Journey Through Time and Space
In Part I Park Manager Nate Johnson led us through Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site. In Part II, we visit Historic Brattonsville. In 2006, Sara and Nate worked at the Aiken Rhett House Museum in Charleston. Today they’re married and interpreters of historic sites. For Sara, it’s Historic Brattonsville.
You won’t find barbed wire on the farm in Historic Brattonsville in York County. 
You will find split rail fences here where you step back in time at an 800-acre historical site, part of the York Culture & Heritage Museum. At the property’s heart is the Brattonsville Historic District, 14 original buildings dating from the 1760s to the 1880s. The buildings and cultural landscape reflect 4 generations of Brattons and the people who lived around them.
Sara Johnson works as the Preservation/Restoration Specialist. “I decided when I was 11 that I wanted to be a ‘historic preservationist.’ I’ve always had a love for old buildings and a particular interest in historic building materials, so I chose to go into architectural conservation where I would be able to work hands-on on historic buildings.” 
Sara works with Property Manager Joe Mester to oversee the preservation of more than 35 buildings. “A lot of what I do is hands-on preservation; work that we do in-house with our preservation team and summer interns to maintain our buildings,” said Sara.
Dr. John S. Bratton built the Brick House, circa 1843, but died before its completion. A planter and doctor, Bratton was also a merchant. The Brick House, a combined residential and commercial space, housed the Bratton’s mercantile store, post office, and living space on the first floor.
Sara recounts store records from 1843 to 1847. “Cloth, mostly imported fabrics but also homespun, was the most frequent item purchased. Customers also bought tobacco, pens, paper, soap, spectacles, boards, sugar, 1 lott chinaware, 4 Breakfast Plates, nails, razors, straw hats and bands, buttons, butt hinges, looking glasses, snuff, coffee, and other items.”
In 1885, the Bratton Store moved from the Brick House into a new, freestanding adjacent building. The Bratton Store operated out of the freestanding structure until 1915 when it closed and the last of the Brattons moved from Brattonsville. The building burned in 2004 leaving stone piers and a central chimney. 
In the 1820s most slave cabins were built from logs. John Bratton used brick.
Brattonsville’s vintage appearance isn’t lost on Revolutionary War re-enactors who stage The Battle of Huck’s Defeat, a Revolutionary War rallying point that eventually led to the King’s Mountain victory.
“I’d like people to know there will be a lot of exciting changes at Historic Brattonsville in the near future. We’ll open up the Brick House to interpret a part of the Brattonsville history that has not been a major part of the site’s interpretation until now. 
“The Brick House tells the story of the mercantile/commercial side of the Brattonsville community and can better represent the period following the Civil War when the store/post office ran out of the Brick House would have served other farming families nearby as well as tenant farmers.” 
Visit the Historic Brattonsville at http://chmuseums.org/brattonsville/ or call 803-628-6553.