Penn Center is a 50-acre National Historic Landmark District in Beaufort County, South Carolina that was founded in 1862 by Quaker and Unitarian missionaries from Pennsylvania as the first school in the Southern United States for African Americans. It’s located on St. Helena Island, in the heart of Gullah culture, and is surrounded by marshes and live oaks.
The Penn Center campus includes 19 buildings, including:
- Brick Church, Darrah Hall, Gantt Cottage, Old burial grounds, Nature Trail, and Chowan Creek.
- The Penn Center has served as a school, community center, and retreat for Civil Rights leaders. It was a major facilitator for civil rights and social justice activism, and was one of the few places in the Jim Crow South where interracial organizations could meet without legal action.
- Today, the Penn Center is a community center with a museum dedicated to the history of St. Helena Island, Penn Center, and the Gullah people.