A Powerful Story of Perseverance:
The Proud Legacy of the Geechee People of Sapelo Island
In 2021, the studio had the opportunity to work on the Sagewood masterplan, a project spanning some 700 acres in Putnam county Georgia. Given the client’s African American roots and his generational ties to Georgia, a core tenet of the effort early on was to explore ways in which Black history and culture might be embedded within the plan and the design of its various features in as authentic a way as possible. Shape, form, materiality were all obvious considerations as the conceptualization of architecture and site elements came into focus. However, it was the integration of two key programmatic elements geared toward building the revenue generating capacity of the plan which offered the most tangible, and valuable opportunity for the integration of black history and culture –
The Pecan Orchard – conceived as an opportunity for research and collaboration with UGA, touches on the little known fact that the proliferation of the pecan industry began at the hands of a Louisiana slave named Antoine.
And the Distillery – envisioned to develop Rum flavored with locally sourced pecans, and sugarcane syrup imported from the cane crops of Sapelo Island off of the Georgia coast. Home of the Geechee people – a small group of African Americans who, as their ancestors before them, still work the land there to this day. READ ABOUT THEM HERE:
It was and continues to be an honor to work on a project with such profound ties to the proud traditions of African Americans and their contributions they made and continue to make to this country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/dining/sapelo-island-sugar-cane-syrup.html