Myrtle Beach to Charleston, SC: The Gullah Heritage Trail

Tour Package Includes: 6 nights’ accommodation; 6 breakfasts; 3 lunches;  6 dinners; 1 Wine Tasting Reception; admissions, entrance, and guide fees as stated in the itinerary, including taxes, and gratuity. Except gratuity for guide fees is not included on adult tours unless otherwise requested.

• Beach Accommodation
• Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center
• Barefoot Landing
• Brookgreen Gardens
• Gullah Geechee Presentation
• Lowcountry Creek Pontoon Boat Excursion
• Tour Hobcaw Barony
• Gullah Museum Georgetown
• Kaminski House Museum
• Rice Museum
• Pawley's Island

• This afternoon, arrive in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
• Begin your Gullah Heritage Trail experience with a visit to a local famous winery for a Tour and Tasting. Uncork the sweeter side of Myrtle Beach, kick back, and relax with a glass of something cool, sweet, and refreshing while sitting on the porch and enjoying Live music.
• Dinner is included this evening at a very popular restaurant and bar, well-known for their Live blues performances and legendary Southern cuisine! Afterwards, check-in to your Myrtle Beach accommodation for the night. (Meals: Tasting, Dinner)

• Enjoy breakfast at your hotel this morning.
• Today’s touring will include a visit to the Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center. The school served African American students in the Myrtle Beach area for more than 20 years. Now, the Museum and Education Center provides a window to the past and a door to the future for all.
• Explore at Charlie’s Place where you will enjoy a Soul Food Catered Luncheon and some Shag Music! From the late 1930s to the early 1960s, Charlie’s Place was a Myrtle Beach nightspot owned by Charlie Fitzgerald and his wife, Sarah. Early Motown performers brought their music to Charlie’s Place in the days before integration. It provided a place for African American artists of the day to perform, including Dizzy Gillespie, Little Richard, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and many others.
• The remainder of the afternoon is yours to explore on your own, shop at Tanger Outlets, lounge at the beach, or visit Barefoot Landing, a unique and popular dining, shopping, and entertainment destination. Discover fun and fashion “Barefoot-Style” as you stroll along the beautiful outdoor setting, browsing to your heart's content, the many one-of-a-kind shops and boutiques featuring clothing, jewelry, accessories, gifts, décor, and more.
• Enjoy dinner included at a world famous seafood buffet before departing to take your seats for a show at a theater, home to comfortable seating, a great sound and lighting system, and stage events to impress guests of all ages. After the show, return to your hotel for the night. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at your hotel this morning.
• Depart and visit Brookgreen Gardens, a unique melding of art, nature, and history. It is one of America’s premier gardens and one of a few select places in the United States to have earned accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums as well as being designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• While visiting, be inspired with a Gullah Geechee Presentation, an entertaining and informative program about the culture, food, language, and history of the Gullah Geechee people.
• Sail off on a Lowcountry Creek Pontoon Boat Excursion and cruise the creeks on a 48-foot pontoon boat, passing historic rice fields, now home to alligators, waterfowl, and osprey, as an interpreter helps you see the distinctive landscape and understand the role of enslaved Africans in the cultivation of the rice crop and the shaping of the history of the Lowcountry. Lunch is included while visiting Brookgreen.
• Tour Hobcaw Barony, a 16,000 acre peninsula encompassing a rich diversity of every common ecosystem found on the South Carolina coast, making this an unparalleled site for research in the environmental sciences. Feast on some of the freshest seafood in the area at a popular waterfront restaurant for dinner included this evening before returning to your hotel for the night. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at your hotel this morning prior to checking out and departing for the Gullah Museum Georgetown, founded by the late Gullah artist, Vermelle “Bunny” Smith Rodriguez and her husband, Andrew. Bunny’s story quilts are sought after by museums and private collectors all over the world. Her Gullah Ooman Story Quilt records the history of the Gullah Geechee people, from a West Africa village to Emancipation from slavery in the Low Country. Michelle Obama’s ancestry traces back to Georgetown and Bunny’s Michelle Obama Story Quilt is on display and chronicles her family’s journey. The centerpiece panel depicts the First Lady, whose Gullah ancestors valued education, graduating from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. The ten panels surrounding the centerpiece tells how the family found their version of the American dream.
• Explore the Kaminski House Museum. Built on a bluff overlooking the Sampit River, the Kaminski House is typical of the Low country “single house” style of the mid-18th century. Visit the Rice Museum. The Old Market Building and Town Clock became the headquarters of the Rice Museum and currently house the Museum’s collection of dioramas, maps, paintings, artifacts, and other exhibits telling the history of rice cultivation in Georgetown County. Continue touring and enjoy lunch on own and visiting sites such as the Kaminski Hardware Building which houses the Rice Museum’s Maritime Museum Gallery, the Rice Museum Gift Shop, and the Prevost Art Gallery.
• Depart and discover Pawley’s Island and the Hammock Shops Village with free time to roam the charming area and view an authentic hammock roping demonstration. Dinner is included at a local Georgetown hot spot with amazing water views before continuing to Charleston and checking-in to your hotel for the night. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at your hotel this morning prior to departing for your Guided Gullah Heritage Tour.
• Visit places of history and lore relevant to the rich and varied contributions of black Charlestonians. Be inspired with a Workshop Presentation by a Native Gullah Sweetgrass Basket Weaver where you’ll learn about “The Five Senses of Gullah”.
• #1 Touch: Rice; “Carolina Gold”; a product so sought after in the 18th and much of the 19th century, it made Charleston one of the richest cities in the US and was built by slaves who carved the rice fields out of cypress and gumtree swamps filled with alligators, snakes, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. Your fingers will feel the leaf of the state tree, the Cabbage Palm, which will be used to create your very own Palmetto Rose to take home with you.
• #2 Hear: Your speaker explains the art of sweetgrass weaving and its history by way of West African slaves brought to America to work in plan- tations. West Africa resembles South Carolina in climate, landscape, and rice production. This basketry uses a type of marsh grass known as bulrush to create beautiful and unique works of art.
• #3 See: Beautiful, one of a kind sweetgrass baskets, carefully hand-crafted over a period of many days, and each one completely unique unto itself.
• #4 Smell: The sweet- grass baskets and the traditional Gullah foods as we enjoy our Gullah Ex- perience.
• #5 Taste: Enjoy a Gullah Soul Food Luncheon included from authentic traditional Gullah recipes and learn about the African influences on today’s foods.
• Depart and explore Boone Hall Plantation, founded in 1681 when Englishman Major John Boone came to Charleston. The family and descendants of Major Boone were influential in the history of South Carolina, the colonies, and the nation. In 1743, live oak trees were planted and arranged in two evenly spaced rows.
• Dinner this evening will be at a local family-owned restaurant serving up the freshest local cuisine in the area! Return to the hotel for the night. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel this morning prior to checking out.
• Depart to visit and explore the Old Slave Mart Museum. Displays in this former slave auction building, constructed in 1859, tell the story of the slave trade in Charleston, and is believed to be the last extant slave auction facility in South Carolina.
• Tour the Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture, a division of the College of Charleston library system, located on the site of the former Avery Normal Institute in the Harleston Village district and dedicated to educating the community on the history and culture of African Americans in Charleston, the South Carolina Low- country, and South Carolina at large. It was established to collect, preserve, and make public the unique historical and cultural heritage of African Americans in Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. With deep appreciation for the history, the culture, and the hospitality of the Lowcountry, say “goodbye” and depart for home. (Meals: B)

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