Penn Center – St. Helena Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina

Penn Center

In this guide: Penn Center Overview | Penn Center History | Penn Center Today | Related Resources

Penn Center Overview

Penn Center, or Penn School as it was originally called, was founded in 1862 – about six months before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, and about three years before the Civil War ended.

Penn Center Historical Marker – Located on Lands End Road (SC 37) – © SCIWAY 2008

It was one of several schools established on Saint Helena Island as part of the Port Royal Experiment. The leaders of this experiment were primarily philanthropists, abolitionists, and missionaries from Pennsylvania. They came to the Beaufort area after Union soldiers took control of the Port Royal Sound and forced the Confederates to flee, and their purpose was to help abandoned slaves prepare for freedom by teaching them how to read and survive economically. They named the school in honor of their home state, which in turn had been named for Quaker activist William Penn.

Benezet House – Penn Residence Hall – © SCIWAY 2008

Penn Center has played a tremendous role in the development of African-American culture – and more recently, in its preservation. By the early 1900s it had adopted Booker T. Washington's model of industrial training. This model focused on teaching black people trades like cobbling and carpentry that would help them earn livings. In Washington's own words, he wanted to make them "so skilled in hand, so strong in head, so honest in heart, that the Southern white man cannot do without [the]m."

Penn Center Outbuildings – © SCIWAY 2008

The school continued to teach students until the middle of the twentieth century. At this time, after 86 years, the school shifted its focus and began to offer community services such as day care and health training. The change came about for a variety of reasons. One reason was that black families were moving north, causing enrollment to decline. Another important reason was that South Carolina's state and county governments finally began to take steps towards providing a more thorough education for black children. Before 1948, the public school system was only required to educate blacks through the seventh grade.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference often met at the Penn Center. The center served as a rare retreat where members of both races could meet peacefully without being threatened or harmed.

Gantt Cottage – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Penn Center Home – © SCIWAY 2008

More recently, Penn's leaders have turned their attention to preserving the unique culture of the Sea Islands in the onslaught of tourism and residential growth. They hold workshops to teach people how to protect heirs property and defend themselves against developers. They also organize the annual Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration, which honors Gullah traditions.

Penn Center is a National Historic District Landmark located along both sides of Land's End Road (SC 37), near Chowan Creek. Its 50 acres are home to 19 historic buildings, including Darrah Hall and Brick Church. The York W. Bailey Museum is open Monday through Saturday.

Penn Center History

Brief historical overview - Penn School's first classes were held in the living room of the abandoned Oaks Plantation. Quickly outgrowing that space, it moved first to Brick Church and then to across the street to its permanent campus.
More historical highlights - Info about founders Laura Towne and Ellen Murray, Penn's namesake, and Penn's role on St. Helena from 1862 to the mid-1900s
Penn Center National Historic Landmark District - Historic photos from the National Register
– National Register Application - Outlines historical significance of Penn campus, buildings - Requires Adobe Reader
Penn Center photos from the Library of Congress - Dozens of historic images - Click link with a building's name, then click "b&w photos" icon - A few buildings also have "color transparencies" icon
Inventory of the Penn School Papers, 1862-2004 - Most detailed and accurate Penn Center history available online - Requires scrolling - UNC Manuscript Collection

Hampton House – Home for Principals & Guests – © SCIWAY 2008
Laura Towne - A look at Penn School's co-founder and first principal
Penn School curriculum in photographs - Pictures of Penn students learning trades like mending, sewing, basket weaving, wheel-righting, and masonry
Penn School's Little Library - Books and reading on St. Helena - also includes a photo of the Dathan School
Penn School calendar - See what life was like for Penn students
Penn School song - Lyrics
Brief history and pictures of Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School - Article from An Era of Progress and Promise: Education and Religion in Post-Emancipation America
Through Trying Times for Blacks, a Place of Peace - April 2008 New York Times article remembers Penn as a retreat for Martin Luther King, Jr.
– Photo Gallery - Use arrows to see all 8 photos
Historic District in SC Struggles to Preserve Black History - 1991 New York Times article looks at on Penn Center's lean years

Penn Center Today

Penn Center - Official website of present-day Penn Center, a non-profit organization designed to promote and preserve Sea Island history and culture
Annual Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration - Held each fall

Related Resources

Mather Industrial School for Girls - School for daughters of former slaves - Located in Beaufort, it was founded shortly after the Civil War and operated until 1968.
– Historical marker
More about Booker T. Washington - Balanced and interesting introduction to Washington's educational philosophies