Historic Charleston Foundation is proud to support and collaborate with grassroots preservation efforts throughout Charleston County, working alongside dedicated community members and partners to advocate for the protection of historic African American communities.
It’s easy to get caught up in the front-page projects happening downtown—developments like Union Pier are dramatic and dominate the headlines of local papers and news outlets. While advocacy targeting these projects is critically important, in many ways the tip of the preservation spear has shifted away from the peninsula of Charleston.
Historic African American communities throughout Charleston County are facing a mounting threat of development and displacement. Established by freedman in the late 19th century, these “settlement communities” are cultural gems often occupied by the founders’ direct descendants in the original settlement patterns.
With support from HCF and other partners, settlement community leaders have mounted grassroots preservation efforts to save their communities. As a result, Charleston County now formally recognizes four historic districts: Ten Mile, Phillips Community, Beefield Community, and Hamlin. The official designation protects these communities from over-development through the oversight of the Charleston County Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)–ensuring that changes to the community demonstrate “consistency with the prevailing patterns of existing lots, densities, spacing of homes, lot sizes and shapes, and other characteristics of the Historic District that the Historic Preservation Commission deems applicable.”
However, more work needs to be done to ensure that these communities are not displaced. To this end, HCF supports the creation of settlement area zoning overlay districts, where additional standards are applied within a defined boundary, regardless of the underlying zoning district, to protect the settlement patterns.
On March 22, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Charleston County Zoning and Planning staff will be meeting with the Ten Mile Community to discuss the potential for an overlay district in their community. The meeting will take place at the Ten Mile Community Center at 3926 Seafood Road, Awendaw, SC 29429. Historic Charleston Foundation will attend and support the community’s efforts.
