It would be a shame if the island lost its history.

BTW, that meal sounded delightful. I can see myself enjoying it on a lazy summer day. Glorious.....

When the resorts came in, the investors snapped up everything they could. You really would need to hit the lotto to buy up any land there now.

during the 07-08 Crash. The latest I saw was that they closed down one of the two golf courses but I don't know if one of the hedge funds invested in the island since the crash and maybe the prices have come back a bit. It's so hard to get there...you'd really want privacy to live full time out there. But, it's beautiful for a day trip.

I had to use a translator because the great-grandmother only spoke Gullah. It was surreal in some ways because she was very "traditional" in the way she interacted with white people. There are few people who still speak the language and it is destined to die shortly, which is sad. You can find children's books in the Market in Charleston which teach Gullah with African folktales.

"Because of a period of relative isolation in rural areas, the Gullah developed a culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage from various peoples, as well as absorbing new influences from the region. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Properly referred to as "Sea Island Creole," the Gullah language is related to Jamaican Patois, Barbadian Dialect, Bahamian Dialect, Trinidadian Creole,Belizean Creole and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, rice-based cuisine, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming, and fishing traditions all exhibit strong influences from West and Central African cultures."

When you were in college, was that a long time ago? I wonder how many people still speak it. It's a shame to lose one's history. I was talking yesterday to a Jewish friend and she was commenting that almost no one speaks Yiddish anymore. It's becoming a lost language.

This was probably 89-90 because I was a RA (resident assistant) and was helping direct people to their residence halls. When I first heard her speak, I assumed it was a deep accent. I am born and bred Southern, with the accent to match, but there are parts of the South where the accents are extremely deep as to be almost unintelligible. Southern accents vary from state to state, and region to region. When we lived in New Orleans, I was identifiably Southern, but not of Louisiana extraction. Gullah sounds really fast, but it is mainly because the words flow into one another. I used to know a few words, but have since forgot them.

Yiddish is definitely dying as well. On my dad's side of the family, his age and younger, don't know Yiddish. Their parents refused to teach them. They wanted their children to be "Americans" and not Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, etc. My grandparents and that generation all spoke Yiddish fluently. Yiddish is still somewhat popular in Eastern Europe, but I don't know to what extent.

I wonder if anyone still speaks it. Pity that these two languages are dying. Some of the native Americans languages are also in danger of becoming extinct. It's a shame.

There is an upsurge in those interested in dying languages of their respective cultures. While living in New Orleans, there was commercial after commercial for lessons on learning French Creole. There were classes to learn Cajun. There are commercials here in Oklahoma in Cherokee, Delaware, and Pawnee. There are a number of drives to teach the community those languages. Even Ladino (though not entirely accurate, think: Spanish/Arabic Yiddish) is having a revival of sorts in Israel and some Jewish communities in the US, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Turkey. Israel and Turkey officially recognize it as a language.

This is not the best, but it was the one I could find the most easily; here is Gullah (you need Quicktime to hear): http://gullahtours.com/gullah/hear-and-read-gullah

Thanks for all the information.

Somehow, it got lent to someone and never returned, or lost in a move; we used to play it all the time years ago, over and over. But it was sort of fake Gullah: tales told by a folklorist for whom it had not been anything close to a native language.

My husband is a native of Charleston, and his relatives claimed that when he was a little boy, he spoke mainly Gullah. His mother (a single, divorced woman) ran a five-and-dime store, and would bring her young son there while she worked all day. Since the clientele was mostly people from the islands, these were the main people he interacted with. When I met him, 20 years later, when we were both students in New York, he still fell into some expressions at times. He would speak to our dog: whachou be doin' heah wit yo bad sef? (Note: he's not from the sea islands; he's a white Jewish boy from town!)

At any rate, back in the early 1970s or so, when we were down there, I asked my husband to take me to hear some real Gullah. He said we should drive out to Jim Island (the local name for James Island)—or now that I think of it, it was maybe Wadmalaw, or Johns Island. At any rate, we kept driving and eventually got hopelessly lost, with not a soul in sight to ask. We finally pulled over and, like something out of a novel, an extremely tall, elegant, but very country black man appeared as if out of nowhere. We jumped out of the car to ask him directions ... and, OMG! I couldn't understand a single word of what he was saying! But it was a beautiful, singsong creole, in a deep basso, wondrous to encounter. I was happy that, finally, by accident, I'd gotten to hear some real Gullah.

Now I'm curious to hear it spoken. I wonder if there any recordings out there that one can listen to.

Last edited Wed Mar 26, 2014, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

It's a common story. Developers built a couple of resorts and golf courses on the island and property values went through the roof. The residents who owned their land mostly sold their properties and dispersed onto the mainland. Those who didn't own the land were just chased out by landlords and higher prices. There are still a few left today, but not many.

Jimmy Buffett wrote a song about the island back in the early 1990's mourning the loss of its history (I only know that because my mom is a HUGE Buffett fan, and I've probably heard the song 50 times).

I hate when urbanization destroys places like this island. Some area should be preserved for historical purposes.

I am (well was) a huge Parrothead about a decade ago and have never heard this. What song? Being from the region, I would LOVE to put this together...

The name of the song is The Prince of Tides.

I could hum the tune off the top of my head, but I had to look up the title and album.

Some of the lyrics:

African drums are silent and the Wingos
are poets at last
Out on Dafuskie Island, the bulldozers
bury the past
And the low country sinks, she cannot swim
the dogwood feels the hurt
While the foursome plays on borrowed days in
their alligator shirts

Now I realize who killed the Prince of Tides
How can you tell how it used to be
When there's nothing left to see

One of my favorites .

I hope you enjoy it.

Pat Conroy wrote the book about his teaching experiences there in the 1960's. That's how he "broke through" as a writer.

Edited to add: Ah, somebody beat me by 2 minutes!

Thanks to both of you.

Last edited Wed Mar 26, 2014, 10:45 AM - Edit history (2)

I might look for it myself to rewatch. As I remember it captured that time very well. I grew up in the Lowcountry (which that area of SC/GA Coast is called) and most of us had a very different accent because of the Gullah influence in our culture which was mostly agricultural.

I'll see if I find the movie. Netflix should have it.

Just sent this to a friend who is an expert on creole languages.

I'm going to do more research on this island. Unfortunately, it appears that developers have gotten to it and much of the old ways are disappearing.

It's very close to Hilton Head but accessible only by water taxi.

An unfortunate "legend" around that area is that "Daufuskie" is a bastardization of "The First Key".

I think that I may try to plan a trip around that part of the country. I don't know that area at all.

Charleston too.

Should be some good photos and info on the travel sites.

Last edited Wed Mar 26, 2014, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)

"the first key" would be pronounced in Gullah. I used to be able to speak it pretty well...but having not lived there in so long...I only could speak it again if I was around others to pick it back up.

I read a lot more, I was a veritable bookworm, when I was not so involved with the internet. I must confess that I spend more time now on the internet than reading books.