Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept-Oct 2018

52 www.VoteBestOfMP.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ClemsonCarolinaTickets.com feature landmark that impacted and shaped many will be carefully transported up the road to where the Snowden Community Center sits and eventually reopened as a cultural arts center sure to give a glimpse into the region’s past. Future generations will see just what that schoolhouse looked like, but, most importantly, they will get a sense of the community, tenacity and encouragement fostered within those walls all those years ago. “When I was 5 years old, I used to ride my two-wheel bike right to this one-room schoolhouse,” said Thomasena Stokes-Marshall, who also recalled walking with her parents on weekday mornings. “I look back on that time and reflect on what the community was like. We knew each other. We fed each other. There were no locked doors. There was a greater demonstration of care for mankind in general.” Built in the early 1900s, this modest property is so much more than a place where cursive was practiced and equations were solved. It was here where unrelenting hope thrived and ambition was nurtured. Many pupils who passed through those doors went on to foster great positive change. Some even met their spouses there. Long Point Schoolhouse alumna Stokes-Marshall was the very first African-American Mount Pleasant Town Council member, and the longest-serving member in the Council’s history. For 17 years, she dedicated herself to providing affordable housing in Mount Pleasant and stepped in when development threatened the livelihood of sweetgrass basket makers along Highway 17. Prior to her political career, she worked as a detective in New York City. At age 75, Stokes-Marshall has spearheaded an oral- history program in partnership with Citadel professors in which local elders recount just what life was like in the days when Mount Pleasant flourished with livestock, wild vegetation and medicinal herbs. Before the influx of countless neighborhoods and brick-and-mortar stores, fields of ripe watermelons, pecan, peach and fig trees and blueberry bushes once thrived. It’s Marshall’s hope that through this storytelling initiative, more people will take an interest in the African-American narrative and discover its contributions and milestones. “If we don’t put a conscious effort to protect and preserve these structures, and they are torn down, we are wiping out history,” said Stokes-Marshall. “We can’t leave out history. It connects us to our past.” Initially, when talk to save this schoolhouse surfaced, advocates discovered that current laws concerning historic preservation did not in fact protect this Mount Pleasant structure from being demolished. A study done by Dr. Richard Grant Gilmore, director of the College of Charleston’s Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program, shed light on the technology used to build it, which dates back to the 18th century. Gilmore, along with a team of graduate and undergraduate students, worked diligently to uncover the origins of construction of the now tree-shrouded structure. African- American Settlement Community Historic Commission board members Freddie Jenkins, Pat Sullivan and Stokes- Marshall have been organizing efforts to raise funds since the news broke that the land where the school was located would be sold to a developer. While a fundraising event, which included a walkathon and baseball tournament, garnered a big turnout, monetary support is still needed to ensure this schoolhouse is successfully moved and restored to its original condition. The goal is for the interior to capture the essence of when school was in session. Photographs and artifacts from community members may also be interwoven into the center’s aesthetic. “The Cultural Center will become a unique part of our tourism market East of the Cooper, and the Snowden community is at the pulse of something amazing,” said Historic Commission President John Wright, who has also helped with efforts to bring the project to fruition. “The center will be a benefit for generations to come.” While the actual move is slated for sometime in September, just when the new center will open depends on the financial support the project receives. Photo courtesy of Pat Sullivan.