This is an area of strong black communities , descended from slaves, who were given parcels of land when they were freed by the Union army in February 1865 and who speak a dialect known as gullah , an Afro-English patois with many West African words. The Gullah Institute in the Penn Center National Historic District (tel 843/838-2432), off US-21, houses the school started for freed slaves by Charlotte Forten, a black Massachusetts teacher, who remarked, "I have never seen children so eager to learn & the majority learn with wonderful rapidity. Many of the grown people are desirous of learning to read. It is wonderful how a people who have been so long crushed to the earth & can have so great a desire for knowledge, and such a capability for attaining it."

The school was an important retreat for civil rights leaders in the 1960s, used by Dr Martin Luther King Jr's SCLC and others. Set back from the road is a museum containing fascinating old pictures of black fishermen and farmers, plus old tools and shrimp nets, and rattlesnake skins (donation; Tues-Fri 11am-4pm). Nearby, off US-21, the ruined black Chapel of Ease , nestled among the thick Spanish moss, with seashell-adorned interior walls, makes for an interesting visit if you have a half-hour to spare. Before the bridge across to Hunting Island is the Shrimp Shack (March-Dec Mon-Sat 11am-8.30pm; tel 843/838-2962), an excellent fresh seafood joint, where the "shrimp burger" has to be seen to be believed, and should ideally be eaten at one of the trestle tables overlooking the shrimp boats bobbing in the marshy shallows.

St Helena's main beach , nine miles beyond the museum at Hunting Island State Park on the east shore (daily dawn-dusk: $2), can get crowded, but it's simply idyllic: soft white sand, wide and gently shelving, scattered with shards of pearly shells and lined with palmettos, palm trees and sea oats. The water is incredibly warm. Pelicans come in to feed, particularly in the early morning, and the shrimp fleet sails past soon after. You can stay near the beach in weather-beaten cabins backing onto a glassy lagoon full of jumping fat fish, although you need to reserve from a year and a half to two years in advance; for reservations call 843/838-2011. There's also the larger Hunting Island campground: head first to the park office , next to a sluggish pool (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm).