The Burning of Darien

06/11/2026

163 years ago on June 11,1863 the town of Darien burned. We opened to tell the story of our town, the impact of the Civil War, and the stories of the 54th Massachusetts, the 2nd SC Volunteers, and the men from McIntosh County in the 1st SC (later 33rd USCT), but then we were banned from our building. Ironically, we moved out on June 11th, 2022. We usually post new research annually about the Burning of Darien, but this year we are posting about the future.

With digitization and more open dialogue, so many African American voices lost in history are starting to be heard. We know the impact of a museum closing can have on a community-so on this day in honor of the incredibly brave men who served, we ask you head over to the Center for Family History at the International African American Museum and support them. Brian Sheffey and his team are doing incredible work, even for the history of McIntosh County. Brian has been researching Butler Island for years and you’ve probably seen his work on ancestry when you research McIntosh County ancestors. Head over to their fb page and do all you can do to keep this amazing research and history going.

*image generated by AI with the prompts of Darien and USS Paul Jones. Our AI image posts seem to get noticed the most on fb*

05/27/2026

Hey Y'all, come see what we discovered!

In compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) conducted archaeological investigations ahead of the widening of US 17 in Glynn County.

GDOT will host a public talk and exhibit at Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Park on June 20, 2026, at 1:00 PM. This exhibit aims to document and honor the significance of the Needwood community and other African American communities in rural Georgia.

Glynn County Board of Commissioners The Brunswick News Darien-McIntosh County Chamber of Commerce Darien News

04/25/2026

We are begging when you clean out attics, houses, etc and you see historic papers, newspapers, minutes of meetings. DO NOT throw them away. Newspapers go out of print and many aren’t digitized. We know that the completely missing Darien Spectator, edited by James Grant from the late 1800s is just sitting in someone’s home. There is only half a one edition in an archive, which is how we know it even existed.

03/02/2026

02/12/2026

Cobb County, around 1860... The Atwood sisters pose for a rare early portrait. Shown left to right are Sarah Alice Atwood, Ruth Ann Atwood, and Jane Margaret Atwood, daughters of Henry Skelton Atwood and Ann Margaret McIntosh, originally of Darien, Georgia. Sarah Alice later married Dr. Charles A. Geiger and is believed to have died around 1859. Ruth Ann married Dr. William E. Dunwoody in 1846, and Jane Margaret married George Hull Camp in 1850. The image captures not only family ties but also the fashion and portrait style of mid-19th-century Georgia women.


Georgia on My Mind curated by Lisa Land Cooper – Author and Historian

01/01/2026

Men from McIntosh County that served in the 1st SC are depicted in this illustration. Some historians think the soldier holding the flag was from McIntosh. You can find a comprehensive men who served (later the 33rd USCT) here:

http://www.glynngen.com/military/civilwar/USCT.htm

📅 On this day in 1863, African Americans gathered in Port Royal to celebrate Emancipation Day.

This gathering was the first Emancipation Day Celebration, though other similar celebrations marking the end of American participation in the slave trade can be traced back to 1808. In this first celebration and the many to follow, former enslaved people traveled from across the United States to celebrate their new freedom.

Today, Emancipation Day is celebrated as the Day of Jubilee, and the tradition is a vital ritual for African Americans in South Carolina.

📸 The color sergeant of the 1st South Carolina (Colored) Volunteers addressing the regiment, after having been presented with the Stars and Stripes at Smith's Plantation, Port Royal, January 1, (Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, vol. 15, no. 382 (1863 Jan. 24), Library of Congress)

12/27/2025

On Christmas Day, 1848, a young planter from Georgia arrived in Philadelphia, accompanied by his enslaved male body servant. There was nothing unusual about that. But in this case, things were not as they seemed.

The young planter was in fact a runaway slave named Ellen Craft, and her supposed body servant was her enslaved husband, William. On their arrival in Philadelphia the couple had pulled off one of the most creative and daring slave escapes in American history—a feat that would make them famous.

William Craft was a skilled cabinetmaker, whose owner allowed him to hire himself out and keep part of his earnings. With money he earned that way, William bought the suit of clothes that Ellen (who was of mixed race, light-skinned and able to pass as white) would wear during the escape. On their journey north, the couple traveled openly, by train and steamship. To avoid conversation, Ellen pretended to be ill. To avoid having to write (she was illiterate) she traveled with her right arm in a sling.

Once safely in Philadelphia Ellen and William made contact with the abolitionist community there, where they were welcomed as heroes. They settled in a free black neighborhood in Boston and began speaking on the abolitionist lecture circuit, to large and admiring audiences. But with bounty hunters pursuing them and with the tightening of the Fugitive Slave Act, it soon became clear that it wasn’t safe for the Crafts to remain in the United States. So, in 1851 they escaped to Canada and from there traveled to England, where they would live for the next 19 years. Five children were born to them there.

While in England, Ellen learned to read and write and in 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, she and William published Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, a popular and widely read account of their escape from slavery.

In 1868 the couple returned to America. After operating a farm and school in Georgia for a few years, they moved to Charleston South Carolina to live with their daughter Ellen and her husband Dr. William Crum. Ellen Craft passed away in 1891 at age 65. Her husband William died nine years later, at age 76.

Ellen and William Craft reached Philadelphia on December 25, 1848, one hundred seventy-seven years ago, completing their daring escape.

11/23/2025

There’s a familiar name in this newspaper ad.
For those asking what is a goal? Gaol is the historically British was of spelling Jail.

10/25/2025

Preservation alarms through the country this week. Bulldozers being employed with no regard to planning commissions, historic groups, or even history itself. We always say if you want to erase a peoples’ stories, erase their places.

Yesterday, residents in Modeste in Ascension Parish saw heavy machinery demolishing slave cabins on the site of the former Germania and Mulberry Plantations. Residents believe the destruction is taking place to make way for the Hyundai facility, which many fear could destroy both plantations as well as the neighboring Zeringue Plantation.

“What should be a moment of collective reflection and preservation has instead become a moment of destruction and deep sorrow for the community. These cabins hold the stories of our ancestors — the people whose labor built this land and whose spirit still breathes through it. To see them demolished for industrial expansion is not just heartbreaking — it’s erasure.

Among the cabins being destroyed is one with deep personal significance to me. My uncle, Cloveste, was born in the second red cabin. That place isn’t just history — it’s bloodline, legacy, and love. These are the spaces that tell our story as a people. Tearing them down is tearing at the roots of who we are.

For generations, the residents of Modeste have fought to preserve what remains of their ancestral lands, where enslaved people once lived, worked, and dreamed of freedom. Across the South, such structures are protected, documented, and preserved as vital reminders of the nation’s history. Yet here in Ascension Parish, they are being bulldozed to make room for profit. This is hate in plain sight!

When leaders allow the destruction of sacred, historic ground without conversation, consultation, or care, it tells us that our history is disposable — that our pain and pride are not worth preserving.

The community now faces the heartbreaking reality that once the bulldozers leave, the physical evidence of generations of resilience will be gone forever. Tomorrow will be even sadder, because the land markings — the traces of our ancestors’ lives — will be erased.

I am calling on parish and state leaders, historic preservation organizations, and the public to stand up against this destruction. The group urges Louisiana to invest in protecting — not erasing — the places that tell the true story of who we are.” -Ashley Gaignard of Rural Roots Louisiana

10/19/2025

If you are a postdoctoral scholar, independent researcher, or creative writer, consider applying to our Scholars-in-Residence Program. It offers long and short-term fellowships designed to support and encourage research and writing on the history, politics, literature, and culture of the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora. Fellows receive a stipend, research support, and more. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2025.
https://www.nypl.org/about/fellowships-institutes/schomburg-center-scholars-in-residency/application?utm_campaign=schomburgsocialmedia&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Photo: Lisa Herndon