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Rob Kennedy Historic Trail
Rob Kennedy Historic Trail
1. Mt. Carmel Baptist Church No. 2
(Daufuskie Island History Museum)
The church building and its predecessor were built by the Cooper River residents of the north end of the island. The first church was destroyed by a hurricane in 1940. This building was built shortly after that. In time, the declining population of the island caused the church to close. In 2001, the Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation bought the property, restored the building, and opened the Daufuskie Island History Museum,
2. Jane Hamilton School
(Gullah Learning Center)
Cooper River children attended school in Mt. Carmel Baptist Church No.1 until it was destroyed by the hurricane of 1940. The one-room Jane Hamilton School was then built by island residents and was open for ten years. After that, transportation was provided to take the children to the Mary Field School on the south end of the island. In 2008, the Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation leased the structure from the Beaufort County Board of Education and restored it. This historical structure is currently home to the Gullah Learning Center and the island's community library.
3. Tabby Ruin
Tabby is a building material made from a mixture of ground oyster shells, sand, and water. This material was used for buildings on Daufuskie Island,. Whereas buildings constructed of wood have long since disintegrated, remnants of structures made from the very durable tabby remain on Daufuskie Island, Hilton Head Island, and throughout the Lowcountry.
4. Cooper River Cemetery
It was very important for the enslaved and later Gullah residents to provide a proper burial for loved ones. Cemeteries were usually set next to moving water in keeping with the belief that the soul would travel home to Africa via the water. There are grave markers in the cemetery dating as early as 1917, but the cemetery itself dates back to plantation days. Please be respectful.
5. Haig Point
Haig Point, a private residential community, was known as Haig's Point in plantation days. It is home to the Haig Point Lighthouse. You can see the lighthouse from Calibogue Sound at the northern tip of the island. The lighthouse was built in 1873 on the foundation of a destroyed plantation mansion and was in operation until 1924. Haig Point also has extensive tabby ruins and a Gullah cemetery on the property. Private community—no access.
6. Melrose Plantation
Daufuskie Island was divided into eleven plantations at the start of the Civil War, varying in size from two hundred to eleven hundred acres. Plantations were self-contained, with almost everything needed produced within the property.. Heavy labor was handled by the enslaved, and plantation life was hard and mean for them, working from "till to can't." The island was abandoned at the start of the Civil War and subsequently occupied by Union soldiers. After the war, freedmen (Gullah) returned to the island, where some lived in the old homes of the enslaved and worked for landowners, while others obtained land and built homes of their own.
7. Oyster Union Society Hall
From the turn of the 20th century until pollution in the Savannah River ruined the oyster beds in the 1950s, the primary economy of the island was the harvesting and shucking of oysters. The oyster workers established the Oyster Union Society, a benevolent and burial society that held meetings and social events in this building. The latter events were often enhanced with local moonshine or homemade wine. The Society was dissolved after the oyster beds were closed. The building was purchased by the Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation in 2002. An exhibit telling the story of oystering on Daufuskie was installed in 2023. The restored building is open for events or by appointment.
8. Mary Field Cemetery
Mary Field Cemetery is the largest Gullah cemetery on the island. There are grave markers dating from 1926 to the present. Earlier wooden grave markers have disintegrated from the old Gullah cemeteries and the only indications of those graves are low areas where wooden caskets have collapsed. Graves were usually dug by friends of the family. Following the funeral service, mourners would walk behind the carriage bearing the casket, singing all the way to the cemetery.
Please be respectful.
9. The Sarah Grant Home
Sarah Grant was midwife, Sunday school president, and PTA president during her influential life. She bought this 1910 house from Fuller Fripp for $15 and had it moved to its present location at a cost of $25, thereby paying $40 for her home. Sarah Grant was married to the island undertaker. When he passed away in 1962, she took his place. As she was already the island midwife, someone remarked that "Granny bring 'em 'n she take 'em away."
Private residence.
10. Public Dock
In 1883, near this location, Maggioni & Company opened an oyster cannery that provided employment for many islanders. After the cannery closed in 1903, islanders continued to harvest and shuck oysters and transport them to nearby canneries. Daufuskie Island oysters were sold all over the world. This enterprise continued until pollution in the nearby waters ruined the oyster beds and curtailed their harvest in the 1950's. After that, the island's population declined as people left the island to pursue job opportunities elsewhere.
Prior to the arrival of steamboats to the Lowcountry, islanders had to row and sail their bateaux (small boats) to the mainland and back. Steamboats provided not only easier access for islanders to conduct their "across the water" business, but also brought folks to the island for lively parties and picnics. It was always a highlight of the day when the steamship pulled into the dock.
11. The Daufuskie School
The Daufuskie School House was built in 1913 by the Beaufort County Board of Education for white children who lived on Daufuskie Island. Whether there were twenty students or just one, a teacher was sent to the island. The school closed when the last white child graduated in 1962. Since then, the Daufuskie School has been used as fire department headquarters, island library, and thrift shop. Currently, the building is home to the Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation's Bruce Allen Archives.
12. The Council Tree
After Sunday church services, men would gather under a tree such as this stately oak and talk at length about non-church topics including their families, animals, oystering, crops, and other island issues. The men felt it improper to discuss these matters on church property. There are references to a Sisters Tree where women would meet.
13. First Union African Baptist Church
The church was built in 1884 near the site of the 1881 church that was destroyed by fire. It has stood as a center of worship and faith on the island, with only one significant break in services since that time. The building was restored in the 1990s. A replica of a praise house is located behind the building. Sunday services are open to all who come to worship.
14. Mary Field School
The two-room Mary Field School was built for the island's black children in the early 1930s. Leftover wood was used to construct desks for the students. The school was integrated after the last white child graduated from the Daufuskie School in 1962. To integrate the school and there being no white students on the island at that time, a white teacher, Pat Conroy, was hired for the Mary Field School. The school was immortalized by him in his book, The Water is Wide. When a new elementary school was built in 1997, the Mary Field School was closed.
15. Frances Jones Home
This classic Gullah dwelling was home to Frances Jones, beloved
teacher at the Mary Field School for 39 years. The core of the building is believed to have been built by freedmen soon after
the end of the Civil War. Note the blue color, thought to chase away haints (spirits) and the magnificent oak tree shading the home.
Private residence
16. Moses Ficklin Cottage and Oak Tree
The enormous live oak fronting this restored Gullah home is thought to have greeted Spanish explorers when they first came to Daufuskie Island in the 1500s. The classic Gullah house was constructed under its shady branches circa 1925. Moses Ficklin was a deacon of the First Union African Baptist Church and the Gullah undertaker at that time, assisted by his wife, Grace. He always kept a supply of $100 caskets on hand.
Private residence.
17. Civil War Trenches
In 2020, when the road to the Mary Dunn cemetery was rerouted, trenches from a Civil War gun encampment were exposed. The guns were placed there to combat shallow draft Confederate Navy vessels during the siege of Ft. Pulaski.
18. Mary Dunn Cemetery
This cemetery is the only historic cemetery for white people on Daufuskie Island. Established in the 1700s, it borders the Mongin Creek on land provided by Mary Dunn for a family cemetery. There are gravestones in this cemetery dating as far back as 1790. The cemetery is privately owned and still used today.
Please be respectful.
19. Bloody Point
In April 1715, the first of three skirmishes at this site between the Yemassee Indians and British settlers took place. It was not until the third conflict in 1728 that it was said that there was blood in the water from the dead and injured—and the name Bloody Point has been engraved upon this beautiful shoreline ever since.
For a two month period in 1899, 25,000 soldiers returning from Cuba after the Spanish-American War were held in a five-day quarantine at Bloody Point before being allowed to return home.
The Bloody Point Cemetery, one of six Gullah cemeteries on the island, was established along the Mongin Creek for the burial of the enslaved and continued to be used until late in the 20th century. Unfortunately, much of the cemetery has been lost to beach erosion.
Please be respectful
Bloody Point is the southernmost inhabited point of South Carolina.
20. Bloody Point Lighthouse and Silver Dew Winery
In 1882, the U.S. Government paid $425 for land for the Bloody Point Light: a front range lighthouse and a rear range light tower. The lighthouse is a two-story dwelling with a small dormer window that housed the front light. The light had a brass stand and wind-up clockwork to turn the light. The synchronized lights guided ships into the Savannah River Channel from 1883 to 1922. The small building that stored kerosene for the light is currently known as the Silver Dew Winery .The lighthouse was relocated inland a number of times because of beach erosion.