The Gateway to Mitchelville
Info & Floor Plans

The Gateway to Freedom

Port Royal Sound, circa 1865, Post Union Occupation

After truce was declared the troops departed, and te dust finally cleared over Port Royal Sound, there wasn't a tree left standing. But there were still plenty of fish in the sea, and Fish Haul Creek was still brimming with shrimp and crab, and the oyster beds were still rich and plentiful, and there were homes and schools still to be built, and local elections to be held; it was a brand new time and there was a brand new township on Hilton Head Island -- a 300 plus acre beach front field of dreams -- where all men were free once more. Free to dream. Free to build. Free to put down new roots and watch them grow.

This was Mitchelville

History of Mitchelville

At its peak, Mitchelville, South Carolina, one of the first settlements for freed men in the United States, was a bustling, energetic beach township, boasting almost 1500 residents. Named in honor of General Ormsby Mitchel, who established the township in 1862 to house the area's freed slaves, Mitchelville was Hilton Head's very first planned community, featuring quarter-acre home lots divided by streets and interspersed with stores. The people of the township elected their own officials, passed their own laws, founded the First African Baptist Church -- the oldest continually operated Baptist church on the Island -- and established SOuth Carolina's first compulsory education.

For its original residents, Mitchelville was, indeed, a field of dreams.

 

But, LIke many small townships, Mitchelville vanished over time. Free no to follow their dreams wherever they led, some Mitchelville residents moved to other parts of the Island, where the fishing was more plentiful and the land more abundant for farming; and some left the Island altogether in pursuit of other opportunities such as secondary education and military careers. For the time being, it seemed, Mitchelville had served its purpose, and slowly but surely, the field of dreams melted inot the backdrop of Hilton Head and, for the most part -- and for most people -- Mitchelville became a distant memory.

Until today...