Annual Lands End Woodland River Festival: Honoring Our Heritage - Protecting Our Legacy

The Annual Lands End Woodland River Festival “Honoring Our Heritage – Protecting Our Legacy” is Labor Day weekend!

The 15th Lands End Woodland River Festival kicks off on August 30th, and ends August 31st! The festival is a two‑day family-friendly and multicultural event celebrating the ancestry of the Gullah families who purchased hundreds of acres of the Lands End Woodland on St. Helena Island in the 1920’s. The River Festival has become an annual favorite for residents and visitors looking to enjoy cultural festivities amid the rich history of St. Helena Island over the Labor Day weekend.

On Friday, August 30th, join the fun from 3 pm til midnight for a Caribbean Night fish fry with reggae music on the river banks alongside the historic tabby ruins of the Riverside Plantation. (next to Fort Fremont)

On Saturday, August 31st, the all-day festival will be held from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., featuring master storyteller, Aunt Pearlie Sue of the Gullah Kinfolk, African drummers, dancers, the Family Sliders, gospel choirs, and step teams. Family fun will also include local arts and crafts, food vendors, and tours of the historic tabby ruins of the former Riverside Plantation, Fort Fremont and the historic Penn Center, Inc.

The Lands End Woodland, Inc. is the oldest African-American landowners association in South Carolina now operated by descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. Members or heirs of the Woodland organization continue to work to conserve the historic 320 acres of desirable woodland and waterfront property in partnership with the Center for Heirs Property Preservation (www.heirsproperty.org).

River Festival Admission is $3 for Adults; children (12 and under) free. Free parking. The Woodland beachfront property is located at 100 Lands End Road, six miles south of Penn Center on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive on St. Helena Island.