Gantt Cottage

The original Gantt Cottage located on the campus of Penn School, now known as Penn Center, was named after the ex-enslaved Hastings Gantt, who donated the original tract of land for Penn School to Laura Towne. It was destroyed by fire around 1940. The current house, built by students, is a replacement. Mr. Gantt was a businessman and politician. He served in the South Carolina Legislature as a representative from Beaufort during the Reconstruction period. During the 1960’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed at Gantt. Penn Center was one of the few places in the south where bi-racial groups could meet. Planning for the great Civil Rights “March on Washington” took place here as well as the writing of the "I Have a Dream" speech. ^[3][4][5][6]

Penn School Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Gantt Cottage
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Nearest city	St. Helena Island, South Carolina
Coordinates	32.38830°N 80.57530°W / 32.38830; -80.57530
Area	47 acres (19 ha)
Built	1855
NRHP reference No.	74001824
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 9, 1974[1]
Designated NHLD	December 2, 1974[2]

Gallery

^[7]

• 
  Looking from the Dining Room into the Living Room
• 
  Gantt Cottage
• 
  Gantt Cottage Exterior

See also

• Reconstruction Era National Monument
• Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor
• List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Beaufort County, South Carolina

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. "Penn School Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
3. National Archives and Records Administration. (2017). South Carolina SP Penn Center Historic District. National Archives and Records Administration. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118997169
4. Penn Center Historic District. (n.d.). Penn Center Walking Tour. http://npshistory.com/publications/reer/penn-center-walking-tour.pdf
5. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. (n.d.). African American Historic Places in South Carolina. Home | SC Department of Archives and History. https://scdah.sc.gov/
6. Power, T. J. (1993). Martin Luther King, Jr., The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Penn Center 1964-1967. Home | SC Department of Archives and History. https://scdah.sc.gov/
7. Historic American Buildings Survey, C. (1933) Penn School Historic District, Benezet House, 1 mile South of Frogmore, Route 37, St Helena Island, Frogmore, Beaufort County, SC. South Carolina Beaufort County Frogmore, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sc0774/.