Black History Adventure

Day One

• Fly into Charlotte Airport.
• Drive to the Olde English District and tour Historic Brattonsville (travel time 1 hour).
• Enjoy lunch and shopping at the Gaffney Outlets (travel time 1 hour).
• Travel to the Greenville Cultural Exchange Center.  Experience the stories of Greenville’s African-American community through vintage photographs, letters, books and a diverse collection of African-American memorabilia.
• On to the Pendleton District for the African-American Walking Tour.
• Travel to Greenwood for dinner and accommodations (travel time 1 hour).

Day Two

• Drive to Aiken to visit Redcliffe Plantation where James Henry Hammond once lived - former United States Congressman, Governor of South Carolina, United States Senator (travel time 1 hr 15 min).
• Travel to Columbia, where you will hop aboard the Historic Foundation’s Trolley Tour of 25 African-American sites (travel time 1 hour).
• Enjoy lunch at the Big Apple. A dance by this name originated here and swept the country.
• Tour the SC State Museum with the curator of African American history.
• Check into one of Columbia’s many fine hotels…freshen up and venture out to the Vista for an evening of shopping, dining and entertainment.

Day Three

• Travel to Orangeburg (travel time 1 hour).
• Explore South Carolina State University’s collection of African and African American art at the I. P. Stanback Museum.
• Depart college and take a self-guided tour of the Historical Orangeburg Cemetery where some of Orangeburg’s most famous African-American are at rest.
• Depart the city of Orangeburg and head to the Pee Dee area (travel time 1 hr. 30 min).
• Begin at the Columns, the last working plantation in the area, for a catered lunch and a tour.
• Tour African American sites at Mars Bluff - Sites to include: Ditch Bank, Rice Fields, Swept Yards, and a Tenant House.
• Travel to the Grand Strand and hop on board the Carolina Safari Jeep Tour –take a tour in a roomy, customized, safari-style jeep and learn of the African-American heritage in the Myrtle Beach area.
• Check into hotel of choice. Enjoy an evening of dining, shopping, and live entertainment…including songs from well known artists as Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.

Day Four

• Travel to the Historic Charleston area. Charleston has been voted the Most Mannerly City in the U.S. 13 years in a row (travel time 1 hr).
• Begin at Boone Hall Plantation. This 17th-century rice and cotton plantation features nine of 27 original slave homes built for house servants 1790-1810.
• Drive through Sullivan’s Island, which historian’s have called the “Ellis Island” for the estimated 200,000 enslaved Africans.
• Travel up the Ashley River National Scenic Byway for a visit  to one of the many plantation homes in the Charleston Area (Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Drayton Hall and Middleton Place) to hear living history interpretations of the Colonial Period.
• Enjoy lunch at City Market to enjoy the unique shopping opportunities and browse for a hand-made sweetgrass basket.
• After lunch and shopping in the City Market area, begin the afternoon with one of the many guided Ethnic Tours.
• Check into hotel of choice.
• Enjoy dinner at one of the many restaurants in the Charleston area.

Day Five

• Travel to Beaufort, the “Gateway to the Lowcountry” (travel time 2 hours).
• Begin the afternoon with a visit to Penn Center---the first school for freed slaves in the South and where Martin Luther King, Jr. planned his "I Have A Dream" speech.  Enjoy an authentic Gullah.
• Stop by the Red Piano Too Gallery, presenting work from more than 150 folk artists.
• Tour St. Helena Island with one of our knowledgeable step-on-guides for a glimpse of the rich Gullah culture in this area today.
• Take a carriage ride with a tour guide to learn about Robert Smalls and to see the many glamorous homes of Beaufort.
• Head to Bluffton (travel time 20 minutes) and tour the historic town, originally settled by Native American tribes who lived off the plentiful oysters, clams and shrimp in local waterways. 
• "Shop 'til you drop" at Tanger Outlets I & II or enjoy a concert featuring story-telling and music of the Gullah people.
• Check into a local hotel.
• Dine in the historic town of Bluffton or Hilton Head Island. 

Day Six

• Board the ferry for a Daufuskie Island Historical/Cultural Tour (Only accessible by boat). Experience the culture of the Sea Islands of South Carolina.
• Lunch of choice.
• Head home.