Restoring history

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Magnolia Plantation Cabins

The restored slave cabins at Magnolia Plantation and Garden were opened to the public February 28, 2009. Cabins dating to the 1850's are part of a display that shows the transition in the uses of the cabins from slave quarters to freedmen's and gardeners' cottages.

Under gathering clouds Saturday morning, in a narrow point on the Ashley River, a group of men and women passed a wreath of white flowers to actor Isaiah Washington.

As the Bennett Singers of Magnolia Plantation sang, "I feel like going on, I feel like going on," the wreath made its way to Washington and the spot where, on May 6, 1856, 250 people from Sierra Leone were herded off the slave ship Bunce Island and sold to nearby plantations.

Washington placed the wreath in the river, and as if on cue, the currents pointed it upriver toward Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, where Washington and others later helped dedicate the restoration of five slave cabins.

A DNA test in 2005 linked Washington to the Mende people of Sierra Leone, and since then, Washington, known for his role on "Grey's Anatomy," has used his celebrity to "educate" and "agitate" people about the history of his ancestors and those of millions of other American slave descendents. Sierra Leone recently granted Washington citizenship based on his DNA results and because of his contributions to build a school and restore the Bunce Island slave castle in that country.

With the Magnolia Plantation slave cabins behind him, Washington told a gathering of about 100 that "yes, DNA has memory," but that people must remember the stories of the "powerful souls" who lived in those cabins. "Today we will bring yesterday into the proverbial light with honor and love," he said.

Craftsman and historians spent three years restoring the cabins — "a tangible link with the intangible past," said Taylor Drayton Nelson, the plantation's chief executive officer and an 11th generation of Draytons to preside over the gardens.

The cabins are unique in that they were used as freedman's homes and gardeners' cottages after the Civil War when Magnolia Gardens opened its doors to tourists.

Instead of focusing only on the cabins' use during slavery, a team of archaeologists restored the cabins to different periods in their histories.

"It shows the whole arc of slavery to freedom," said Craig Hadley, director of the Living History Group and the restoration team.

Saturday's dedication ended with the Magnolia Singers singing, "I done what you told me to do, I done what you told me to do." Kitty Wilson-Evans, dressed in slave garb, performed a "blessing doll" ceremony in each cabin, as the winds blew through the plantation's old oaks.

Reach Tony Bartelme at 937-5554 or tbartelme@postandcourier.com.