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21-22 Jamestown
N 34° 12.817 W 079° 36.699
17S E 627894 N 3786713
African American community which flourished for 70 years.
Waymark Code: WM2P93
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2007
Views: 42
JAMESTOWN This African American Community which flourished here for 70 years, has its origins in a 105-acre tract bought in 1870 by former slave Ervin James (1815-1872). James, determined to own his own farm instead of being dependent on sharecropping or tenant farming, bought the tract from Eli McKissick and Mary Poston. His five sons and a son-in-law divided the tract into individual farms.Between 1870 and 1940 Ervin James's descendants and other area families purchased additional land, creating a rural community of about 250 residents. Among its institutions were the Jamestown Cemetery, dating from its earliest days; the Summerville Methodist Church (renamed Bowers Chapel), established about 1880; and the Summerville Elementary School, built in 1926.ERECTED BY THE JAMESTOWN REUNION COMMITTEE, 2006
Marker Name: 21-22 Jamestown
![](/images/spacer.gif) Marker Location: Roadside
![](/images/spacer.gif) Type of Marker: Historic Site
![](/images/spacer.gif) Marker number: 21-22
![](/images/spacer.gif) County: Florence
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