Saving History Saturday: Tabernacle Baptist Church Continues Preserving & Interpreting Civil War History
In Beaufort, South Carolina, the Tabernacle Baptist Church, founded during the Civil War era, has received a grant of $250,000 to aid in historic preservation of the structure. The historic building actual dates to 1811, but the congregation organization of the church was started in 1863 by freedmen.
During the Civil War years, the members created a resolution to officially thank President Lincoln for signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The church is also the burial place of Robert Small’s who escaped to freedom by sea and provided valuable information to the Federal military. Tabernacle Baptist Church also has ties to Harriet Tubman’s raid on the Combahee River which resulted in freedom for hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children.
Original news article: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/south-carolina/article255248706.html
Robert Smalls escape from Charleston on the cotton steamer, Planter, even wearing the white captain’s hat, is one of the great adventures of the war. He took seventeen freed people with him, including his wife and children. He later served in Congress. A wonderful preservation site.