Newly-formed Upstate Preservation Trust aims to save overlooked sites

Sam Hayes has a passion for preserving Upstate history, and buildings and property are a tangible way to do it. So he began his own nonprofit, Upstate Preservation Trust, to stop time and vandals from destroying land, buildings, cemeteries or even entire districts.

The group issued its first list of endangered buildings, and said it hopes to protect them through fundraising, education and community involvement. Hayes said the buildings UPT chose are fairly small, but historically priceless pieces of Upstate history.

They are:

Edwards Mill, a grist mill in Taylors from the early 1800s. The original owner, Joseph Edwards, was a Virginia native and veteran of the American Revolution. In 1787, Edwards and his family moved to South Carolina to farm the surrounding 125 acres. UPT is hoping to work with the current owners to preserve the land and property and save it from decay and vandalism.
Mulberry Chapel Methodist Church, a post-Civil War African American church in Cherokee County. The chapel was built in 1880 and has a cemetery with graves that could contain former slaves. It still has some of its original gothic design cues and stained glass intact.
New Hope School House, a historically Black school in Clemson. It dates to the turn of the 20th century and closed in the 1950s. The building was donated to the Clemson Chapter of the South Carolina Council on Human Relations and became Clemson Child Development Center, a facility focusing on child care for underprivileged children. It has been unused since 2006.
Old Bethel CME Church, the oldest remaining African American church left in Oconee County. Former slaves founded the church in 1876 and it remained in use until 1950. The adjacent cemetery has more than 30 documented headstones dating back to the late 19th century and early 20th.

In the coming weeks, UPT plans on releasing videos discussing the history of each building and the work needed to preserve them.

“The four properties we have listed are a diverse set of places that represent important elements of our history in the Upstate,” Hayes said. “The threat of losing them is all too real and would be a huge blow to the history of the communities we live in.”

The group hopes to partner with other groups like Upstate Historic Preservation Society to preserve New Hope School House and move it to a safer location.

“We educate people about the history that’s in their back yard,” Hayes said. It’s the group’s hope that through agreements, fundraisers and volunteers, they’ll preserve more parts of Greenville for future generations.

Hayes also hopes to start a project to highlight and save historic LGBTQ+ sites around the Upstate with the help of Furman University. They plan on collecting information from archival research and oral history and report the results later this year.

“We want to tell the normal history, but also mention the history of underrepresented groups,” he said. For more information about Upstate Preservation Trust, visit www.preserveupstate.org.