SC Native Pathways
Visitors Guide to American Indian Heritage & Historic Sites in South Carolina
PROJECT PURPOSE
Travel and tourism is a $14 billion a year industry in South Carolina. More than 32 million people travel to the Palmetto State each year, making us one of the nation's strongest visitor destinations. Yet many have not been able to locate information about the Native American Indian experience in South Carolina. Many visitors are interested in also seeing the first Americans of this Palmetto state but found that information hard to locate.
This website, SC Native Pathways: Visitors Guide to American Indian Heritage & Historic Sites in South Carolina, was created to provide information to the general public and potential visitors about authentic heritage experiences and locations, and create a central resource that makes it easier to explore more of South Carolina's Native American Indian heritage and culture and discover more of the Palmetto State's unique social history, culture and natural wonders. It is designed to inform potential visitors looking for the authentic Native American Indian experience, as a part of their visit to South Carolina.
The website is part of a larger project, SC Native Pathways: Visitors Guide to American Indian Heritage & Historic Sites in South Carolina. This project is individuals, scholars, and Native groups and tribes working towards the preservation of our cultural and natural heritage for future generations through identification of our historic sites, properties and locations.
The SC Native Pathways project and the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois & United Tribes of South Carolina, Inc. are working to restore culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets owned by SC tribes- be they land, human potential, cultural heritage, or natural resources - and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native communities by helping to develop Native Heritage Tourism destinations and by providing the Native American Indians with assistance in the development of their own potential historically significant sites.
We hope that this project will result in increasing activities in Native American Indian heritage tourism in South Carolina and in expansion of public and private partnerships for heritage tourism. We expect that this expansion in the "niche market" of Native American Indian heritage tourism in SC, will foster development, conservation, and implementation of historical, cultural, and natural heritage tourism attractions or appropriate activities and events throughout the state of South Carolina.
Over the years, we have gotten a lot of mail asking us to recommend locations in South Carolina where people visit Native sites or communities, or where can they buy authentic regionally made American Indian arts and crafts. We had few places to send them that is representative of the diversity of the Native American Indian Tribes of South Carolina. Catawba Cultural Preservation Project was one of best places to refer people to, but it primarily only carries Catawba items and tells the Catawba Story. There are so many diverse Native American Indian tribal stories to be told in South Carolina from various different tribal and geographic areas.
Another important reason that "SC Native Pathways: Visitors Guide to American Indian Heritage & Historic Sites in South Carolina" was created, was to restore dignity and self-reliance to these Native communities that rely on their annual festivals, Powwows, and the sale of their art for subsistence.
The South Carolina American Indian Heritage Tourism Committee plans to work closely with the, SC Archives and History Center, The Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, The SC Commission for Minority Affairs-American Indian Advisory Committee, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The South Carolina Parks and Recreation, The National Heritage Corridor, and The SC South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to identify, record, recognize, and encourage the preservation of these historic places, helping all South Carolinians to more fully understand and appreciate the contributions of American Indians to the state.
We as a people living on this earth together must be good stewards of what God, the creator, the "Great Spirit" and our forefathers have passed on to us to sustain our lives while we spend our years here. For Native American Indian people the land was sacred and a gift from the creator. We must pass on to our children an environment as good or better to sustain their lives while on this earth. We can only do this through education, cooperation, conservation and stewardship. We can do this by bring honor to our ancestors and celebrating their contributions and by preserving our cemeteries, sacred sites, buildings and historically significant locations.
SC Natve Heritage Tourism Committee.. Welcomes your comments and suggestions for more sites.
To suggest a Native American Indian site for inclusion in this project contact: taygoinres@aol.com
or For further information about this website, please contact Dr. Andrew Yiannakis (ayian@clemson.edu)
SC Tourism Regions|PRTM|SCPRT|Clemson Tourism Institute
