Tag: Gullah Geechee

Sapelo Island might just be the most peaceful place in Georgia. A two-hour drive south of Savannah, it has 24 residents, according to JR Grovner, a native who has been running Sapelo Island Tours since he was 12 years old. Grovner’s family has lived on the island for 10 generations, and Sapelo’s peace and quiet, with its idyllic, untouched beaches and diverse wildlife, has kept him enamored with it his whole life. 

Once you’ve taken a left turn at Landing Road from Highway 99 southbound, roll down your car windows. As you drive east toward the Sapelo Island Visitors Center near Darien, you’ll pass beneath arching oak branches draped in long, lingering Spanish moss, and you’ll begin to notice a different kind of breeze—the rare sort of air that fills lungs with wistful history. But a fog of encroachment is making the future murky for the island’s Hog Hammock community.

Many African American families in Georgia have roots in the Sea Islands, often expressed through food that revolves around seafood and rice and okra, which were introduced to the Americas from West Africa during the slave trade.