A published book author, professional storyteller and pragmatic cultural activist, Bailey suddenly begins talking about spirits. I can hear them talking to me now. The spirits, she says, are those of her ancestors, brought here from Africa as slaves two centuries ago. That's the way it is on remote sea islands such as Sapelo and in other tiny tidewater communities along the southeastern coast. Called Geechee on the Georgia coast and Gullah in coastal South Carolina, the culture is so endangered, the federal government is trying to save it.
Nobody knows how much of the culture survives.
Documenting a culture is a rarity, said Cynthia Porcher, a Historic Charleston Foundation member assisting with the Park Service study. But usually, congressionally authorized studies are for the Park Service to look at a site to see if it's worthy of being preserved. The Park Service has held public meetings in coastal towns from Jacksonville to Little River, S.C., and is analyzing comments from those sessions, says Michael Allen, the study's coordinator. Many who attended talked about losing ancestral grounds, cemeteries and access to beaches and tidal creeks because of coastal development, especially on sea islands where upscale gated communities and golf courses have overtaken old plantation lands. Isolated from their white owners and speaking different languages, they developed a lilting common tongue blending European and African words and structures.