Quilts at Last

Atlantic ICW #2

Georgetown, SC 22-25 Apr 2018

Moving north lead us to Georgetown, South Carolina and the informative Gullah Museum.  Pride of place in the exhibits goes to Gullah artist Vermelle "Bunny" Smith Rodrigues’ amazing quilts.  The quilts are folk art story quilts telling the history of the Gullah people and are used to inform visitors at the Museum.  Centre place however is reserved for her famous Michelle Obama Quilt that tells of Mrs Obama’s ancestral connections to the area.  

I was granted permission to photograph these quilts when we visited the Gullah Museum, which is well worth the effort, especially if you sit a while with very friendly and informed docents to really appreciate Gullah history.  Not in Georgetown?  Then read a little about the history here on Wiki.

My understanding, simplistically, is that the whole plantation system revolved around the use of slave labour and many slaves were brought in from West Africa to cultivate crops of rice, tobacco, indigo and sea island cotton.  African people brought into the Low Country during colonial times developed their own creole language and maintained a culture rich with African influences. I found this interesting Pinterest site with lots of exciting examples of Gullah art; not quilting but very inspirational anyway.  

Stop by the Museum in Georgetown to discover the joy of story-telling and quilts.

Many Layers of Blue

Atlantic ICW #1

Beaufort, SC 18-20 Apr 2018

From the Bahamas, we hit the US East coast running, with a plan to “do” the complete ICW (Intra-coastal Waterway) between Lake Worth (Florida) and Chesapeake Bay (Virginia).  Our other challenge was to stop over in places we’d not visited before.  The textile search was on again, however, if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that many small communities don’t have/can’t sustain patchwork suppliers.  I can see why mail order is such a big deal in the US.  That said, I discovered a few interesting textile facts along the way.  So, all was not lost.

A well-kept Townhouse in historic Beaufort, SC...nice blue (just not indigo)

Let’s start in Beaufort, South Carolina.  Located on Port Royal Island, it dates from 1512 and was once a busy hub for Low Country produce.  Its delightful riverside setting drew many plantation owners who built townhouses, leaving for us today an inspiring collection of antebellum mansions. 

Did you know that the State Colour of South Carolina is indigo?  

Flag of South Carolina; public domain image on Wikipedia.

The Beaufort History Museum is located at the historic Arsenal (1798) and it's brimming over with informative exhibits.  Whilst rice was the colony’s economic mainstay building great personal fortunes, indigo is considered the crop that grew the colony in terms of land and population.  Eliza Lucas in 1742 (at the age of 16) is credited with successfully cultivating indigo.  Woad, as it was also known, was well established and growing commercially between 1747-1800.  Indigo production was greatly enhanced by indigo slaves who understood the complex task of processing the dye. 

Facts all learned from our friendly guide at the Beaufort History Museum.  Time well spent!

Indigo dyed fabrics

Spinning Wheel at the Beaufort History Museum