Here on St. Helena Island the month of November is filled with excitement and anticipation of the Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration. “Heritage Days Celebration is a three-day cultural event celebrating the Gullah/Geechee/Sea Island history, folk arts, food, music, crafts and West African cultural legacy. Located at Penn Center—formerly the Penn School, one of the first schools for formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants living on St. Helena Island—visitors can experience the unique setting of the 50-acre historic campus of Penn Center.”
Special events for the weekend include demonstrations of West African/Gullah cultural connections, including: • Live cultural demonstrations • Gullah storytellers and re-enactors • Singers, African drummers, and dancers • Educational symposium • Fish fry, crab crack & oyster roast • Back in the Day Jam • Parade • Center stage entertainment • Craft fair • Youth & Family Day with lots of educational "fun fuh de chillun and famlee" (fun for the children and family).
Our family has participated in several of the events offered during ‘Heritage’, from helping with the activities on ‘The Green’, behind the scenes of the Road to Remembrance play, and setting up the artist reception. For the past seven years our greatest focus has been to participate in the ‘Youth and Family Day’ with educational presentations from our farm. We take our ‘friendly fowl’ along with information on presentation boards, an incubator, and other items related to caring for the chickens and ducks. This year we also included plants from the farm to show what we have growing in the field this fall. It is a pleasure to speak with students and teachers from our local schools, homeschool families, families with kids on fall break, and adults who are interested in our farm. Our presentation included a cage with several breeds of hens, a separate cage with our two silkies, a fenced in area we put up for our ducks. In the fenced area we had a large galvanized tub to hold water for the ducks. The information on the posters showed how to identify the types of combs on the chickens, explained egg shell colors, and the development of baby chicks in the egg. To top it all off, we had three-day old baby chicks with us in a makeshift brooder, of course they were a big hit.
We always look forward to participating in Youth and Family Day to provide an opportunity for visitors to see our animals, reminisce about their days caring for chicks, or learning about sustainable homesteads that were common on the island during the time of the Penn School.
