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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.