Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative

Restoring Honor. Preserving Legacy. Protecting Sacred Ground.

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What happened at bruton town?

In August 2025, a devastating act of desecration and destruction occurred at the historic Bruton Town Cemetery — one of Greenville’s earliest African American burial grounds, located near downtown in the Bruton Town community.

The cemetery, which holds hundreds of known burials and is believed to contain as many as 1,000 interments, was severely damaged when equipment was used to clear and grade the land.

Nearly all visible headstones, markers, and boundary features were destroyed. The ground surface was deeply disturbed, trees and debris were pushed into piles, and the gates were demolished.

While the graves themselves remain beneath the surface, the site had long suffered from overgrowth and neglect due to years of inattention and lack of maintenance funding from the County. The recent clearing — rather than restoring the site — compounded that neglect with irreversible damage, erasing nearly every remaining marker that testified to its sacred history.

Bruton Town is a key part of Greenville’s Black history — a testament to the strength, resilience, and legacy of the families who built the surrounding community. Among the most influential figures connected to this sacred ground is Dr. John Henry Smith, a respected pastor and businessman who played a central role in shaping Greenville’s Black culture and economy. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Dr. Smith oversaw the burials of many community members at Bruton Town, including his parents, Butler and Janie Smith, and his first wife, Eliza. His leadership and service reflect the deep generational bonds and communal reverence that Bruton Town once represented.

For years, local preservationists and historical organizations had worked to bring awareness to the site’s significance. However, descendant families remained largely unaware and disconnected from these efforts, and the destruction occurred without their knowledge or consent.

In mid-October 2025, members of the Smith family learned of the devastation through news coverage and personal visits to the site. What they witnessed confirmed widespread surface damage and the near-total loss of markers across most of the property.

In response, the family took swift and decisive action to initiate a descendant-led effort under Access to Change, Inc., establishing the Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative — dedicated to uncovering truth, restoring dignity, and reestablishing descendant stewardship over this sacred site.

Our response: The bruton town descendants heritage initative

In the wake of the devastation and desecration of Bruton Town Cemetery, the Smith, Quinn, Ferrell, and Morigney families have taken decisive steps to ensure that this history is neither forgotten nor repeated. Out of their response was born the Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative — a movement dedicated to truth, restoration, and reconnection.

Established under Access to Change, Inc., this Initiative represents the first organized, descendant-led effort to bring accountability, documentation, and protection to Bruton Town Cemetery. Its purpose is both immediate and long-term: to restore dignity to those buried there and to rebuild the relationship between the living and the land that holds their legacy.

The Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative is grounded in four guiding commitments:

Document & Verify

To locate, identify, and record every possible burial through oral histories, maps, family records, and modern documentation methods.

Restore & Protect

To stabilize and safeguard the cemetery grounds as a sacred heritage site — preventing further disturbance and pursuing formal historic recognition.

Educate & Inform

To increase public awareness of Bruton Town's historical and cultural importance and to elevate the voices of the families whose ancestors rest there.

Rebuild & Reconnect

To reunite descendants with their shared heritage, create a permanent registry of those interred, and develop community partnerships that ensure long-term stewardship.

founding priorities (2025-2026)

The immediate goals of the Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative are to:

Document the damage and remaining evidence through photographs, witness statements, and historical research.
Identify and confirm descendants of those interred, beginning with the 300+ known burials and expanding toward a comprehensive registry
Host the first Descendants Kickoff Meeting to share findings, gather community input, and form working groups for research, preservation, and outreach.
Establish a preservation fund to support site cleanup, mapping, and protective measures.
Engage local, state, and national partners to ensure transparency, accountability, and long-term site protection.

These steps mark the beginning of a collective effort — one that will continue until the names, lives, and legacy of those buried at Bruton Town are remembered, respected, and restored.

calling all descendants & community witnesses

The Bruton Town Descendants Heritage Initiative is working to identify and confirm those interred at Bruton Town Cemetery — and to reconnect their living descendants to this sacred legacy.

More than 300 names have already been documented, but family oral histories and historical records suggest the total may exceed 1,000 burials. Each name represents a life, a story, and a contribution to Greenville’s Black history that deserves recognition and respect.

We invite anyone with ancestral or historical ties to Bruton Town to share what they know. Please email any available information to admin@accesstochange.org, including:

Ancestor’s First and Last Name
Birthdate and Death Date (if known)
Records or documentation that corroborate the burial (such as death certificates, obituaries, funeral programs, or family records)

You may also attach photos, notes, or other historical materials that help confirm the burial or family connection.

Whether you are a descendant, community witness, or custodian of local history — your knowledge matters. Together, we can ensure that every name is remembered, every family is represented, and every ancestor is honored.

SUPPORT THE WORK

Preserving sacred ground takes both heart and resources. Your contribution helps fund documentation, preservation, and the long-term protection of the historic Bruton Town Cemetery.

To honor this sacred work, we are asking that all initial donations be made by check, cashier's check, or money order.

Please make checks payable to Access to Change, Inc. and include in the memo line:

"Bruton Town – [Ancestor's First and Last Name]"

This intentional act connects each gift to the name and legacies we seek to restore — a written tribute to those who came before us.

Mail contributions to:

Bruton Town Heritage Fund

P.O. Box 1182

Greenville, SC 29602

Every contribution, large or small, helps uncover history, restore dignity, and ensure that the story of Bruton Town is never forgotten.

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