In September of 2021, a new generation of descendants of Charles Lawton Sr. gathered in Orangeburg South Carolina to celebrate the life of a family member. While there they visited the Lawton Homestead to offer prayers of thanksgiving for their ancestors. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the following months, they expressed their desire to enrich the Lawton legacy and pondered what could be done to preserve the house and land for future generations. The home has significance because it is one of the 40 homes located in the Treadwell Street Historic District, which was listed in the National Register September 20, 1985. The district provides significant information about the history of the African American community in Orangeburg in the early twentieth century. According to residents, this neighborhood was one of the most well-to-do African American neighborhoods in the city. All residents of Treadwell Street, as well as those of the Treadwell-Amelia Streets intersection, listed in the 1920-1921 Orangeburg City Directory, were African American. Listed were laborers, tradesmen, professionals and businessmen living in the neighborhood.

For help in determining an appropriate course the family members met with a leader in creative arts and cultural preservation organizations and with the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation. From these meetings it was determined that the best way to preserve the house for future generations was to form a nonprofit. On April 1, 2022, the family members established the Lawton House and Treadwell Street Historical Association.