The Case for Port Royal: Interpreting the Reconstruction Era National Monument
On January 12, 2017, President Barack Obama authorized the establishment of a National Monument to the Reconstruction Era at four sites in Beaufort County—the Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena Island, Darrah Hall on the nearby Penn Center campus on St. Helena, a former firehouse on Craven Street in Downtown Beaufort, and the former site of Camp Saxton on the Beaufort Naval Hospital parcel in Port Royal. Because the designation does not include specific plans for how the sites are to be used, questions about the location of interpretive infrastructure and facilities for the new monument remain open. This report makes the case for Port Royal, SC, as the headquarters for an interpretive center for the new national monument. It was prepared on behalf of the Historic Port Royal Foundation and in consultation with the Town of Port Royal.