The Liberty County Historical Society wants to help the county with building its new park on the Isle of Wight.

Members of the organization presented county commissioners with a check for $5,000 to go toward costs at the Susie King Taylor Freedom Park at Jones Creek, and commissioners also agreed to apply to be included on the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad to Freedom.

“We are here this evening to say thank you, thank you, thank you to the Liberty County Board of Commissioners for unanimously voting to have the Susie King Taylor Freedom Park on the Isle of Wight,” said Hermina Glass-Hill of the Liberty County Historical Society.  

The organization’s mission, Glass-Hill said, is to cultivate an interest in the history of Liberty County, make the general public aware of the historical role of Liberty County, to seek out points and places of historical interest and to preserve and restore those places where possible.

Taylor, who escaped from slavery on the Isle of Wight, was taught to read and write in a secret school and later taught other Blacks how to read and write. After the Civil War, she opened a school for the children of freed slaves in Savannah.

Her 1902 memoir, “Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers,” is the only such known work from an African-American woman in the Civil War.

The donation, Glass-Hill said, goes toward preserving shared history and follows the Historical Society’s mission of “seeking out points and places of historical interest in Liberty County and for restoring and preserving a place where a 13-year-old African American Gullah Geechee girl tested the boundaries and definitions of freedom and liberty and justice for all when she escaped the bondages of slavery on April 13, 1862.”

Glass-Hill also recounted the efforts of civil rights pioneers both locally and nationally and the role Liberty County played in the civil rights movement.

“This history is most significant and Liberty County plays a significant and important role in this transformational change in American history,” she said.

To be eligible for designation on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, there has to be evidence of a slave escaping to freedom. Glass-Hill said Taylor’s memoir provides that documentation.

“To have a designation by the National Park Service will elevate our role and our significance,” she said. “It will bring people to Liberty County. There are numerous benefits.”

County commissioners approved a contract with R.L. Construction for $818,000 in January for renovation and improvements at the park.