For a reason lost to time the Haile family and friends wrote over 12,500 words on the walls, dating back to the 1850s.

There they established a 1,500-acre Sea Island cotton plantation called Kanapaha, meaning "small thatched houses".

[2] The Hailes survived bankruptcy in 1868 and turned the property into a productive farm, growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, including oranges.

Evans Haile became the owner of the land but lived in town, and after 1900 the home sat vacant for decades.

The Allen & Ethel Graham Visitors Center and Museum was opened in 2017 and provides additional background and exhibits about the Haile family and the enslaved laborers.