On the Boone Hall Plantation at present are still standing nine original slave cabins that go back to the 1700's. The day we were there was subtropical heat, and we had to sit under a huge oak just to get the energy to go inside and learn the history of slavery for that part of the country in along ago period of time.
We were surprised to see a woman working over her art, making a basket for the use at the plantation, a traditional Gullah sweet grass basket. This form of artistry was brought over from a group of islands off the coast of South Carolina around the end of the 1600's by the West Africans who had been making these baskets in their homeland. Once here they used the materials at hand, the "sweetgrass'' of the low country to use on the rice plantations as work baskets.
The artisan would not braid or twine the materials, rather they would coil-sew and use the sharp end of a silver spoon that was called a "sewing bone" to make the holes in the coil, as they proceeded. We bought a beautiful sweet grass basket for rice, at one of the homes along the road in Mr. Pleasant, and were thrilled to speak with the artist who now travels the country explaining an art that is very much needed to remain.
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