Trail to preserve, highlight history

Alan Hawes
The Post and Courier

Wassamassaw Indian tribal elder Martha Varner leads a procession into the Septima P. Clarke Corporate Academy on James Island on Saturday during a ceremony unveiling the James Island History Trail. Playing drums are Neville R. Miller (left) and Edmund Ray Varner.

From the grounds of old plantation homes to the spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, James Island is a community steeped in colorful history.

A history trail inaugurated Saturday is an effort to preserve that rich heritage by highlighting the people, places and events of James Island's past.

More than three dozen people gathered at Septima P. Clark Academy to launch the history trail as part of the Island Heritage Festival. Among those attending were members of the Wassamassaw Native American Tribe.

Each year, organizers of the trail plan to mark a different site on the island to commemorate its historical contribution. There are many to choose from, said Eleanor Kinlaw-Ross, founder and executive director of the Island Heritage Foundation.

One marker already in place marks the site of the 1863 Battle of Sol Legare fought by the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. James Island also is home to Fort Johnson, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Federal forces at Fort Sumter. Sammie Smalls, a disabled beggar immortalized as "Porgy" in the American folk opera "Porgy and Bess," is buried on the island. There are other sites as well, including the slave cemetery at McLeod Plantation.

The foundation plans to work with a community advisory board to identify and interpret potential sites. Nominations for additions to the trail will be solicited from the community, Kinlaw-Ross said.

"With the addition of each new marker, the trail becomes further established and the journey to history comes alive," she said.

Rep. Wallace Scarborough, R-James Island, read a proclamation from Gov. Mark Sanford and applauded efforts to preserve the island where he was born. Retired lawman Eugene Frazier, author of "James Island: Stories From Slave Descendants," told the crowd gathered for the inauguration about the island's abundant plantations and how slaves contributed to its history.

Blake Hallman, treasurer of the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust, said that amid its urban sprawl, James Island is littered with important evidence of the Civil War that must be remembered. "You are the custodians," he told the crowd. "You are the ones who will decide whether these pieces of our history will remain or be bulldozed for further expansion."

Reach Glenn Smith at gsmith@postandcourier.com or 937-5556.