The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. They number over 100, and are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of the U.S. states of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They are noted historically for their distinct Gullah/Geechee Creole-type culture and language and currently for rapid resort, recreational, and residential development.
During the American Civil War, the Union Navy and the Union Army occupied the islands early in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed, largely running their own lives (as they already had much of the time, since plantation families often stayed on the mainland to avoid malaria and isolation). This changed after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When the proclamation went into effect, military officers read it to them and told them they were free. (However, it was technically not until the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S Constitution was ratified that the blacks would actually be free, due to the fact that Southerners ignored the Emancipation Proclamation.)
Port Royal Island - From the 1600s until the American Civil War, Port Royal Island was the geographical area for St. Helena Parish and the town of Beaufort, the cultural center for the wealthy planters in the area.
