For Immediate Release: June 6, 2025
Contact:Gwen Corley Creighton(804) 301-8718, twosgc@gmail.com
Lexington, SC – On Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 10:00am the community of Lexington will come together to mark the legacy of “The Site of the Oak Grove Colored School” with the unveiling of a historic marker located at 222 Cromer Road. The marker is sponsored by The John Sewell Foundation, The Lexington County Museum and The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission.
“On this day we will honor and remember the legacy of John and Mary Sewell and all of our ancestors who sowed seeds of hope for generations to come.” Gwen Corley Creighton, President, The John Sewell Foundation.
John Sewell, a black reconstruction era farmer, and his wife, Mary, conveyed 1/4 acre of land to the Lexington County School District #2 in 1899 for “the erection of a school for colored children.” The school opened in 1900 enrolling twenty-six students with one teacher. In the mid-1930s around thirty-five students in grades 1-7 attended each day for a four-month term. The school closed in 1952 as part of the consolidation of Lexington County’s country schools. It burned down a few years later. ###
