Sandy Island is one of the most interesting communities in the Gullah Geechee Corridor. To start, it is one of two communities that are only reachable by boat in South Carolina, since there is not a bridge connecting it to the mainland. In fact, Sandy Island is the only community in the state that has…

The development of the Gullah Geechee Conservation Immersive Experience has been progressing nicely over these last few weeks. In our team, we have a total of six members, with each person working on a different project every sprint. For our team, a sprint is seen as two weeks where we focus on a few tasks…

  Jennifer Terry is a junior undergraduate student at Coastal Carolina University. She is from Lancaster, South Carolina, but lives in Conway most of the year, where she enjoys going to the beach and spending time with friends. Jennifer is an English major with a minor in Creative Writing and has a passion for writing…

I’ll be the first to admit that growing up I didn’t have an extensive knowledge of Gullah Geechee cultures. History classes briefly touched on Gullah Geechee information, with classes focusing on the more stereotypical aspects of the communities, like basket weaving. While the Lancaster County School District welcomed a guest speaker to tell stories depending…

Sandy Island was founded by a man named Phillip Washington in 1880 as a freedman community. Originally, the area was named Mt. Rena, after the Gullah term which meant a mountain of sand. Over time, the name Sandy Island became the name. Before establishing Sandy Island, Washington was a slave driver for Captain Petigru who…