Honoring the Peaceful Rest of Our Gullah/Geechee Ancestors: Queen Quet Leads the Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project

Gullah/Geechee Nation ♦ September 7, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Across St. Helena and Warsaw Islands, beneath live oaks along the shorelines, in church yards, along old plantation roads, and within fields reclaimed by descendants of the formerly enslaved, thousands of Gullah/Geechee ancestors rest in sacred ground.

Their names tell the history of a people.  These names are again being spoken which keeps these ancestors alive. 

Approximately 3,200 individuals have now been identified within 50 of the 52 known burial sites on St. Helena and Warsaw Islands. Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, is undertaking the enormous work of researching these individuals through the “Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project,” a collaboration between the Beaufort County Planning Department and the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition.

This is far more than a cemetery survey. It is an act of remembrance, cultural preservation, historical restoration and sacred responsibility.

A Commitment That Began in the Field

The roots of this work reach back to 1999, when Queen Quet led the Cultural Protection Overlay District Committee on St. Helena Island. At that time, committee members went into the field to identify the locations of Gullah/Geechee graveyards, family burial grounds and church cemeteries throughout the island.  Most of those dedicated committee members have since joined the ancestors. Today, they rest within the very sacred landscape that they worked to protect.

Their mission was urgent. The burial areas had to be identified and properly platted by Beaufort County so that they would not disappear beneath buildings, be cut off by cumyas or suffer encroachment and desecration. Queen Quet and the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition understood that an unmarked or poorly documented burial ground could easily become vulnerable—even when generations of Gullah/Geechee families knew that their ancestors rested there.

For Queen Quet, this undertaking is deeply personal. Her ancestors, relatives, community leaders and fellow inaugural Cultural Protection Overlay District Committee members are among those buried within these sacred places. She remains committed to ensuring that neither the burial grounds nor the people resting within them are forgotten.

More than a quarter-century later, that commitment has grown into an unprecedented effort to recover not only the locations of the graves but also the life stories behind the names.

The Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project

In 2026, Queen Quet announced the launch of the “Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project.” Its work began on historic St. Helena Island—the epicenter of Gullah/Geechee culture and one of the most significant living cultural landscapes in the United States.

The project is documenting approximately 3,200 people interred within 50 of the 52 identified burial sites on St. Helena and Warsaw Islands. Each headstone, funeral program, obituary, family Bible, photograph, military record, census entry and oral history has the potential to restore another chapter of Gullah/Geechee history.

The magnitude of the work is tremendous. Yet numbers alone cannot convey its meaning. These are not merely 3,200 names in a database. They are 3,200 lives—people who raised families, planted crops, built churches, taught children, opened businesses, defended freedom and sustained Gullah/Geechee culture from one generation to the next.

Every name represents a story.

Every grave represents a family.

Every burial ground is an archive written into the land.

Soldiers, Farmers, Educators and Freedom Fighters

Among those buried within these sacred sites are veterans who served during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Some of the Civil War soldiers emerged from enslavement and entered the ranks of the United States Colored Troops, taking up arms in a struggle that would help destroy the institution that had held their families in bondage. Later generations served during wars overseas, returning to a country in which they still had to fight for dignity, equality and civil rights.  Their military service is only one part of this extraordinary history.

The burial grounds also contain authors who preserved stories in print; farmers who sustained families and communities from Sea Island soil; educators who opened the doors of knowledge; civil rights freedom fighters who challenged injustice; entrepreneurs and business owners who created opportunities despite segregation; fraternal-order leaders and members who provided mutual aid; and church founders, pastors, deacons, missionaries and congregants who strengthened the spiritual foundations of the community.  Together, their lives reveal the breadth of Gullah/Geechee achievement.

This native Gullah/Geechees built institutions when existing institutions excluded them. They purchased and retained land when powerful interests sought to dispossess them. They educated children, cared for the sick, buried the dead, defended the nation and passed down the language, traditions, spirituality and collective values that continue to distinguish St. Helena Island from not only other Sea Islands but other places throughout the world.

The Community Holds the Missing Pieces

Official records can provide dates, military units, occupations and addresses, but they rarely preserve the whole person. The most intimate details often remain within the community—in funeral programs tucked inside Bibles, names written on the backs of photographs, family stories told on porches and memories carried by elders.

Queen Quet is therefore calling upon Gullah/Geechee natives of St. Helena Island and their descendants to help complete this historic undertaking.

Families are encouraged to contribute:

• Obituaries and funeral programs
• Family photographs, Bible records and histories
• Church histories and cemetery records
• Military documents and veterans’ materials
• Letters, diaries and business records
• Fraternal Order and Social Club histories
• Oral histories about the people, churches, communities and sacred spaces of St. Helena and Warsaw Islands

Those willing to participate in oral-history interviews are especially encouraged to make contact. The voices of elders and descendants can provide the context that written records cannot—the nicknames people carried, the work they performed, the songs they sang, the land they tended and the ways they served their families and communities.

Contribute to the Project

Gullah/Geechee natives of St. Helena Island and their descendants who possess archival materials, obituaries, funeral programs, photographs, family histories or information about the burial sites are invited to assist with this vital work.

Those willing to participate in an oral-history interview should contact:

Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Email: GullGeeCo@aol.com

Mail Obituaries and Copies of Other Materials:

Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition

ATTN: Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project
Post Office Box 1207
St. Helena Island, SC 29920

“As long as you speak my name, I shall live forever.”

Tenk GAWD fa we Gullah/Geechee ancestas!  Let us tell their stories and speak their names.