Seashore Farmers' Lodge 767 collection

The Seashore Farmers’ Lodge No. 767 was established as a fraternal society on May 5th, 1906 with Edward Wilder, Jr. serving as President, Alonzo Gilliard as Vice President, Levola Whaley as Financial Secretary and Benjamin Lafayette as Treasurer. The Lodge is located in the historically Gullah Geechee community of Sol Legare on James Island, named after antebellum plantation owner Solomon Legare, and settled by formerly enslaved Africans and African Americans shortly after the end of the Civil War. Lodge members were small farmers and all the founding members were residents of Sol Legare. In 1915 construction of a two-story rectangular building began on land belonging to lodge member Henry Wallace. Additional lodge members, including Mose McNeal, Eddie Singleton and Lawrence Gilliard, assisted in the building’s construction.

The Seashore Farmers’ Lodge No. 767 was co-ed from its inception and was also a part of the International Farmers' Liberty Union Justice (IFLUJ). Like most fraternal societies the Lodge’s rituals were secret, including a secret handshake and members had to be initiated. Meetings were held on the second Monday of the month. Along with the church, the Lodge served as a center of community activities for Sol Legare. As a part of its creed lodge organizers provided support for its members, including assistance in the event of crop failures, health and life insurance and support for sick members and their families. When a resident of the community died, a drum was sounded from the lodge to notify the community; lodge members served as pall bearers, assisted the bereaved and issued death benefits for active members in good standing. Lodge members also provided assistance, recreation and education for the extended Sol Legare community including raising money for the local Sunday School and hosting Vacation Bible School.

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s the Lodge also helped found several mutual aid societies across the South Carolina Lowcountry. It was considered the mother lodge to other IFLUJ lodges in the area and participated in Lowcountry wide lodge events. Over time the farming activities became less important and community and recreation activities increased. In addition to Saturday picture shows, which attracted black people from beyond Sol Legare, ice cream and cake fundraisers were held on Sundays and holiday celebrations, which included drumming, dancing and feasts, were also central to lodge activities. The Harbor Pavilion opened on nearby Mosquito Beach in 1953 and much of the recreation that had once taken place at the Lodge relocated there.

By the 1980’s the Lodge had over 300 members. However, the building sustained damage in 1989 during hurricane Hugo and most of the Lodge’s records were lost. Membership is considered a family tradition and many families pay dues for relatives who longer live in Sol Legare and are not active in the Lodge. Of the three other black lodges that once existed on James Island, the Seashore Farmers' Lodge No. 767 is the only one that remains.

Efforts to restore the Lodge in the late 1990’s proved unsuccessful and the building continued to sustain damage as a result of multiple natural disasters. In 2006, the Seashore Farmers' Lodge Restoration Project commenced led by Corine “Corie” Hipp, 5th generation Sol Legare resident Ernest Parks and then James Island Town Council member and 4th generation Sol Legare resident William “Cubby” Wilder. In 2007, the Seashore Farmers' Lodge No 767 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Town of James Island awarded a $50,000 grant to assist in the restoration of the Lodge due, in part, to the efforts of Council member Wilder. Circa 2009, the Concerned Citizens of Sol Legare Foundation was formed by members of the volunteer restoration project as a community based non-profit. The focus of the Foundation was public education, back to school assistance, home improvement, community clean-ups, death services, hosting an annual picnic and overseeing the continued restoration of the Lodge.

The volunteer restoration committee, additional grants and donations, community support and volunteer hours all contributed to the restoration process, the physical portion of which began in February 2009 led by local contractor Michael Riffert and culminated in the spring of 2011. On April 16, 2011 the lodge reopened to the public as the Seashore Farmers' Lodge Museum and Cultural Center.

Sources: Concerned Citizens of Sol Legare, approx. 2009, box 1, folder 3, Seashore Farmers' Lodge 767 Collection, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2006, box 1, folder 7, Seashore Farmers' Lodge 767 Collection, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.

Seashore Farmers' Lodge Museum (pamphlet), 2011, box 2, folder 5, Seashore Farmers' Lodge 767 Collection, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.