Mather Cottage

Mercer University

Quick Facts

Location:

Beaufort, South Carolina

Significance:

This is the site of the Mather School, a school for formerly enslaved people established during Reconstruction in 1868.

Designation:

The site is a part of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.

MANAGED BY:

Technical Collage of the Lowcountry

In 1868 Rachel Mather purchased twenty acres of land with a cottage for eighty-seven dollars. The cottage acted as Rachel Mather’s home, and later became known as Mather Cottage. Rachel Mather used the land to start an orphans’ home and school in Beaufort. Her mission was to provide Black women and girls a quality education at Mather School. The cottage sat in northern portion of the campus. After buying the land Rachel Mather bought two unused Army barracks, while waiting for them to arrive Mather taught from the cottage. As the years went by Mather Cottage was used as the home of the principal and treasurer. After the transfer of the campus to the state of South Carolina in 1968 the cottage was torn down. Today the space where the cottage once was is a parking lot.