By HEATHER WALTERS
A Colleton County man who has long been educating others on the importance of fighting for your heirs property rights and taking care of this inherited land is now being recognized nationally for his efforts.
Joe Hamilton, of Green Pond, is a community advocate for obtaining a clear land title and deed for heirs property. He has long advocated for the African American community and heirs property landowners, especially after going through the process himself: Hamilton’s family inherited about 44.4 acres of land in Green Pond from their formerly enslaved great-grandfather, Stephen Cunningham. It took Hamilton three years to gather the information he needed to obtain a clear title to the land, which he shares with seven relatives, he said.
Because of his efforts to educate others on how to obtain a title for heirs property, and because of his passion for using the land for timber production, Hamilton was recently featured on the nationally-televised YouTube show “America’s Forest with Chuck Leavell,” where Hamilton spoke about heirs property and the importance in caring for it.
He has also recently been featured in the Bloomberg News and GRIST.org publications, and he was the keynote speaker for the Georgia Warnell School of Forestry at its recent program.
In each of his presentations, Hamilton has discussed the complexities surrounding black landowners who have heirs property. Heirs property is common in the Lowcountry, particularly in Colleton County, where land has been passed down to family members from freed men and without a clear title.
Hamilton will also be speaking at the upcoming S.C. Ag and Art Tour, a statewide event being held at the S.C. Artisans Center in Walterboro on May 29th. In his 4 p.m. presentation, Hamilton will speak about his family’s tree farm and how he acquired a cleared deed and title to that property, which was once heirs property to the Hamilton family. During his talk with the S.C. Ag and Art Tour, Hamilton said he will be talking about his own family’s struggles to “trace property” that his family acquired at the end of the Civil War. He also will discuss the Sustainable Forestry role that he says is critical for African American Land Retention, a program that aided him in “designing and creating a legacy for two people in his life, Steve and Sallie Hamilton,” he said.
Hamilton is a Colleton County native who is also a retired U.S. Department of Defense employee. He has won the District Tree Farmer of the Year through Clemson Extension and is the founder and president of SS Hamilton Farms in Colleton County.
“Joe has accomplished a feat in three years which normally take several years or a lifetime; he successfully navigated the complex hurdles of owning heirs’ property, cleared the title and developed a successful enterprise, a Certified Tree Farm,” said Alta Mae Marvin, with Clemson Extension.
The Ag and Art Tour kicks off in Colleton County at the S.C. Artisans Center and then continues every weekend in June, covering 12 counties in South Carolina over five weekends.
For information, go to www.agandarttour.com.
