Revealing Charleston's roots

CHARLESTON - In 1670 a number of Barbadian planters and many of their slaves sailed up the Ashley River and landed at what is today Charles Towne Landing.

Bringing with them art, culture, architecture and more from the British colony in the Caribbean, those early settlers left a legacy still most visible today in the grand homes on the peninsula that sport sweeping verandas to the more humble Charleston Single House, which many historians have traced to Barbados, to the sweetgrass baskets made and sold in the Lowcountry.

This weekend the Barbadian Consulate will present a series of events to highlight the historical connections between the two places.

"Five of the first six South Carolina governors came from Barbados or descended from Barbadians," Barbados Deputy Consul General Philip St. Hill said. "Barbados is very proud of this connection."

Kicking off Thursday with educational presentations for approximately 800 Charleston County School District students at Magnolia Plantation the Barbados Comes Back to Charleston, S.C. 2011 weekend is filled with events designed to mingle the Barbadian diaspora and U.S., especially Charleston, residents and build connections and relationships.

Public events planned for the weekend get underway at 5 p.m. at Founders Hall in Charles Towne Landing with a lecture on the Barbados/Charleston connection by Sir Hilary Beckles of the University of the West Indies.  

On Friday the Consulate will host an opening reception at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston.

Highlighting the many similarities, connections and the diversion of the cultures of Barbados and the Carolinas, the Bridgetown Market will run 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Charles Towne Landing. The market will include artisans, vendors and entertainers from Barbados and from throughout the S.C. Heritage Corridor, which stretches 240 miles across South Carolina from the mountains to the coast.

After the market closes the consulate will host an award dinner and gala at the Embassy Suites beginning at 7 p.m. to honor several people and organizations involved in making the weekend happen or that are engaged in uncovering and promoting the shared history of the two former colonies.

The shared history between Barbados and Charleston laid dormant and largely forgotten for many years until historians began rediscovering it in the 1980s, St. Hill said. Since that time a lot of scholarship has been devoted to the issue. In 1997 Charleston entered a twinning relationship with Speightstown, Barbados, and when Charles Towne Landing was renovated and reopened in 2006 the links to Barbados were given a prominent place in the story of settling Charleston.

"It is coming back to Charleston in more than one sense," St. Hill said. "It is back from 1670, and back from all the cultural exchanges that we have had in recent years."

West Ashley resident, and native Barbadian Rhoda Green, who is also an Honorary Consul with the Barbadian Consulate, helped organize the weekend with staff from the consulate office in Miami, Fla. A Charleston resident since 1978 and deeply involved in various community boards and activities centering around historical preservation, Green said this event in much larger and broader in scope than previous events held in the area that recognized Charleston's Barbados connection.

"This is a great opportunity to educate people about how the historical connections fit together," Green said.

From architecture to links to the Gullah language to art to the sweetgrass baskets the Lowcountry is famous for to genealogical research, there are a vast number of connections between the places that people can learn about and from, Green said.

The weekend closes Sunday with a Thanksgiving Service at 10 a.m. at the hotel followed by a town hall style meeting that will focus in part on expanding connections between Charleston and Barbados in the tourism and small business sectors.

Finally a farewell reception is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday at Middleton Place.