North Augusta Living History Park left devastated by Hurricane Helene

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) – North Augusta Living History Park suffered major damage due to Hurricane Helene.

Several of the structures that used to stand to tell the stories of the Revolutionary War, now live as proof of the impacts Hurricane Helene had on many parts of the CSRA.

“Lynn Thompson had a vision of wanting to educate the public in this area…,” Vice President of Living History Park Ding Denlinger said.

And for the past 33 years, Living History Park has served the North Augusta community and beyond.

“We are trying to educate about the colonial era of time in this area, not just generic, but in this area. And what was going on, and this is pre-Revolutionary War, through the revolutionary war…,” Denlinger said.

But since Hurricane Helene hit nearly three weeks ago, no public visitations have been held as there are several downed trees crushing multiple buildings within the village. Now, they say it’ll take a village to get back to normal.

“It’s not just monetary donations. It’s time, talent, or things like wood. Like you said, lumber is huge, actually. We’ve got to, now, repair our fencing. But actually, it was really beautiful– the first time, as long as I’ve been here, we had the community come out this past year and they cleaned up the park with us, they helped us completely restore the walk-through garden and the water features in there…” park reenactor Julie Kirsch said.

The park is home to 22 historically inspired buildings where reenactments are hosted on occasion and is usually made open to the public on a daily basis.

“Unfortunately, because of the circumstances, because of all of the damage, it’s not really safe right now to be open to the public, but we’re hoping to do that as soon as we possibly can. People can find out when we are open again, and when our upcoming events are happening on our social media. We’re on Facebook…,” Kirsch said.

The park is currently closed and reopen is dependent on community support and donations, as the park is a nonprofit. You can donate to the park directly on their website or contact Lynn Thomspon via phone at 803-279-7650.

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