NEWS RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT: Lillie C. McGill Project
Manager & Board Member
(843) 372-1599 (cell/text)
information@eppsmcgillfarmhouse.org
Historic Marker to be Unveiled at Epps-McGill Farmhouse
Saturday, October 7, 2023, at 10 am
Kingstree, SC — September 18, 2023 — In spite of African American sharecropping farmers rarely having opportunities to purchase the land they worked for many years, South Carolina farmers Weaver McGill and Margaret Singletary McGill surmounted the odds and became owners of the land they sharecropped on for decades in Kingstree, South Carolina! Join Epps-McGill Farmhouse and McGill and Associates, Inc. on Saturday, October 7, 2023, at 10 am for a public event to mark the unveiling of the historic marker recognizing the significance of the Farmhouse. The event will take place on the grounds of the Farmhouse at 679 Eastland Avenue, Kingstree, South Carolina and speakers will include Kingstree, Williamsburg County and South Carolina state elected officials, local clergy, Divine Nine organization representatives and other guests.
In September 2020, the Epps-McGill Farmhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places, as a surviving example of a vernacular structure that represents the evolution of agricultural society in Williamsburg County during the 20th century and the end of sharecropping in the second half of the 20th century. The structure’s significance is derived from the evolution of the house and farmland over the course of the 20th century which saw the rise of tobacco tenant farming and the eventual reduction of the farmland to its current footprint due to the changes in the agricultural economy. While the sharecropping system generally failed to produce its promised path to land ownership, the Epps-McGill Farmhouse stands out as a rare and important example of success, with
the purchase of the property by African American farmer Weaver McGill offering an unusual case within the broader regional history of sharecropping.
Sponsored by the Lambda Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s, the marker was created in recognition of the Epps-McGill Farmhouse being added to the National Register of Historic Places. The unveiling and dedication of this historic marker recognizes the story and significance of this national historic gem.
About McGill and Associates, Inc.
We are dedicated to the restoration and preservation of Epps-McGill Farmhouse in Kingstree, South Carolina and its heritage and history and educating the community at-large and the general public about the history of the property. Our educational efforts include farming and sharecropping processes, tools and the types of plants and crops that were a part of the property’s heritage throughout the 20th century. We are currently raising funds for the restoration and preservation of the Epps – McGill Farmhouse. More information about this historic property and our organization’s efforts is available on our website: www.eppsmcgillfarmhouse.org
