Historic Brattonsville's Brick House exhibits open

The Brick House at Historic Brattonsville opens with stories to tell from the days of the Reconstruction Era in York County. With new exhibits installed, Historic Brattonsville opens the two front rooms on the house’s first floor as museum spaces. The exhibition represents a part of Brattonsville’s history that has not been a major part of the site’s interpretation until now. The inaugural opening is Nov. 23 during the site’s normal hours of operation.

In the Brick House’s front parlor, the new exhibit “Liberty & Resistance: Reconstruction and the African American Community at Brattonsville 1865-1877” details the tumultuous times in York County following the Civil War. Unfolding a significant chapter in the history of Civil Rights in America, the exhibit prominently looks at the legacy of James Williams, an African-American formerly enslaved on the Bratton Plantation who became a regional civil rights leader after emancipation. Williams’ heroic efforts cost him his life at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan in March 1871. Liberty & Resistance tells the story through artifacts, a commissioned painting by local artist Dan Nance, and a series of panels with text and historical imagery.

Due to the sensitive nature of the story, Culture & Heritage Museums collaborated with descendants of James Williams for vetting and approval of the exhibit “Liberty & Resistance: Reconstruction and the African American Community at Brattonsville 1865-1877.” Along with the Williams’ family, Historic Brattonsville’s Community Advisory Group on African-American Programming, representatives from South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, Bratton family descendants and academic advisors were engaged in authenticating the exhibit’s narrative.

The Brattonsville Store is recreated in the Brick House’s front room adjacent to the parlor. The room is outfitted with interior finishes, counters and shelves to portray how the general store looked in 1871. The replicated merchandise in stock are based on the store’s actual receipts and records. During and after Reconstruction, the general store served the area’s farming families and was the center of community activity. The general store’s proprietor, Confederate veteran Napoleon Bonaparte Bratton, was a dealer in “Dry Goods, Groceries, Hats, Boots, Shoes, Hardware, and Notions.” The Brattonsville Store operated out of the Brick House from the time the building was completed in 1843 until 1885.

The Brick House’s new interpretive Reconstruction Era exhibit was made possible with the support of a Major Grant from South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage.

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