) for six people.
A private dinner with Sallie Ann Robinson starts at $1,750 (£1,300) for six people with ingredients included.
Annabel travelled to Hilton Head Island as a guest of Visit Hilton Head.
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