A tree-lined path at the Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia,
Courtesy of Linda N., Flickr’s Creative Commons
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor extends from Wilmington, North Carolina in the north to Jacksonville, Florida, in the south. The National Heritage Area includes roughly 80 barrier islands and continues inland to adjacent coastal counties, defining a region 30 miles inland throughout the United States Low Country. The Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor is home to the Gullah people in the Carolinas, and the Geechee in Georgia and Florida – cultural groups descended from enslaved peoples from West and Central Africa. The Gullah and Geechee share similar linguistic, artistic and societal traits that have remained relatively intact for several centuries due to the geographic isolation of the region. The cultures represent the many ways that Africans in the Americas maintained their homeland roots while simultaneously assimilating aspects of modern cultures they encountered during and after enslavement.
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is managed by a federal commission made up of local representatives who collaborate with the National Park Service, Community Partners, grass root organizations and the State historic preservation offices of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Through research, education and interpretation, the corridor aims to preserve and raise awareness regarding the Gullah/Geechee, among America’s least-known and most unique cultures. Visitors to the southeastern coast of the country have the chance to experience Gullah/Geechee heritage through historic sites, local tours, conventional foods, cultural events, and art galleries.
Gullah/Geechee in the Southeastern United States
When the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution banned slavery in 1865, most of the African and American-born slaves along the southeastern coast remained in the region that had come to be their homes. Life on the barrier islands was quite isolated from that of the mainland and few outside visitors ever made contact with the newly freed communities. Because of this geographic isolation and a forceful sense of cultural connection amongst the people, the African Americans who today self-identify as Gullah/Geechee retained their African heritage to a forceful degree.
Most of the Gullah/Geechee still live in rural communities of low-level, vernacular buildings along the Low Country mainland coast and on the barrier islands. Towns once were often dotted with dirt roads and traversed by oxen, mules, and horses. The Gullah/Geechee are the speakers of the only African American Creole language that developed in the United States – one that combines elements of English and over 30 African dialects. Oral traditions, folklore, and storytelling are cultural traditions that have gone largely unchanged for generations. Religious ceremonies such as ring shouts, artisan crafts like sweet grass basket weaving, and culinary traditions such as “hoppin’ john” and sweet potato pone are all preserved as part of the life of the Gullah/Geechee.
Recently life has changed for the Gullah/Geechee. The barrier islands were accessible only by boat until the building of the first bridges starting in the early 1950s. Since that time, many conventional Gullah/Geechee communities on the islands have been altered by cultural infiltration from mainlanders, or been lost entirely to real estate development. The advent of air-conditioning transformed the scorching, wet islands into desirable ocean-side property, bringing outsiders into what was once solely Gullah or Geechee territory. Despite recent losses, the Gullah/Geechee people remain a testament to the power of human adaptability and cultural survival even in the face of outside pressures from the up-to-date world.
Because of the nature of the Gullah/Geechee culture and its associated corridor, many aspects of the area’s heritage are ethereal and cannot be experienced through a single site. Local institutions and organizations thus offer regional tours and assistance. Both The Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society in Georgia, and Gullah Tours out of Charleston, South Carolina provide boat tours that focus on Gullah/Geechee culture, language, music and storytelling. Carolina Food Pros also offers an extensive culinary tour of coastal South Carolina featuring conventional Lowland and Gullah cooking. Please call 843-723-3366 for scheduling.
South Carolina and Georgia
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor protects, bolsters, and showcases the conventional Gullah/Geechee culture that remains in the region, and its relation to the overall history of slavery, plantations, abolition and emancipation in the South. Several cultural and educational institutions interpret this heritage for visitors. Geechee Kunda is a museum and community education center in Riceboro, Georgia, which features exhibits, galleries, classes and events about Geechee culture, a gift shop, and a family research center. For more information, call 912-884-4440. The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture in Charleston, South Carolina focuses on Gullah heritage in the Low Country as well as the wider theme of the African Diaspora in America. The center offers exhibits, public programming, tours, and an extensive archival collection. Call 843-953-7609 for upcoming events and information.
One of the most notable historic places within the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is the Penn School Historic District on St. Helena Island in South Carolina. The district is a National Historic Landmarklisted in the National Register of Historic Places. The 47-acre area contains 18 historic buildings dating from the mid-1800s. Brick Church, the oldest building still standing, was constructed in 1855 by by slaves for early Baptist planters in St. Helena. It was later used as a church, community center and school for both black and white abolitionists during the Reconstruction Era and is one of the earliest schools for the newly freed slaves. Missionaries constructed the other buildings on the island when they came there to assist former Gullah slaves with their newfound freedom after their owners abandoned the island during the Civil War. In addition to the early school and missionary buildings, the district also includes Gantt Cottage where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Leadership Conference often met during the African American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
North Carolina
Self-taught and visionary artist Minnie Evans was born and raised in Pender and New Hanover Counties, the northernmost points of the Gullah-Geechee corridor. The Cameron Art Museum of Wilmington, N.C. houses the Minnie Evans Study Center, a central repository for archival material regarding the life of Minnie Evans. In addition, the lands around the Cameron Art Museum once witnessed the Civil War Battle of Forks Road in which U.S. Colored Troops played a critical role.
In Winnabow, N.C., the St. Philips Church at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson occupies land once cultivated by enslaved workers in the long leaf pine-based naval stores industry and on Lower Cape Fear River rice plantations. This land also witnessed the liberation of former slaves as it served as a camp for black refugees in 1865. Another site, St. Stephen African Methodist Episcopal Church, of Wilmington, N.C., represents the fortitude and innovation of African Americans in the northern section of the Gullah-Geechee Corridor. The church sits on Campbell Square, on land designated for “the Negro population of New Hanover County,” since 1845. In May of 1865, not even one month after the end of the Civil War, “642 Negroes joined the African Church,” under the leadership of Rev. W. H. Hunter, an African American chaplain with the Union Army. In 1866, the Wilmington Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance re-dedicating Campbell Squere to the apply of “colored people,” specifying that four churches and a school should occupy the land. St. Stephen is one of those churches.
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, a National Heritage Area and unit of the National Park System, stretches from Wilmington, NC to Jacksonville, FL. The corridor includes coastal lands and offshore barrier islands in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida that are connected by Interstate 95, which runs through or near much of the heritage corridor. For additional information, visit the National Park Service Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor website or call 843-881-5516. Directions and a map can be found on the National Park Service website. For additional information, visit the National Park Service Cumberland Island National Seashore and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site websites.
