Town leaders say access to historic Camp Saxton land long overdue
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
One of the most significant moments in the nation’s march toward freedom happened here, along the banks of the Beaufort River.
For decades, it has also been largely out of reach.
Now, the Town of Port Royal is renewing its push to change that, calling for public access to the historic Emancipation Oak site at Camp Saxton, where thousands gathered on New Year’s Day 1863 to hear one of the first public readings in the South of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
The site sits within the grounds of the Naval Hospital Beaufort and has been closed to the public for more than 75 years.
In a resolution passed during their April 8 council meeting, town leaders asked the federal government to either transfer the land or grant a permanent easement so residents and visitors can access what they describe as one of the most important pieces of American history in Beaufort County.
“This is a place where history didn’t just happen. It changed the course of people’s lives,” Port Royal Mayor Kevin Phillips said.
More than a moment
On that day in 1863, an estimated crowd of 5,000 gathered beneath a grove of live oaks at what was then the John Joyner Smith plantation.
Union soldiers from the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, one of the first Black regiments to serve in the Civil War, stood in formation.
Newly freed men, women, and children joined them, along with free Black and white residents.
As the proclamation was read, the crowd broke into song.
“My Country, ’Tis of Thee” echoed across the riverfront.
Charlotte Forten, a young Black educator who witnessed the ceremony, later called it “the most glorious day this nation has yet seen.”
But Camp Saxton was more than the site of a single historic moment.
In the weeks and months that followed, it became a refuge for formerly enslaved people, including those freed during Union operations along the coast.
It was a place where freedom was not only declared, but lived, as families began to build new lives in the uncertain early days of emancipation.
A national site, behind a fence
Today, the land is part of the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, a federally designated network of sites that tell the story of the country’s transition from slavery to freedom.
But despite that designation, the Camp Saxton site remains largely inaccessible.
The reason is structural.
The land falls within the secured perimeter of the Naval Hospital, which opened in 1949, placing the historic site behind a federal installation and limiting public access to occasional, scheduled tours.
For many in Port Royal, that reality has long been difficult to reconcile.
A legal path, not a construction project
Town leaders are clear that this is not about building something new, but about changing who can access what already exists.
Through its resolution, Port Royal is asking for one of two outcomes: either a transfer of the land from the federal government to the town, or a permanent easement that would allow public access while the property remains federally owned.
Because the site is controlled by the U.S. government, the town is also urging South Carolina’s congressional delegation to advocate on its behalf, elevating the effort beyond a local request to a federal decision.
Framing the issue as one of civil rights and historical justice, town officials say access to the site should not be limited, especially as the country approaches its 250th anniversary.
Not the first attempt
This is not the first time Port Royal has asked for access.
Town leaders previously raised the issue during discussions leading up to the creation of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in 2017, but the effort did not result in a change.
Now, with renewed local momentum and outside support, officials say they believe it is time to try again.
Town Manager Van Willis said the latest push came after outreach from a group offering to assist with the effort.
“I think it’s worth pursuing once again,” Willis said.
More than a tree
Despite its name, historians say the original “Emancipation Oak” may no longer be standing.
But for those advocating for access, that is not the point.
What matters is the ground itself.
The same stretch of land that once held a plantation worked by enslaved people became a Union encampment, then a gathering place where freedom was publicly declared, and later a community for those learning how to live in it.
Today, it sits inside a federal facility, visible in history but largely inaccessible in reality.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.