Tag Archives: St. Helena Island
Gullah/Geechee Get Your Life! Honoring Our Roots on St. Helena Island
On Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon, Earth People Farm, Soil Stewards, and the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition will come together for “Gullah/Geechee Get Your Life!” in celebration of Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Awareness Month. Hosted on St. Helena Island, the epicenter of Gullah/Geechee culture, this gathering invites us to celebrate our heritage through the work of tending the land.
Gullah/Geechee Nation Coastal Challenge Update
On the South Carolina Coast: A Tree Saved, a Cultural Overlay Challenged, and Data Centers Given a Path Forward
Monday, September 14, 2026 brought a flood of consequential local-government action along the South Carolina coast. The outcomes were not as simple as “win” or “loss.” The Beaufort County Council did not vote on St. Helena Island’s Cultural Protection Overlay, but the latest Pine Island challenge is moving toward the Planning Commission. In Charleston County, a redesign kept the Sol Legare witness tree standing, but the approved driveway will still enter its critical root zone. In Colleton County, Council did not approve construction of a particular data center; it adopted the comprehensive-plan, zoning-text, and zoning-map changes that make future data centers much easier to permit.
Here is what happened, what did not happen, and what you can do next.
Honoring the Peaceful Rest of Our Gullah/Geechee Ancestors: Queen Quet Leads the Gullah/Geechee Sacred Site Protection Project
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.
Purposeful Planning of the St. Helena Gullah/Geechee Multipurpose Center
Thirty years ago, I made a conscious decision to ensure that St. Helena Island would be the base of operations for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition which is the oldest organization in world history that has “Gullah/Geechee” in its name. When I founded, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, one of our missions was to ensure that authentic Gullah/Geechee culture would be supported not simply verbally but politically and financially. So, I am sure that the ancestors that were fighting to protect St. Helena from being destroyed by a four to five lane highway expansion and against what I consider “destructionment” were smiling when the Beaufort Open Land Trust purchased the parcel of land at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway and Polowana Road in order to secure it for the St. Helena Island community. That parcel could have been a supermarket, the library location or the post office location since all of these were proposed in the past. Now there is a feasibility study being done for this to be the location of the St. Helena Island Gullah/Geechee Multipurpose Center which many natives of St. Helena Island requested years ago.
Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend een de Gullah/Geechee Epicenter een July!
Jayn we een de Gullah/Geechee epicenta fa “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend 2026!” Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and de Gullah/Geechee Famlee culturally invites you to the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation for “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend.” We will gather on the grounds of Penn Center on historic St. Helena Island for two days of powerful cultural reconnection, reflection, and celebration—all under the guiding theme: “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree!”
Gullah/Geechee CREATE Celebrates Culture, Creativity, and Coastal Stewardship on Historic St. Helena Island
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, under the leadership of Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, proudly continues its cultural and environmental work through Gullah/Geechee CREATE, an innovative program in collaboration with South Carolina Sea Grant that merges art, environmental stewardship, and cultural education in the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Celebrations of Creativity on Historic St. Helena Island in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Don’t miss celebrations of creativity in the Gullah/Geechee Nation at the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park on St. Helena Island in the Gullah/Geechee Nation during March 2026! E gwine be a time!
Gullah/Geechee Nation Celebrates Black History Month
In the Gullah/Geechee Nation, celebrating sustained identity and land ownership happens 365 days of the year. So, the Gullah/Geechee Nation is actively engaged in Black History Month celebrations and will host numerous events throughout the coast. Cum fa jayn we!
HEADS UP! Protect Gullah/Geechee Sacred Burial Areas!
HEADS UP Gullah/Geechee Nation Famlee! STAND UP on Tuesday and protect our sacred Gullah/Geechee burial areas!
Join us at the BIg House Cemetery Court Hearing
on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at 9:30 am at
the Beaufort County Courthouse
102 Ribaut Rd, Beaufort, SC 29902
Room 208
Envisioning Gullah/Geechee Peace and Sea Island Serenity
I thought about how I was getting dressed to go to my mom’s to tell her that there was going to be a prayer vigil in Beaufort that I was going to go to that evening and I wanted to make sure she would be ready to go too. She was ready the moment I said, I was going to pray. As I talked to her, I realized that where we planned to go was actually the same lot where Junior and I had stood and talked! I looked up and I smiled. I could see his face as he smiled. I could hear his voice again saying, “Cuz, I’m still fishing.”