Black history is always a big part of any tour of Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site, but during Black History Month, the tours focus on the turbulent history of African-Americans in South Carolina.

This month, visitors can tour the home and grounds built in the 1850s by James Henry Hammond, cotton planter, S.C. governor and senator as well as U.S. congressman. Hammond was a staunch defender of the Southern plantation system.

The plantation near North Augusta was home to three generations of Hammond’s family and was donated to the state in 1973 by John Shaw Billings.

But the home and gardens were important stopping points for African-American families in South Carolina, as well, including the Henleys, Goodwins and Wigfalls, who worked on the plantation as slaves and later as free men and women. The tour includes a slave cabin from the mid-1800s.

The African-American Experience Tours tell the stories of these families and include a glimpse of areas of the mansion not normally open to the public, including the 20th century kitchen and butler’s pantry.

Tours are at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m., Thursday-Monday for the month of February. The cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children 6-16 and $3 for seniors.