Sweetgrass Gullah Connection

 In loving memory of our dear mother, Ethel "Catherine" Graddick Wigfall 

                   March 1924-February 1996 

Our mother made sweetgrass baskets for over 69 years.  She put love into every stitch. 

*****************************************************

Nakia Wigfall giving a sweetgrass basket presentation/demonstration in Hilton Head, SC.

She is a 5th Generation Sweetgrass Basketmaker. She learned this culture/living history from her mother.  Nakia

is proud to pass this bloodline 300 + year old tradition to her children.

Nakia's Dad, Henry Wigfall

sits along Highway 17 N (across from Snee Farms) sewing and selling his sweetgrass baskets

Below: Henry Wigfall sewing a bread basket

***********************************

Nakia's sister, Willie Mae Jackson is also a 5th generation sweetgrass basketmaker 
Nakia's daughter, Yvonna "Nikki" Jeffcoat, Harvesting  sweetgrass. She is a 6th generation sweetgrass basketmaker.

Nakia's great grandmother, Maggie Mazyck was a flower lady and a seagrass basketmaker. She sold flowers and baskets in the City of Charleston. One of her designs below is in Grass Roots: An African Origin of an American Art Exhibition

 Maggie's sewing basket has a silk fabric sewn inside and a smaller basket to hold sewing materials. This 100 plus year old basket is part the Royall's Sweetgrass Basket Collection 

                         LET'S KEEP THIS LEGECY ALIVE

Please help protect and preserve these basketmaking materials:  sweetgrass, long leaf pineneedles, palmetto and bulrush...

Let's keep the Tradition alive among the descendants of African Slaves

If you would like to make a donation, please send it to:

Sweetgrass Gullah Connection

PO Box 211

Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465

All donations will go towards educating future generations to produce, protect and preserve this legacy of the Gullah culture.