National Park Service

Gullah Heritage Programs

Through March 27, 2010

Cultural programs, from craft demonstrations to musical performances. Schedule is as follows:

Feb. 20: Sharon & Frank Murray, rice production

Paul & Loretta Hromoga, indigo dyeing
Elijah Ford, sweetgrass basket demonstration

Feb. 27:

Ann Caldwell & the Magnolia Singers, spirituals

Mar. 6: Veronica Gerald & Jesse Gant, Gullah cooking demonstration

With the end of 2009 fastly approaching, we decided to take a look at the upcoming festivals that will be taking place around Charleston in 2010. As one would expect of a premier destination, Charleston is equally appreciated for its uniquely artistic culture. It’s hard to discuss Charleston without mentioning the popular the Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festivals, the Southeastern Wildlife Convention, and the wildly popular Cooper River (10K) Bridge Run, which collectively speak to the spirit and personality of our fun loving community. The highly-anticipated 3rd annual Charleston Fashion Week is also scheduled for March 16-20. Although there has only been two previous events, CFW has quickly become one of the most popular celebrations in the fashion industry on the East Coast. Charleston is also internationally renowned for its large collection of award winning restaurants and an overarching culture of culinary creativity, which is no surprise considering Charleston’s large and diverse community of artists and creatives. And with the sophisticated shops and galleries of the King Street shopping district (including Saks Fifth Avenue, the Orient Express Charleston Place, and other destination shops), the artisan stalls of Market Street no longer dominate the Charleston shopping experience. With an approximate population of just 115,000, the City of Charleston comprises about one fifth of Greater Charleston’s estimated half million residents, but it is unquestionably “downtown” to all Greater Charlestonians no matter which town or municipality collects our taxes. This is partly due to the tight proximity of the towns, but it’s mostly a reflection of the unusually high degree of unity that exists across the Greater Charleston area.

Due to the narrow marshland of Beresfords Creek, Daniel Island is in fact a true inland island, though by road it feels more like a river-delta peninsula, similar to one that forms downtown Charleston. If you click over to the satellite setting for the map below, and zoom out, you’ll see what we mean. Daniel Island is the southeastern most tip of Berkeley County and has it’s own distinct “town” culture. But despite being separated by two rivers and the municipalities of North Charleston to the west and Mount Pleasant to the right, Daniel Island is actually part of the City of Charleston. To locals, the island was always that massive unpopulated, unreachable ”new world” just off the north side of the old Cooper River bridges. It just sat there for decades serving mostly as farmland, but looking every bit like the mysterious frontier the original explorers would have found… just as the first picture reveals. There simply wasn’t any easy way to get there, unless you wanted to drive north to jump the Cooper River just outside of Moncks Corner, and that can be an hour-long trek.

All that began to change in 1990 when the Mark Clark Expressway (I-526) and its dual deep water bridges gave birth to the pristine island town. In 1997 the Island was purchased by the Daniel Island Company who immediately established their master plan community to award winning status. Aside from the mostly rural northbound Clements Ferry Road, the island’s only road access is by way of the Mark Clark Expressway, and while the island still feels very remote, it’s just 15 to 20 minutes from downtown when the traffic is light, and just a 5 minute bridge hop from the Long Point Road retail district of Mount Pleasant. Over the past decade, Daniel Island has evolved as a 21st century small town community a legitimate resort feel. The Island has nearly every luxury amenity one would expect from an affluent island community on the South Carolina coast, golf, yachting, restaurants, you name it, they probably have it. Adding to the unique island town feel are Bishop England High School, Charleston’s largest  Private High School (a 3A powerhouse in the public high school league), and BlackBaud Soccer Stadium, which is home to the Charleston Battery professional soccer team. And for a legitimate crowning jewel, the community boasts the Daniel Island Tennis Complex, host of the Family Circle Cup, a nationally televised professional tour event.

A Christmas tree befitting Tokyo ’s nighttime neon display is projected onto the exterior of the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka.

The world’s largest Christmas tree display rises up the slopes of Monte Ingino outside of Gubbio, in Italy ’s Umbria region. Composed of about 500 lights connected by 40,000 feet of wire, the ‘tree’ is a modern marvel for an ancient city