Phillips Community secures protection of historical landmark

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – The Lowcountry Land Trust and the Phillips Community announce that they’ve secured a historic landmark.

The Lowcountry Land Trust helped acquire the protection of the property by receiving funds from the Charleston County Greenbelt Program and the Preservation Society of Charleston. It is now turned over to the Phillips Community, the only African-American settlement community listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with the community, to be asked by the community to assist them in this project,” Sam Seawall, community lands director of Lowcountry Land Trust, said. “This is a really important site within the community and the county. It’s just an honor and a privilege to been able to work on this project and play a role in it.”

The Phillips Community was established when formerly enslaved people settled on the land around the 1870s. Since then, the area is still populated by family members whose ancestors owned the plots of property, passing down from generation to generation.

“Growing up, we always knew this tomb was here, but we didn’t know who,” Richard Habersham, president of Phillips Community Association, said. “From the last 25 years we started doing the history of Phillips. Then we got into who’s at this tomb and what the importance of this tomb was to not just Phillips, but to Mount Pleasant, the state, and the country.”

The Rutledge Tomb sits in Mount Pleasant within the Phillips Community. It is where Dr. John Rutledge, the original owner of Phillips plantation, is buried. He is also the father of Edward and John Rutledge Jr., who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

“A lot of people didn’t know you had two founding fathers that were born on the Phillips plantation,” Habersham said. “And another thing, John Rutledge was good friends with George Washington. Yes, they were good friends.”

Officials said The Warren Lasch Conservation Center at Clemson University will spearhead the restoration project. It will become accessible along the Mount Pleasant trail near Phillips’ Community, becoming an opportunity to learn about the history of the land and Lowcountry.

“This will tell a story about John Rutledge – tell a story about Phillips,” Habersham said. “Also, if you take a look out here, you don’t have too much in Phillip. Our long-term plan is tourism and this would be one of our draws to bring tourism to the community.”

The community expects to begin discussions about the restoration project next week.