Public to see plan for SC sea island culture

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — The public is getting to see a plan to preserve the culture of slave descendants along the Southeast coast.

The management plan for the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor will be up for public comment in June. The corridor reaches from southeastern North Carolina to just past St. Augustine, Fla.

The culture is known as Gullah in the Carolinas and Geechee in Florida and Georgia. It’s based on farming and fishing with, among other things, its own creole language, history, cooking and crafts such weaving sweetgrass baskets.

The effort envisions some federal money to educate people about the culture, put signs at locations of importance and create an inventory of Gullah and Geechee sites. The plan focuses on education, preservation of sites and on developing economic opportunities.