Family compounds and family subdivisions in Hilton Head

Hilton Head is a great destination for family vacations. Particularly, in case you are open to discovering unknown customs and cuisine on the island. Every tourist should spend some time to discover the beauty of Hilton Head, which is known for having Gullah Geechee culture ingrained throughout its islands.

Gullah, often referred to as Geechee or Gullah-Geechee, is an ethnic Black American community that mostly inhabits a region along the country's southeast coast that runs from Pender County in southern North Carolina to St. Johns County in northern Florida. The Low Country and Sea Islands is a better term for this area than the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which is what the National Park Service calls it. Mainly because of their relative seclusion, the Gullahs distinguished themselves from other descendants of African slaves by upholding traditional West African rituals and speaking a unique creole language.

The Gullah Community's Past

Slaves from what are now Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and Angola are the ancestors of the Gullahs. Sent to the West Indies to "season"—that is, acclimate to the hardships of slavery and the Western Hemisphere—many of these enslaved Black people eventually arrived in the port of Charleston, South Carolina, where they were purchased by plantation owners. The owners exploited their prior agricultural skills to force the majority of these enslaved individuals to work in rice fields near the beach. Other slaves farmed cotton and indigo, which were natural to the people who held them and could be found in various parts of Africa.

Allow us to discuss Gullah customs

Gullah customs, which have been passed down through the years, are prevalent throughout the southeast coast of the United States. Along with basket making, indigo dyeing, and a unique cuisine, they are mostly composed of fish, rice, and seasonal coastal vegetables like okra and field peas. It is still common practice to use oral history and folklore. Both Christian and African mythology serve as inspiration for the main characters in their works. Witches, devils, "boo hags," or human-like creatures that eat away at the flesh of their living victims at night and suck their breath, are all part of the Gullah tradition. "Haints," on the other hand, are the souls of the neglected dead that afflict the living.

Current Conditions of the Gullah Community

Many Gullahs, as they call themselves, still abound throughout the Low Country and Sea Islands. There are still settlements on Wadmalaw and Johns islands in South Carolina, as well as Sapelo Island in Georgia, but the region's continued expansion as a tourist destination has forced many Gullah people off Hilton Head and James islands in South Carolina. Gullah groups have made "heritage tours" to Sierra Leone in the 20th and 21st centuries, hoping to mend long-broken cultural ties.

Among the most well-known historical sites to see the Gullah Neighborhoods is the Penn School Historic District on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. This place is a National Historic Landmark, according the National Register of Historic Places.