News Release

Reconstruction Era National Historic Network Announces the Inclusion of Seven New Sites

The International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of seven sites recognized for inclusion in the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network in June 2025

International African American Museum / Sahar Colston-Hardy

News Release Date: June 4, 2025

Contact: Nathan Betcher

Contact: Chris Barr

Contact: Laura Waller

BEAUFORT, SC - The National Park Service announces the addition of seven new sites to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This national network connects sites across the country who provide education, interpretation and research related to the period of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Era (1861-1900) is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood periods in American History and includes stories of freedom, education and self-determination. 

The new community sites added to the network this quarter include:

• The International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. The IAAM interprets the African American journey from Africa through the diaspora, and its galleries feature prominently figures and places associated with Reconstruction in the region. 

• Tolson’s Chapel is a historic African American church and cemetery in Sharpsburg, MD that was home to a school between 1866 to 1899.

• Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida traces its origins to the Cookman Institute, which was founded in Jacksonville in 1872, and was the first institute for higher learning for African Americans in the state of Florida. 

• The Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy is an interpretive museum and education center being developed in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania home and law office of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and his confidante Lydia Hamilton Smith. 

• Based on Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Indian Territory Museum of Black Creek Freedmen History preserves and interprets the unique history and cultural experiences of Black Creeks in the Indian territories during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. 

• The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is an NPS site located in Calabasas, California, and has recently launched a program to interpret the story of the Ballard Family. John Ballard was born enslaved in Kentucky, and during Reconstruction he and his family became some of the first Black homesteaders in the Santa Monica Mountains, where John became a prominent leader in the Reconstruction era African American community around Los Angeles.

• Whitney Plantation is a historical sugarcane, indigo, and rice plantation in Wallace, Louisiana that operated from 1752-1975.  During Reconstruction, Whitney Plantation operated as a wage labor business, employing those that had been formerly enslaved.  Currently, Whitney Plantation is restoring the Plantation Store, a legacy of the Reconstruction era.

“We are very excited to work with these sites which are being added to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.” said Park Superintendent Laura Waller. “They represent a wide variety of the types of institutions engaged in preserving the story of Reconstruction around the country.”

The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law on March 12, 2019, outlined the creation of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. This network, managed by Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, includes over 100 sites and programs that are affiliated with the Reconstruction Era, but not necessarily managed by the National Park Service. This network is nationwide and works to provide opportunities for visitors to connect to the stories of Reconstruction. For more information about the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/reconstruction/network.htm.