5th Annual Island Heritage Celebration Takes James Island History to Schools
April 27, 2010
CHARLESTON COUNTY, SC – April 27, 2010 – The 5th Annual IslandHeritage Celebration on May 6-7 will present a history lesson to JamesIsland middle school students through a photo exhibit, “James Island, APlace, A People, A History.”
The exhibit, a collection of ten photographs of some of the island’smost historic sites, will be presented at James Island and Fort Johnsonmiddle schools and accompanied by an overview of the history of theisland, the site of some of the most important chapters in the state’shistory.
This event is one of the first in Charleston County to offer acollaboration between the community and the school system to teach local history.
Carol Leyh, a sixth-grade reading teacher at James Island Middle, said,“The Island Heritage Celebration and photo exhibit fits perfectly withthe sixth-grade reading curriculum and standards. This is an excitingway to end the school year as students learn new information about theLowcountry. This year the students are working with our art teacher TimBrown and me on Lowcountry projects that will be on display. This is awonderful opportunity for our students and community to learn and sharewith one another.”
The authors of books about the island’s history will join the exhibitfor a gallery discussion with students and their teachers. The panel ofwriters and their books are: Margie W. Cleary, Searching for Lights,Doug Bostick, James Island a Brief History; Eugene Frazier, Stories from Slave Descendants; and Geordie Buxton, Images of America – James Island a History.
Five years ago, Eleanor Kinlaw-Ross and an energetic group of peoplelaunched the Island Heritage Festival. News of the event was splashedacross the pages of national magazines, newspapers and on television and radio, luring people to the island from as far away as California,Chicago and New York to join the celebration.
“For the past four years we celebrated many chapters of James Islandhistory with our annual event. From the opening ceremony on the frontsteps of the mansion at McLeod Plantation, to the Porgy House on FollyBeach, and many other historic sites, we have told the history andcelebrated the legacy of beautiful James Island,” Kinlaw-Ross said. “Now on the eve of the fifth annual celebration much has changed, yet onething remains the same, the celebration of the history.”
Herb Frazier, a member of the Island Heritage Celebration board ofdirectors, said, “Younger James Islanders were not participating in this celebration of the island’s history so we made changes. First, we moved the event from June to May when the schools would be open so we couldtake the celebration to the schools.”
Last year the event’s name was changed from Island Heritage Festival toIsland Heritage Celebration to offer a more concentrated focus onpresenting history rather than offering festivities. “We are absolutelyexcited about the new development in our mission to educate people about James Island, especially our young people,” Kinlaw-Ross said.
“As we look forward to the next five years, our goal is to expand ourcollaboration with all of the schools and continue the development ofthe James Island History Trail,” she said. The History Trail was firstmarked in 2006 with the installation of the historic markercommemorating the Civil War Battle of Sol Legare Island, followed byanother historic marker at W. Gresham Meggett School in 2009. The goalof the History Trail is to interpret the history of some of JamesIsland’s most historic sites and create a “talking book” of history forfuture generations.
