PROMISED LAND, S.C. (AP) - Down Highway 10 toward McCormick, just a few miles outside the bustling Uptown Greenwood, is a community rich with history.
Some call it Promised Land, others call it home.
“When I think of Promised Land, I think of Black folks having a place to call home,” said Greenwood County Councilwoman Edith Childs, who represents the community.
Promised Land is an African American community created by former slaves in the aftermath of the Civil War. Heirs of Samuel Marshall, a white plantation owner, sold the land to the South Carolina Land Commission for $10 per acre. The commission divided up the land into 50 lots and sold them to African Americans.
Many of those in Promised Land are longtime residents.
If you ask Bernice Norman how long she has lived in Promised Land, she will give a short answer: “All my life.”
“I grew up in Promised Land,” she said.
Norman, who just turned 86 years old, said her parents also lived in Promised Land most of their lives.
“I have always enjoyed living in the Promised Land because most people in the Promised Land know each other,” Norman said.
She said younger people have moved to the area but there are still a number of older folks living in the community. She said many in the community attend either Mt. Zion AME Church or Cross Roads Baptist Church. Cross Roads Baptist Church purchased its property in 1892, according to information obtained through Greenwood County’s GIS system.
“Most of the people got to know one another through the church,” Norman said. “I grew up in a very religious family and they believed in attending church.”
Norman, who grew up in a family of eight, said her father was a farmer.
“We just enjoyed being together,” Norman said.
She said she was proud of the achievements of the community organization which included building and staffing a fire department.
As a child, she said she had to walk to school - Promised Land Elementary when it was a two-room school behind Cross Road Baptist Church. When it was time for her to go to Brewer High School, she had to find a way to get to school.
“A man that bought a bus and your parents had to pay him a little something for you to ride to Brewer High School every week on the bus,” Norman said.
She said it was difficult because people did not have a lot of money back then.
Some residents of Promised Land live across Greenwood County’s border with Abbeville County. Over the years, efforts have been made to annex the properties that fall on the Abbeville County side.
“I feel that they haven’t been getting any service from Abbeville County,” Donald “Boot” Robinson, Greenwood County’s first Black county councilman, told the Index-Journal in 1980. “It’s a taxation without representation.”
Robinson, who served two terms on council during the late 1970s, also was instrumental in securing water lines for Promised Land.
Last year, Promised Land lost two longtime advocates. Robinson died in June and longtime Greenwood County School District 50 board member Claude Wright died in September. Wright had been an active member of the Promised Land Association.
“Promised Land - those are some good folks,” Childs said.
Childs estimated that 80-85% of residents own their homes.
“It was an opportunity for them,” Childs said.
Childs said she would like to see the community do something with the old school building.
“It was given for them to grow,” Childs said.
In 1999, District 50 deeded the 3.33-acre property to the Promised Land Association.
Some progress has been made on renovating the school building but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused things to shut down.
“We had set up meetings so that they could come out and talk with the community,” Promised Land Association president Jan Williams said. “But again, the pandemic came up and we agreed to hold off until a later date.”
In July, Tonya Haddock, managing member of Cadence Development LLC, presented a plan to buy the Promised Land School and restore it to its original condition but for new uses such as housing.
Williams said the association would like to see it used as a community center that would provide activities for senior citizens and for after school programs.
“I was hoping that they could take that school and make something out of it,” Norman said. “It’s been there a long time.”
Williams said her organization, formed in 1977, has about 25 members.
In 2016, Greenwood County voters approved $66,326 for the construction of a pedestrian trail in the Promised Land community as part of the Capital Project Sales Tax initiative.
“We expect to have the CPST revenue for the Promised Land Walking Track in October 2021,” Josh Skinner, capital projects coordinator for Greenwood County, said in an email.
Skinner said bids for the project will most likely go out in August or September so that a contractor is ready to go when the funds come in.
The pedestrian trail would be 1,340 feet of walking path constructed around the Promised Land ballfield. It would be used for health and fitness particularly for seniors, the application for funding said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much of the progress the community was making toward renovating certain features of the area to be halted.
“At this time, nothing is going on because of COVID,” Williams said. “We are not even having meetings.”
Williams said the association had planned to have a day of fun but the pandemic caused that to be canceled.
She said the association hopes to get back to work when the pandemic is over.
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