A fresh look at one of Columbia’s most historic properties

After more than a year of renovations, the Mann-Simons Site, a historic home and property in downtown Columbia, is ready to reopen next week.

The site has statewide significance as a property owned by free blacks during the antebellum period. It was home to generations of one African American family for more than 125 years.

A decade-long investigation by Historic Columbia staff and volunteers has led to new discoveries and enhanced exhibits recently installed in the site’s museum. The exhibits include artifacts that were dug up on the property and new interactive panels inside the museum.

“A lot of people sometimes erroneously think that a museum or historic site opens and it’s done, that you can go there and 10 years later there’s the exact same stuff, the exact same story,” said John Sherrer, Historic Columbia’s director of cultural resources. Historic Columbia is the steward of the property, which is owned by the city of Columbia.

“They think that history is static, and that’s certainly not the case. We’re constantly learning, we’re constantly updating and we’re constantly asking questions,” Sherrer said.

Get a first look at the newly renovated Mann-Simons Site house museum Sept. 17 at the annual “Jubilee: Festival of Black History & Culture.” Now in its 38th year, the free outdoor festival brings artisans, dancers, musicians and storytellers together to celebrate South Carolina’s black history and culture.

Jubilee’s theme this year is “Coming Home” and marks the reopening of the Mann-Simons Site.

The property’s original owner, Celia Mann, was born into slavery in 1799 in Charleston. After acquiring her freedom, Mann moved to Columbia, where she earned a living as a midwife.

Although only one house stands today, the Mann-Simons Site was a collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated from at least 1843 until 1970. The property opened as a museum in 1978.

The museum renovation includes a combination of exhibited artifacts – both archaeological and family owned – along with informative wall panels, and audio and video displays. There also will be a meeting space in the basement for group discussions.

Historic Columbia conducted focus groups with people in the community asking what they wanted to see at the Mann-Simons Site, director Robin Waites said.

“We had 300 people walk through and asked them questions. We found they were interested in connecting the past to present and telling positive stories of the black community.”

A new component of the museum is the emphasis on the individual inhabitants of the property throughout the years, Waites said.

“I think it gives it a more human feel, that these were the people who actually lived here, and here are some of the things they did, the objects they used, the visions they had for this place,” she said.

Integral to learning more about the day-today lives of the family was the work of Jakob Crockett, who spearheaded an archaeological study of the Mann-Simons site.

“We found tens of thousands of artifacts. If it was made in the nineteenth or twentieth century, we probably found a fragment of it,” Crockett said.

Some of the findings included the remnants of a lunch counter operated by Celia Mann’s grandson John Lucius Simons Sr. from 1891 until it burned down in 1909.

“We know it was likely a small, walk-up affair with inexpensive goods like pins, ammunition, marbles, in addition to food,” Crockett said. “We know what was going on the day of the lunch counter fire: they were serving chicken.” (At the time, there was no municipal trash pick-up, so people buried trash in their yards. Among other items, the archeological dig turned up chicken bones.)

The archeological artifacts provide a more detailed picture of an entrepreneurial family who established businesses and manipulated their property to accommodate changing needs and aspirations.

In the front hallway of the Mann-Simons house, photos of the family line the walls. Cleveland Smith, a Richland 2 school district administrator, can point out four of his relatives.

“It makes me very proud and it makes me try to live up to their legacy,” he said.

As an educator, Smith said he’s excited about the new exhibits and their ability to provide new learning opportunities for the community.

“I see (the museum) being a focal point for history in Columbia,” he said. “People can come and learn about the rich history the city of Columbia has, and an African American family’s involvement in that history.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 8:02 AM with the headline "A fresh look at one of Columbia’s most historic properties."