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The Low Country

Landscapes are amalgams of the past and present. The Carolina Low Country is especially complex of its rich cultural history stretching from initial seventeenth century settlement to the invasion of recreation seekers in great numbers after World War II to the modern invasion of retiring Baby Boomers. Rice was the primary source of income and raison d'etre for being there until the late nineteenth century and it is difficult to imagine how many of these seemingly untouched marshes were once heavily cultivate rice fields. Charleston became the center of the rice trade, of shipping foods stuffs to the plantations of the Caribbean, as well as having sea island cotton, indigo, hides, and other goods pass through its doors. The end of slavery and the collapse of the rice culture system relegated much of the rural areas to hardscrabble tenant farming and "getting along." The task system of work assignments during slave times meant that the African-heritage population retained far more of their ancient cultural traditions which has brought the evolution of a far richer Afro-European cultural tradition than found elsewhere in the American South.

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The Marsh