Wando-Huger: A Study of the Impacts of Development on the Cultural Role of Land in Black Communities of the South Carolina Lowcountry

Abstract

The urban footprint along the coast of South Carolina, or Lowcountry, is growing exponentially (Allen and Lu 2003). Much of coastal South Carolina is heirs’ property, land that was purchased by former slaves after emancipation and that has been inherited without a will, creating communal ownership of the land without documentation. The purpose of this study is to better understand the role land plays in Lowcountry slave-descendant culture and its implications for development and cultural preservation. Wando and Huger, communities on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, serve as case studies. Through photographic analysis and personal interviews, this study examines the historic evolution of the role of land in Lowcountry slave-descendant culture; how development impacts that role of land; and what values create place attachment in these historic black communities. This study supports analysis of land and community in Lowcountry slave-descendant culture (Twining and Baird 1991; Jones-Jackson 1987), suggesting these results are representative of other modern slave-descendant communities. Study results indicate that there are five factors that create community identity and place attachment in Wando-Huger: land settlement patterns, family ties, shared historic memory, religion, and education. Land ownership is key to place identity: historically the site of oppression, many slaves bought the very land upon which they were enslaved, thus creating a landscape of freedom. The perpetuation of the unique communal culture developed during slavery depends upon land remaining in an autonomous and contiguous state. Wando-Huger residents are losing their land in ways that are out of their control, whether though forced sale of heirs’ property, outside development interests, or local government decisions in a reenactment of historic disenfranchisement. The interviews and photographic workshops reveal a community rooted in its history with a vision that includes modern development. Implications for preservation and development that incorporates the visions of black residents are discussed.