Exploring the Gullah Geechee Trail | Listen

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Seeking the origins of Gullah Geechee culture and cuisine along the South Carolina coast

If you ask that question of South Carolina’s coastal foodways—an area that annually draws millions looking for fresh seafood, award-winning restaurants, and the bounty of the Lowcountry—you’ll get a melting pot of an answer.

You’ll find the expected French influence and prevalent maritime customs, and, delving a little deeper, uncover a history steeped in West African tradition. Many of the ingredients considered signatures of Southern cuisine—okra, cowpeas, peppers, Carolina Gold rice, peanuts, sorghum—owe their presence in South Carolina to the millions of enslaved Africans who brought their knowledge of crops along with the seeds themselves.

West African crops, spices, and ancient low-and-slow cooking methods merged with European collards and cabbage, Native American squashes and corn, and the abundance of seafood and livestock already present. The result, after hundreds of years, is modern South Carolina coastal cuisine—shrimp and grits, braised collards, ham hock-flavored beans, and fried fish—and it attracts throngs of hungry visitors.

“For me, to be a well-rounded person you need to understand your history, and that also deals with food,” says James Beard Award semifinalist chef Bernard Bennett of African-influenced restaurant Okàn in Bluffton, South Carolina. “Of course, it’s because of the tragedies of slavery that we have what we have here. The basic cuisine of the South wouldn’t be what it is without these tragedies. The rice and grits and how to work the fields would not be there without these tragedies. It’s important to recognize the cultures to appreciate the food more. My goal is to showcase that African Americans’ food is much more than fried chicken. People hate having these difficult conversations, but what better way than over food?”

Descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo, and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast are called Gullah Geechee. Their communities remain along The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor from North Carolina to northern Florida. Their ancestors’ isolation on plantations created a unique culture retaining much of their West African arts, music, language—and especially, foodways.

“Rice dishes from my childhood are memorable: chicken and rice, Hoppin’ John, fish and rice, collard greens and rice, rice and stew,” says Ron Daise, Black history ambassador of Gullah Geechee descent who was born on St. Helena Island and lives in Georgetown. “I became allergic to shellfish and tomato-based foods during my teens, but I well remember shrimp and rice, crab and rice, and red rice.”

Alongside chefs of African heritage, there are those within South Carolina working to preserve Gullah Geechee culture, educate about coastal food origins, and provide a culinary roadmap for anyone wanting to know and taste more.

One such path, the Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail, highlights restaurants within the cultural heritage corridor that are Gullah Geechee-owned and pay homage to their families’ food customs. Using that as a loose guide, a South Carolina coastal road trip emerges. Beginning in Georgetown and ending in Beaufort County, the itinerary involves as much education as it does recreation through historic sites and related museums, lodging with historic distinction, and more restaurants than could possibly be tackled in a week’s time. Somehow, though, you’ll leave hungry for more.

Georgetown

Nestled in South Carolina’s Hammock Coast, Georgetown—with its maritime history and extensive rice plantations—provides a sober starting point that frames the experiences to follow. The difficult conversations Okàn chef Bennett references begin at The Rice Museum, where guides like Loretta Grayson-Gerald, Gullah Geechee artist and tour guide, lead guests through the realities of the transatlantic slave route and subsequent forced labor in the rice fields.

A few blocks down, take a self-guided tour of The Gullah Museum, noticing the many herbs and crops that the Gullah Geechee people introduced to the local food culture and still use today. Curator Beatrice Rodrigues personally recommends two of the seafood trail spots—Aunny’s Country Kitchen and Lamar’s Fish and Chips, which she’ll remind you is cash only and closes early. Aunny’s is a meat-and-two or -three. Fish, hog maw (boiled pig stomach), and chicken perlo (one of many spellings you’ll see) are staples along with stewed tomatoes and okra, coleslaw, cabbage, and more.

About 16 miles north of The Rice Museum is Brookgreen Gardens. There, the Gullah Geechee Gaardin exhibit and other programming were implemented by Daise when he was vice president of creative education there. If time allows, tap into the free Hammock Coast app for Daise’s guided tour of a dozen more nearby African American sites.

A Peak into The Independent from the Lobby Credit Andrew Cebulka

On Front Street, The George Hotel—historic Georgetown’s first boutique hotel from The Indigo Road Hospitality Group—provides harbor views of the Sampit River and a resting place between excursions. The boutique property’s restaurant, The Independent, offers an upscale, seafood-centric seasonal menu and raw bar that pay homage to its namesake, the former fish market.

Around town, elements of West African cuisine appear unexpectedly, like a spicy African peanut soup served at Grit and Grind coffee shop across from The George. Don’t miss a stop at Eve’s Caribbean Soul Food for true Gullah Geechee hospitality.

Charleston

A 60-minute drive south from Georgetown, Charleston boasts the lion’s share of the state’s awarded restaurants, and with that, the most possibilities for getting sidetracked from your educational mission. Charleston-based chef and educator Elaina Ruth offers motivation to stay the course.

“You know what gumbo is, but you don’t know where it came from,” she says. Ruth is among many in Charleston working to change that, one bowl of crab rice or stewed tomatoes and okra at a time. “We need to get back to gathering around the table,” she says of the importance of sharing culture through food—and specifically the Gullah Geechee heritage of Charleston.

There’s no better starting point in Charleston than Hannibal’s Soul Kitchen, a stop on the Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail and a local staple.

“If I had the budget for it, my waistline would grow,” Ruth jokes, after an emphatic recommendation of Hannibal’s.

The highlights are too many to list: shrimp and crab rice, Hoppin’ John, chicken gizzards, collard greens, and whole local red snapper. Ruth follows with two more must-dines—Nigel’s Good Food in North Charleston and Fishnet Seafood on Johns Island for fried crab.

Additional options run the gamut from soul food at Bertha’s Kitchen and My Three Sons of Charleston to West African restaurant Bintü Atelier.

Between dining stops, carve out time to take in the stunning exhibits at the International African American Museum with special attention to the Gullah Geechee and Carolina Gold rice portions, or learn the art of crabbing with Tia Clark on her Casual Crabbing with Tia experiences.

It’ll take a couple days to work through the Charleston itinerary even without distractions, so plan to book a comfortable stay at one of several boutique hotels with ties to particularly relevant history.

The Ashley, an eight-suite bed and breakfast, was originally constructed in 1852 by Alexander Black, the inventor of rice and cotton processing equipment. John Rutledge House Inn is widely believed to be the birthplace of the city’s iconic she-crab soup. Meeting Street Inn boasts a historically revolving door of saloons, restaurants, and eventually the Atlantic Brewing and Ice Company. 86 Cannon, a 10-suite bed and breakfast that includes four historic buildings, was previously owned by Peter Poinsette, whose sister Septima P. Clark was a noted civil rights activist. Take advantage of the property’s on-site temperature-controlled saltwater pool.

The siren song of Charleston’s celebrated restaurants is irresistible regardless of itinerary. Among many representing local food culture and heritage are Charleston Grill, Peninsula Grill, Slightly North of Broad, The Grocery, and CudaCo. on James Island for fresh-off-the-boat seafood.

Extend your trip with visits to Joseph Fields Farm on Johns Island stewarded by third-generation Gullah Geechee farmer Joseph Fields. On James Island, Sol Legare Road leads to Mosquito Beach, a historic Gullah Geechee community where restaurants still operate inside buildings built in the mid-1900s.

Beaufort County

Beaufort County holds a treasure trove of Gullah Geechee historic sites and an abundance of seafood hauled daily from the Port Royal Sound. A thorough exploration of the area could take days or even weeks. The highlights, however, will provide a fitting end to your coastal culinary tour.

“Nothing is near important as passing on knowledge,” says chef Bill Green, owner of the famous Gullah Grub Restaurant on St. Helena Island where the late Anthony Bourdain once dined. He describes his work with young culinary students at the Gullah Cooking School, teaching them how to turn inexpensive ingredients like beans and rice into a seeming luxury or to maintain health and vitality through food choices. “It’s pretty much dying out,” he says. “Our way of cooking is slow, lengthy cooking. That’s our way of tenderizing and bringing flavor to everything.”

The Gullah Grub’s local and seasonal menu includes a seafood boil, shrimp and gravy over grits, mac and cheese, gumbo, potato salad, fried shark strip, and of course, cornbread. These highlights are what Green calls “smilin’ food” because that’s the immediate reaction from diners after their first taste.

Other dining options nearby include Foolish Frog for Frogmore Stew, the unassuming and family-owned Bradley Seafood Market, Beedos Burgers for Lowcountry breakfast, lunch, and dinner—and in Port Royal, Fishcamp on 11th Street is exactly that with local oysters and shrimp on the menu daily.

On the corner across from Gullah Grub sits the Gullah Geechee Cultural Visitors’ Center, a short drive from which leads to Penn Center, the first school in the South for formerly enslaved West Africans during the Reconstruction era. Walking tours of the 25-building property are offered daily. For overnight lodging and to be centrally located between St. Helena and Daufuskie islands, opt for renovated motor lodge City Loft Hotel just across the bridge in Beaufort where the soaking tubs may come in handy after many days of heavy walking. Other historic boutique properties include Circa 1785, the former home of The Mather School for African Americans in Beaufort, and in Bluffton, May River Manor, which is designed around Gullah artist Amari Farris’ work.

Jaunts to Bluffton, Hilton Head Island, and Daufuskie Island are easy to navigate. For full immersion, book a ferry ride from Bluffton to Daufuskie for the Authentic Gullah Tour with Sallie Ann Robinson, a sixth-generation Gullah native of the island, cookbook author, and chef. Or book a tour of The Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island with museum founder and Hilton Head native Louise Miller Cohen, whose mission is to “revive,
restore, and preserve” the area’s Gullah Geechee history. In Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, walk in the footsteps of thousands of freedmen who called the first self-governed town for formerly enslaved people home.

Nearby restaurants are plentiful.

From the Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail, Ma Daisy’s Porch and Da Shack Comfort Goodness check the soul food box; Okán in Old Town Bluffton is where chef Bernard Bennet explores the African diaspora from the Ivory Coast to the Caribbean and back via fine dining; Ruby Lee’s offers soul food and live music on Hilton Head served Cuban, Jamaican, and Hullah cuisine while reggae tunes serenade guests.

“Gullah Geechee cuisine inspires conversations, personal and family memories, and physical expressions that connect diners to a unique culture and heritage,” says Daise. In South Carolina and beyond, it’s a cuisine and a heritage worth seeking out.