Invest in Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park

In 1862, General Ormsby Mitchel created a village for the freedmen on Hilton Head Island. Mitchelville was a part of a larger system of federal involvement in the South. It focused on housing, work opportunities, education, and self-governance opportunities for the recently freed Blacks.

Residents of this Port Royal Experiment worked for pay, learned to read, attended church, lived with family in their own homes, and elected town officials. These Gullah Geechee descendants created a democratic community with a vibrant culture.

It has been said that Mitchelville was an “experiment in citizenship” and a “model for reconstruction.” Today, Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park preserves, promotes, and honors Historic Mitchelville, the first U.S. town of self-governed formerly enslaved people.