The Penn School Historic District Campus consists of the grounds of the Penn Center, a historic school founded in 1862, located on Saint Helena Island in South Carolina, United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1974."South Carolina: Penn Center (U.S. National Park Service)." National Park Service. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.nps.gov/places/south-carolina-penn-center.htm.

The total of 400 acres owned by the Penn Center, formerly the Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agricultural School, has remained almost unchanged over the more than century since Penn's founding. The biologically rich landscape and farmland of Penn Center's campus is dotted with marshes and creeks,SEABROOK, CHARLES. "The Beloved Land." In The World of the Salt Marsh: Appreciating and Protecting the Tidal Marshes of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast, 311–25. University of Georgia Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46nj51.23. and is home to a variety of Live Oaks, Yellow Jasmine, Palmettoes, and Wisteria.Fields, Steven E, Harriet Speer, Joshua S Castleberry, Michael  W Hook, Rebecca Hunsucker, and David M Lambert. "A LISTING OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF SAINT HELENA ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA WITH EMPHASIS ON HISTORIC PENN CENTER ." Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science , 2007. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=jscas.

Of the 400 acres, 47 of them were developed for use by Penn School. The buildings of Penn Center's campus span over a century of heritage and architecture. Some buildings are even unchanged in their use. The buildings of the Penn Center campus are unified by their purpose, having served the black Gullah community of Saint Helena, South Carolina.National Archives and Records Administration. (2017).South Carolina SP Penn Center Historic District. National Archives and Records Administration. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118997169

Organization

Penn Center is divided in two main halves: The East campus and the West campus separated by Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., also known as Route 45.

The East campus is composed mostly of residential buildings and dormitories. Notable buildings on the East campus include the Brick Baptist Church, the Emory S. Campbell Dining Hall, and the Green Learning Center Rosenwald School.

The West campus is composed mostly of School buildings, Community Buildings, and Farm Buildings. Notable buildings on the west campus include the Frissell Community House, Darrah Hall, and the Cope Industrial Shop. The majority of Penn Center's campus is located on its West campus with a large vineyard located on the path to the far end of west campus. The western boundary of West Campus ends at a cove of Capers Creek, a distributary of the Atlantic Ocean where the Retreat House and Dock is located.

Dormitory and Residence Buildings

Penn Center Historic District. (n.d.). Penn Center Walking Tour. http://npshistory.com/publications/reer/penn-center-walking-tour.pdf Hampton House Built in 1904, the Hampton House was dedicated by name, in January 1905, after the Hampton Institute. The Hampton Institute is a historically black industrial school in Hampton, Virginia, and served as a model for Penn School's change into Penn Normal, even sponsoring Penn Center between 1901 and 1917."History." Penn Center. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.penncenter.com/history-timeline. Hampton was designed to house two resident teachers with two more rooms for guests. Early principals of Penn - Rose Cooley and Grace House - lived in Hampton and entertained guests such as hosting tea parties, even using the house for weddings. Hampton House is surrounded by a field of Oak Trees and Yuccas plants. Palmetto and Pine trees were planted around the house by Penn students."Penn School Papers, 1862-2005 and Undated (Bulk 1862–1949)." finding. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03615/. The house today accommodates overnight guests of Penn Center. Benezet House

Benezet House, also known as Benezette House, is an historic dormitory located on the campus of Penn Center. It was built in 1905, completed in March 1906, and named after Frenchman, Anthony Benezet. The female teachers and boarding students of Penn took residence in Benezet, with the first group moving in in May 1906. Female students had to live in Benezet before they graduated, as this was the spot for home economics classes for the female students. Today, Benezet House is used to house overnight guests. Cedar Cottage Cedar Cottage was built in 1907 as a residence for Penn's single female teachers, as well as for use as the nurse's office and dispensary. Originally named Carpenter's Cottage, built by and for Penn School's first carpenter, Mr. Stevens., it was moved across Penn's campus and became known as Cope Cottage between 1912 and 1924, it is now named after the abundant cedar trees of St. Helena Island. In 1952, Cedar Cottage was used to establish the first children's nursery and day care in Beaufort County. Jasmine Cottage Jasmine Cottage was built in 1911 by the carpentry students of Penn Center and is named after the Yellow Jasmine flower. It was designed and built to house teachers and their families. Jasmine Cottage was a part of the Better Homes Demonstration of October 1922, a national initiative, of which the chapter on the island was spearheaded by the school's assistant principle; Grace Bigelow HouseHutchison, Janet. "Better Homes and Gullah." Agricultural History 67, no. 2 (1993): 104-106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3744052..Jasmine Cottage won the Third Place Prize.

Pine Grove Cottage Pine Grove Cottage, built in 1921, was constructed by Penn students under the instruction of Mr. Benjamin Boyd, who taught carpentry at Penn from 1919 to 1948. It originally was the superintendent's cottage, while today it is used for housing guests visiting Penn Center.

Lathers Memorial Dormitory The Lathers Memorial Dormitory, named for former teacher Agnes Lathers, was built in 1922. It was dedicated May of that year of which graduates of Penn attended. Lathers was originally a men's dormitory, but this building is used today as the Administration offices. Arnett House Arnett House was built in 1937 by students and local residents, it was designed to accommodate up to twenty-four people and was used to house students and visiting teachers from South Carolina State University. Arnett House is named in honor of Dr. Trevor Arnett, and has been used to house conferences and conference guests since the 30's and into today.

Gantt Cottage

The Gantt Cottage on Penn's campus today was built in 1940 by the students of Penn as a replacement to the original cottage. Gantt Cottage was named after the ex-enslaved Hastings Gantt, who donated the land that constitutes Penn's campus to Laura Towne. The original Gantt Cottage was used for teachers and their families and was as part of the 1939 Better Homes Demonstration of which it won Second Place Prize before it burned down around 1940.

During the 1960's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed at the new Gantt Cottage. There, planning for the great Civil Rights "March on Washington" took place as well as the writing of the "I Have a Dream" speech.Power, T. J. (1993). Martin Luther King, Jr., The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Penn Center 1964-1967. Home | SC Department of Archives and History. https://scdah.sc.gov/

Orchard Cottage Orchard Cottage, built in 1942, was designed as a teacher's residence. It has also been utilized in recent years as a print shop, but today is not currently in use. Retreat House and Dock

The Retreat House and Dock were built in 1968, designed with the intention for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to use the new house in place of the smaller Gantt Cottage. The Retreat House was built on the site of the former Palmetto Cottage which was built in 1920 but was destroyed by fire in the 1950's.South Carolina Department of Archives and History. (n.d.). African American Historic Places in South Carolina. Home | SC Department of Archives and History. https://scdah.sc.gov/ Dormitory and residence Buildings Gallery Historic American Buildings Survey, C. (1933) Penn School Historic District, Benezet House, 1 mile South of Frogmore, Route 37, St Helena Island, Frogmore, Beaufort County, SC. South Carolina Beaufort County Frogmore, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sc0774/.

School Buildings

Cope Industrial Shop

Originally known as the Boys Industrial Building, The Cope Industrial Shop was built in 1912 following a hurricane after 1911 and financed by the General Education Board as a space for the physical labor industrial and trade classes of Penn School such as black-smithery, basketry, carpentry, cobbling, harness-making, and wheelwrighting. The construction provided relief for Islanders. Cope Industrial Shop is named after Francis Cope who was a Philadelphia Quaker and who served as a trustee to Penn School. The industrial shop was dedicated as Cope on the 50th anniversary of Penn School.

Today, Cope houses the York W. Bailey Museum, which was dedicated in April 1999 in honor of Dr. York W. Bailey who was a graduate of Penn School who studied medicine at Howard University before returning to Saint Helena Island. The museum contains historic artifacts, documents, and photographs related of Penn School and the Sea Islands as well as an resident artist gallery.

Emory S. Campbell Dining Hall Originally built for use as a laundry in 1917, and only called "Laundry", it was in the 1940's that the building became a Dining Hall. While still used for Laundry, the female students learned home economics within the building. The original Dining Hall on Penn Center's campus had been abandoned and demolished. With the change, the Laundry eventually bore the name Emory S. Campbell Dining Hall honoring Emory S. Campbell, the Executive Director of Penn Center from 1980 until 2001. The dining hall was expanded in 1960 and then renovated in 1999. Green Learning Center Rosenwald School Originally known as the Lands End "Rosenwald" School, the school was built in the 1920's via the combined efforts of Saint Helena Islanders and the Rosenwald Fund Committee. The school moved to its current site in 1998. This move was funded by Dennis O. & Katherine F. Green, and the school became known as the Dennis O. & Katherine F. Green Learning Center. The Learning Center is used today by the Program for Academic and Cultural Enrichment (PACE).

Butler Building Built in 1931 by students of Penn School, the Butler building commemorated Miss Francis Butler who died shortly after she began her career as a teacher at Penn in 1904. During the 1960's, the Peace Corps and the Conscientious Objectors Program used Butler's second floor to house conscientious objectors of the Vietnam War as they did community service in the place of being enlisted.

Butler Building has also housed the Laura Towne Library which was home to memorabilia and artefacts of Penn School, the Sea Islands, and Gullah Culture. The exterior walkway used to connect the Butler Building to Founders Hall before that building's demolition in 1966. School Buildings Gallery Historic American Buildings Survey, C. & Bailey, Y. W. (1933) Penn School Historic District, Butler Building, SC Route 37, 1 mile South of Frogmore, St. Helena Island, Frogmore, Beaufort County, SC. South Carolina Beaufort County Frogmore, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sc0776/.

Community Buildings

Brick Baptist Church