Mitchelville Freedom Park
WLA recently began work on a nationally-significant project at Mitchelville Freedom Park located on Hilton Head Island. This plan will serve as a guide for future development of a park and interpretation at the Mitchelville site, which was the location of the first self-governed freedmen town in the the United States, formed in 1862 during the Civil War. Mitchelville Freedom Park will tell the important story of the freedmen and freedwomen who established this town and lived at Hilton Head Island. The park will be part of a national network of sites associated with the Reconstruction Era and an important piece in the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor. WLA leads a team of nationally-renowned scholars of African American history, interpretive designers (Proun Exhibit Design Consulting), and community engagement specialists (International Coalition of Sites of Conscience). The client is Beaufort County, South Carolina and the Mitchelville Preservation Project.
