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A passion for history
Terry James, a descendent of former slave Ervin James, heads the nonprofit Jamestown Foundation, which is working to preserve his family’s 150-year-old legacy of freedom and self-sufficiency. His passion for history extends to Civil War reenacting, portraying a soldier in the celebrated 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
Photo by Andrew Haworth
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Still standing
This one-story wooden home is one of the last remaining structures from the original Jamestown Settlement. The once-thriving agricultural community was founded in 1870 when freed slave Ervin James illegally purchased 100 acres of land from local white residents to give his family and other freed slaves a legacy beyond sharecropping. Ervin James and his descendants lived and farmed on the land for more than 70 years. The present-day James family hope to restore the building and eventually offer historic tours of the site.
Photo by Andrew Haworth
Editor’s note: When this story was published in the May issue, South Carolina was still in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many events to be canceled or postponed. For the latest updates on the 2020 Celebrate Jamestown Reunion, see the Jamestown Foundation Facebook page or contact Terry James at (843) 661-5679; jamest955@att.net. For current updates on coronavirus health precautions, visit scdhec.gov/covid19.
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Located at the end of a bumpy, sandy ride down Jamestown Cemetery Road, about five miles east of Florence, the old house doesn’t look like much.
It’s a humble, one-story wooden cabin with a rusting tin roof, falling-in porch and jagged-edge windows, all of it slowly being swallowed by surrounding trees and vegetation. But to African American history buffs and the descendants of a former slave named Ervin James, the cabin and other remnants of a once-thriving agricultural community are an important Pee Dee landmark worth preserving.
In 1870, Ervin James enacted a daring plan. He secretly purchased more than 100 acres of land from local white residents to give his family and other freed slaves a legacy beyond sharecropping. In the turbulent era of reconstruction following the Civil War, it was illegal for whites to sell property to blacks, and had the deal been discovered by the wrong people, the transaction could have been disastrous for all involved. This bold purchase, made on a hope and a dream, laid the groundwork for the modern James family, who still hold the deed to the property.
Ervin James and his descendants lived and farmed on the land for more than 70 years. They expanded their holdings to more than 240 acres and establishing a community called Jamestown—22 buildings, including a church and cemetery that are still in use. James family members have since spread far and wide throughout the United States, but several still live nearby, including Terry James, head of the Jamestown Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization working to preserve the site.
The nonprofit foundation shares the family legacy of freedom and self-sufficiency each summer with the Celebrate Jamestown Reunion, and is actively seeking to raise funds to properly restore the old home as a reminder of a pivotal time in the state’s history.
Preserving the past
In the early 2000s, Terry James says, some family members wanted to sell the land, but he stood firmly against this idea. He worked his way to become the head of the Jamestown Foundation in 2007 so that he could preserve the cabin and the legacy it represents.
Small victories on his part included a state-sanctioned historical marker that was put in place in 2006, and recognition from Congressman James Clyburn in 2007. The site is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But more work is needed to save the cabin, he says.
James has been pushing for a feasibility study by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, something he says is a long process.
“We’ll bring architectural historians out here who can tell us what it would cost to get it done, then we can begin asking corporations for funding,” he says.
His initial plan is to restore the house, the smokehouse and the outhouse, and enhance the security measures already in place on the property. Ultimately, he has big dreams of doing regular historic reenactments and interpretations on the site, including wagon tours to really take people back in time to experience what life was like for former slaves in the late 1800s.
James is always uncovering information about the family’s past through his research, a personal passion.
“Ervin signed the deed to the land on Jan. 23, 1871 and gave the people he purchased the land from $400,” says James. “I don’t know how he got it, maybe he had a skill, but in 1872 he gave them another $300 but passed away shortly thereafter.”
James doesn’t yet know how Ervin passed away—if the cause of his death was natural or the result of foul play—but seeing the relationships that were formed between the newly freed slaves and white people so that both sides could get things done during reconstruction fascinates James and keeps him impassioned to share this story with his family and the world. He continues to research and delve into the family’s history and even discovered last year that Ervin was on the registry to vote in Marion County in 1868.
Celebrate Jamestown Reunion
The James family has a three-day reunion celebration each year on the last weekend in July that is open to the public. The Celebrate Jamestown Reunion includes reenactments, traditional storytelling, artisans showing period crafts, a big banquet and a church service to cap off the weekend.
“We opened the reunion up to the public in 2013, even though some of the family didn’t like it,” says Terry James. “I told them this story is too great to keep it. It’s like a pearl in an oyster, you have to open it up to see it.”
Some of the James family come from far away to enjoy the reunion. “I’m glad to be part of James history,” said Larry James Lassitter, who traveled from New York to attend the 2019 event and brought his youngest son. “Every chance I get, I try to come home. I want my kids to know their history and be proud of the James heritage.”
As for this year’s Celebrate Jamestown Reunion, James says the focus will be on the African roots of the men and women held in bondage in South Carolina until emancipation. He hopes to fill the fields near the old cabin with a wider variety of activities that showcase African arts and craftsmanship in addition to the usual array of drummers, dancers, storytellers and historical interpreters he has brought to Celebrate Jamestown in the past.
“These types of crafts are so fragile, the elders know it and the young people aren’t as interested, so these crafts are fading,” he says.
Preserving the physical legacy of Jamestown—which is 18 years older than the formation of Florence County—and sharing traditions from long ago, can be a lot of work, but James says he finds it rewarding. “It’s like God gives you an assignment and you’ve got to carry it out even though it’s challenging from time to time.”
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Get There
The Celebrate Jamestown Reunion is traditionally held on the last weekend in July with multiple events in and around Florence and on the Jamestown property. Visit the Jamestown Foundation Facebook page or contact Terry James at (843) 661-5679; jamest955@att.net for details and updates on the 2020 Celebrate Jamestown Reunion in light of COVID-19 restrictions.