Living History Park aims to reopen in time for July 4th celebration, as cleanup continues 9 months after Helene

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) – Almost nine months since Hurricane Helene, storm cleanup is ongoing at North Augusta’s Living History Park.

City leaders just reopened Creighton Park after it also suffered storm damage Tuesday, but there’s still more work to do right across the street. 

But with a July 4th event on the calendar, they are trying to get operations up and running once again.

Sydney Carley is one of those living in the city that hopes the park will reopen soon.

“I am really sad to see that it’s still closed down. I know they probably faced a lot of damages, but if they could get that opened, that’s an awesome thing I think everyone should go to,” said Carley.

Living History Park has been closed to the public for almost 9 months due to extensive damage from Hurricane Helene—those who run the park say they’re keeping public safety a top priority. 

“We’re at a standstill,” said Living History Park VP Ding Denlinger. “We’re dead in the water because we can’t rent our facilities. We have the barn and the outdoor area that’s been impacted so badly, and it needs to be repaired. We can’t really let people in because the facilities are so damaged that somebody might get hurt if they hung out around here.”

The park supports itself, so they’ve missed out on potential customers and tourism opportunities in recent months because of the hurricane. 

They’ve had volunteer groups in recent months come together to help with storm cleanup, but a structure on the edge of the property is still destroyed—and some buildings still have roof damage due to fallen trees.

“There is a little damage to the Jim Farmer building, and the big barn next to it still needs repairs on the roof because about 6 trees fell on it from Helene,” said Denlinger.

While there’s still work to do, some are hoping to see the park come back to life once again. 

“I do hope it reopens soon. My fiancé moved down here, and I would love to be able to bring him to it because he hasn’t been able to see it yet,” Carley said.

“This has been a lifetime of work for Lynn Thompson, me and many other people working for 25 years on this park,” Denlinger said. “And to have it look like this is just…”

The goal is to open in time for their annual July 4th celebration.

While they’re working on those plans, they will likely only have parts of the park open and close off areas that still need repairs.

Living History Park is also asking for help from the public to assist in storm cleanup, so if you’d like to help, you can find their website here.