Brutontown Descendants Heritage Initiative
Protecting Ancestral Burial Grounds. Upholding Descendant Rights.
Embedded Files
A preservation, documentation, and stewardship effort led by descendants in response to the 2025 desecration of the
Brutontown Cemetery. An initiative of Access to Change, Inc.
What is Brutontown?
Brutontown is a historic African American community and burial ground in Greenville County, South Carolina, with documented use dating back to 1818. For generations, this land served as a sacred resting place for Black families whose labor, faith and resilience helped shape the region.
Beneath this soil lie mothers and fathers, elders and veterans — people whose lives carry lineage, memory, and legacy. Their presence is not symbolic. It is historical, physical, and documented.
What happened in 2025
In 2025, physical disturbance was discovered within the boundaries of Brutontown Cemetery. Headstones were damaged. Soil was disrupted. Evidence of burial ground interference became visible.
What initially appeared to be an isolated incident revealed something deeper: decades of unexamined encroachment, neglect, and redevelopment pressure on a known burial landscape.
This discovery marked a turning point.
Why Descendants Are Leading This Work
For years, Brutontown existed in public memory without sustained protection.
The 2025 desecration activated descendant engagement — not as a protest, but as stewardship.
Descendants began documenting site conditions, reviewing land records, analyzing redevelopment history, and connecting historical facts that had never been examined together.
Where institutional safeguards had failed, responsibility shifted to those with ancestral ties.
Our Commitment
The Brutontown Descendants Heritage Initiative exists to:
Uncover and preserve historical truth
Protect ancestral burial grounds from further harm
Document burial boundaries, land use, and redevelopment impacts
Restore dignity to those laid to rest
Pursue accountability through lawful and ethical means
Ensure neglect and encroachment are neither hidden nor repeated
The work is rooted in preservation, responsibility, and respect — for the ancestors, for living descendants, and for future generations.
Explore the Full Story
Follow the documented narrative of Brutontown
Brutontown History
How this land became sacred
Redevelopment & Encroachment
How protection eroded over time
Modern Desecration
What changed in 2025
Descendant Stewardship
Who is acting — and why
Preservation & the Future
What comes next
This is Not Just History
The discovery of desecration did not create this history — it revealed it.
What happens next will determine whether the ancestral burial grounds are treated as expendable land, or as sacred sites worthy of protection, truth, and care.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse