Need to know guide to Charleston’s cultural heritage for newcomers

If you’ve just removed the real estate sign from the front of your new Charleston home, you’re a bona fide “comeya,” to borrow a popular Gullah assessment of recent arrivals.

And it means you have some catching up to do. There are, after all, more than three and a half centuries of local culture and traditions to the Charleston area, which gives serious legs to the much-bandied hashtag “If you know, you know.”

And if you’re a “beenya,” the Gullah term for families having been around a century or so, we hope you’ll appreciate this roundup of 25 need-to-know influences that sprung in Charleston, and as often influenced culture throughout the country. Because we know you will want to know.

Rice cultivation and cuisine

When 17th-century settlers crossed the Atlantic Ocean, they were all about agriculture, determining rice best suited the conditions. It became the center of its agricultural industry, and the base of its cuisine.

Gullah culture

Enslaved West Africans brought their culture to the Sea Islands, and it has abided today in Charleston in language, music, practices, and of course, artisan hallmarks like the signature sweetgrass baskets. In recent years, the Grammy Award-winning group Ranky Tanky has amplified Gullah on the international stage.

Pronunciations

When it comes to saying a name right, it’s best not to rely on assumptions. Some streets to consider: Charlestonians know that Huger Street sounds like U-gee, Legare is Le-GREE and Vanderhorst is van-DROSS.

Plantation architecture

Newcomers frequently wonder what is up with the slim profile of the Charleston single house, flanked by a side piazza and jutting, one room after the next, to the back of the lot. Designed to fit the parcels — and not related to taxes as many believe — that’s just the way it was and is. Cooling breezes may have been involved.

Indigo

Like rice, indigo emerged in Charleston for its potential profits, with Eliza Lucas Pinckney revolutionizing it in the early 1700s with the use of enslaved labor. In Charleston today, contemporary textile artists such as Arianne King Comer continue to celebrate the iconic blue hue.

Historic tourism

With all its historic riches, Charleston in the early 20th century began highlighting its architecture and centuries-old history as a tourist attraction well before other American destinations. Today, history — the ante-Revelutionary War-bellum and the ante-Civil War-bellum — remains among the main reasons visitors are drawn to the city.

Charleston Renaissance

A post-Reconstruction Charleston found its mojo when artists like Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, writers like DuBose Heyward, preservationists and others used the city as its muse. From 1915 to 1940, the so-called Charleston Renaissance beguiled visitors in droves to see for themselves.

Porgy and Bess

Based on Charleston native Heyward’s 1925 novel Porgy, the 1935, Charleston-set American opera with music by George Gershwin and a libretto by Heyward and Ira Gershwin has become an iconic, if complex, work in the operatic canon — with “Summertime” one of the most covered songs in history.

Breakthrough art

Some of the 20th century’s s standout artists have local ties. South Carolinian Jasper Johns owned a home on Edisto Island in the 1950s and 1960s. Charleston native Shepard Fairey, of the Obama “Hope” poster, remains involved in the local arts scene. Digital artist Beeple of the $69.3 million NFT sale hosts massive happenings at his Cainhoy studio.

Jazz bonafides

Started in 1892 by the Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins, the Jenkins Orphanage Bands toured the United States and Europe, infusing the music with West African rhythms, prompting some to consider its role as the “second cradle of jazz,” rivalled only by New Orleans.

Spirituals and gospel

South Carolina’s official state music, gospel, finds its origins in enslaved spirituals like the Gullah-Geechee “Kumbaya.” The genre is defined by call-and-response, rhythmic hand-clapping and percussive foot-stomping, which evolved into gospel music.

Religious diversity

Charleston has long embraced residents practicing diverse religions. Its Jewish community, for instance, dates back to 1690, and the 1749 founding of the reform synagogue Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim makes it one of the oldest congregations in the country.

The Shag

The perennially popular state dance of Carolina with 4/4 blues shuffle was powered by beach music, the easy-on-the-ears tunes of 1950s and ’60s bands like Chairmen of the Board and the Tams — and became a national trend.

Pat Conroy

The beloved Carolina scribe of works including The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline and The Water Is Wide helped introduce millions to Lowcountry life, with some of his stories inspiring blockbuster film adaptations.

Spoleto Festival USA

Since 1977, the annual Spoleto Festival USA has earned status as one of the Southeast’s premier cultural events. The 17-day international, multidisciplinary arts festival of opera, music, dance, theater and music has cemented Charleston’s prominent place in the cultural world.

Military innovation

Since the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, military innovation has been a hallmark of the region. Another revolutionary, Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, famously used guerilla tactics to attack and escape capture, often hiding in the swamps. During the Civil War, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was the first to sink an enemy ship.

Screen time

Charleston continues to serve as the backdrop for television, from its riotous run of The Righteous Gemstones powered by Charleston-area resident Danny McBride, to frequent locations for the recently wrapped Outer Banks, and yes, the ever-present, frequently debated Southern Charm.

The Battle of Sullivan’s Island

An early patriot triumph over the British Royal Navy in the American Revolution, the Battle of Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776, was led by Col. William Moultrie. Today, Charleston celebrates the inspiring victory as Carolina Day.

Pre-Civil War nullification crisis

Before the start of the Civil War, South Carolina was a key player in splitting country, powering the secessionist movement with the Ordinance of Nullification that declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state, launching the nullification crisis. A generation later, South Carolina became the first state to secede and fire the first shots of the war in which 1.5 million people were killed, wounded, missing, captured or sickened.

Black S.C. leaders

For centuries, Black South Carolinians have reached the national political arena. After escaping enslavement during the Civil War, Robert Smalls served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, Congressman James E. Clyburn, whose district includes significant parts of the Lowcountry, remains a powerful voice in the Democratic party.

Civil rights education

Civil rights leader Septima P. Clark helped Black adults attain basic literacy to pass discriminatory voting literacy tests. The first of these “citizenship schools,” opened in 1957 with Esau Jenkins and Bernice Robinson, was at the Johns Island Progressive Club. The movement spread across the South and led to voter registration among tens of thousands of Black Americans to soar throughout the South.

Southern cuisine

The chefs and tastemakers of the Lowcountry helped to expand Southern cuisine, borrowing from time-honored local culinary traditions to serve popular dishes like shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, hoppin’ john, Frogmore stew and Carolina Gold rice.

Barbecue

South Carolinians take their barbecue seriously, including its sauces. It’s home to four styles: mustard; vinegar; light tomato and heavy tomato, which can be more or less tied to different parts of the state.

Golf

America’s perennially popular game of golf got its stateside start in downtown Charleston. In 1786, the game was first played at Harleston Green, between Calhoun and Beaufain streets, by way of South Carolina Golf Club with equipment imported from Scotland.

Preservation and beautification

A post-Reconstruction Charleston benefited from a focused gussying-up, thanks to the 1920 establishment of the pioneering Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings, now the Preservation Society of Charleston, and the 1922 founding of Garden Club of Charleston, both still going strong. In 1947, Historic Charleston Foundation joined the effort.

For more fun facts about Charleston, check out the City Paper’s 350 Facts about Charleston: charlestonfacts.com.