The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was designated by the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act, passed by Congress Oct. 12, 2006. Map: North Carolina Gullah Geechee Greenway/Blueway Heritage Trail Project
A grassroots effort to connect the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor with the East Coast Greenway in Brunswick County will receive assistance from the National Park Service.
The project was one of 14 recently selected out of 30 applications from communities throughout the South Atlantic-Gulf region by the National Park Service, which will provide consultation services to bolster recreation, conservation and economic development opportunities within the communities chosen.
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What s being called one of the most important historic structures in Wilmington will soon have a plan for its preservation and restoration.
That was the main focus of a press conference held Wednesday by the Historic Wilmington Foundation at Giblem Lodge, 720 Princess St. Built in 1871, the three-story, white-and-blue structure has, since its construction, housed an order of Black Freemasons who meet there to this day.
It s the second-oldest Black Masonic Temple in North Carolina after one in New Bern.
The building has fallen into disrepair over the years, something that John Jeremiah Sullivan a Wilmington-based author and historian with multiple book titles to his credit and bylines in the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker said is perverse given the structure s historical import.
A proposed trail project would help commemorate the culture and history of the Gullah Geechee people in Brunswick County.
The Gullah Geechee Heritage Trail proposal includes a greenway for walking and biking that would link Navassa with Southport and a blueway for canoes and kayaks along the Cape Fear River. It was proposed by the Brunswick County NAACP.
Brunswick County is home to many sites that have cultural and historic significance for the Gullah Geechee people, said Brayton Willis, chairman of the Brunswick NAACP s environmental and climate justice committee. Willis has led advocacy efforts for the trail.
Willis sees historic Gullah Geechee events and landmarks like Reaves Chapel in Navassa, Leland s rice festival and the locations of rice plantations along the Cape Fear River as important history.