Ahoy Mateys!Get your sea legs ready and climb

aboard for the next tour of the Southeast

and Gulf states!

States you’ll see…• South Carolina• Georgia• Florida• Alabama• Mississippi

South Carolina“The Palmetto State”

The Coastal Zone• The backwater area has savannahs, marshes,

swampy forests and coastal rivers that rise & fall with the tides.

• 60 miles of sandy beaches from the NC border to Winyah Bay.

• Sea Islands and Barrier Islands.

Gullah HistoryWhat is Gullah?

• Located on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia are communities of people who are the descendants of enslaved Africans. They have a unique culture that is directly linked to West Africa. In South Carolina, this group of African-Americans and the language they speak are referred to as Gullah (Gul-luh). In Georgia, they are called Geechee (Gee-chee). Native Islanders is another term that refers to the Gullah and Geechee people.

• Many historians believe that the word "Gullah" comes from Angola, a West African country from which many of the slaves came. Another idea is that "Gullah" is from the Gola, a tribe found near the border of Liberia and Sierra Leone, West Africa. Although the exact origin of the word is not known, most historians agree that the Gullah people and their language have African roots.

Gullah History

Charleston, SC• The Battery also known as Battery Park is a promenade

along the shores of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers in Charleston.

Charleston’s Museum Mile

Joseph Manigault House Aiken Rhett House

The Powder Magazine(South Carolina’s oldest building)

Postal MuseumNathaniel Russell House

Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon

Edmondston-Alston House

Charleston County Courthouse

Old Slave Mart Museum

William Aiken House

Fort SumterOn January 9, 1861, Citadel cadets fired the first shots of the American Civil War when they opened fire on the Union ship Star of the West entering Charleston's harbor. On April 12, 1861, shore batteries under the command of General Pierre G. T. Beauregard opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor. After a 34-hour bombardment, Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort.

Ashley River Plantations

Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall Interactive Tour

Magnolia Plantation

Magnolia Plantation Video

Middleton Place America’s oldest landscaped gardens

Boone Hall Plantation

Georgia“The Peach State”

Tybee Island

Tybee Lighthouse• built in 1773• can be seen 18 miles out to sea• 178 steps to the top

photo tour

Fort Pulaski

Fort Facts

Union artillery damage

SavannahHistoric Squares• Designed in 1833 by General James Oglethrope• 24 original squares• 21 squares remain

A monument to Savannah's founder, James Edward Oglethrope is in Chippewa Square, 1815

The Wormsloe Fountain sits at the center of Columbia Square

Calhoun Square was one of Savannah's last squares, 1851

Franklin Square, 1790

Savannah Squares

Ogletrope Square, 1742

Johnson Square, 1733

Orleans Square, 1815

Lafayette Square, 1837

Historic Homes of Savannah

Juliette Gordon Low• Born October 31, 1860• March 12, 1912 first meeting of “American Girl Guides”• 18 original members - now there are 4 million members• “American Girl Guides” became “Girl Scouts” the next year• Girl Scouts welcomed girls with disabilities before many other groups• The Girl Scouts of the USA purchased Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace in 1953

Photo Tour

Okefenokee Swamp• 700 square miles

• grasslands• wetlands• lakes• peat bog islands

Florida“The Sunshine State”

St. Augustine – the oldest city in America

Oldest House in Florida Oldest Wooden School House Old Drug Store

City Gates

Juan Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth

Castillo de San Marcos

Castillo Virtual Tour

NASA Kennedy Space Center

NASA interactive map

Everglades National Park• Before there was an Everglades National Park there was Everglades, the

ecosystem. This Everglades has been around for 5,000 years!• Habitats

Wet• Sawgrass Marsh (or Sawgrass Prairie)• Freshwater Slough

Dry• Pine Rocklands• Hardwood Hammock

Animals

Have you ever heard the Everglades referred to as a river of grass?

Well, you can thank Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a former journalist for The Miami Herald newspaper, for giving it that name.

It was this name she used for her book, Everglades: River of Grass, which was published in 1947 the exact same year that the Everglades became a national park. At that time, many people saw the Everglades as a "worthless swamp". Her book helped convince people that the Everglades was a special place worth preserving. She spent much of her life working for Everglades restoration and she lived to be 108 years old!

Pythons in the Park

• For well over a century, exotic snakes have been rumored to prowl the Everglades. Today, however, rumors have turned into reality!

• In recent years, snakes from around the world have been turning up in and around Everglades National Park. Burmese pythons, one of the largest snake species on earth, are now known to be breeding in the park and spreading rapidly. Nearly 1,000 pythons have been removed from the park and surrounding areas since 2002-- likely representing only a fraction of the total population.

• Exotic snakes found in the park often result from their intentional release by pet owners. These introductions can have devastating consequences to our ecosystem. Burmese pythons have been found to feed on a wide variety of birds and mammals in the Everglades-- even an occasional alligator! By preying on native wildlife, and competing with other native predators, pythons are seriously impacting the natural order of our south Florida's ecological communities. Their voracious appetite can further threaten many of the endangered species we're trying so hard to protect.

Key West, FL

Fun Facts•42 bridges connect Key West to mainland Florida•The 3rd largest coral reef in the world is off of Key West•Key West is closer to Cuba (90 miles) than Miami•The whole island is a bird sanctuary•The temperature in Key West has never dropped below 41•People born in Key West are called Conchs

Alabama“The Yellowhammer State”

Helen Keller’s Birthplace

• “Ivy Green” Tuscumbia, Alabama• Built in 1820• Helen Keller was born healthy on June 27, 1880• At 19 months she became seriously ill and lost her

hearing and sight• In 1887 she met Anne Sullivan who taught her Braille

Virtual Tour

Braille

Civil Rights MemorialMontgomery, Alabama

The Civil Rights Memorial honors the achievements and memory of those who died during the

Civil Rights Movement, a period framed by the momentous

Brown v. Board decision in 1954 and the assassination of Dr.

Martin Luther King in 1968. The memorial serves as a vehicle for education and reflection about

the struggle for equality.

On the Civil Rights Memorial are inscribed the names of

individuals who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom during

the modern Civil Rights Movement - 1954 to 1968. The martyrs include activists who

were targeted for death because of their civil rights work; random victims of vigilantes determined

to halt the movement; and individuals who, in the sacrifice of their own lives, brought new

awareness to the struggle.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

• On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested forrefusing to give up her seat on the bus.

• The following Monday Ms. Parks was fined and the Montgomery bus boycott began.

• On June 2, 1956 a court ruled that segregated busing was illegal.• The ruling was appealed, and again segregated busing was ruled illegal.• On December 20, 1956, 382 days after Ms. Parks was fined, the boycott ended.

Space Camp Huntsville, Alabama

Want to know what it’s like to train like an astronaut?•Lift off at 4 Gs and experience weightlessness on our Space ShotTMsimulator •Learn the real Moon Walk using our l/6 gravity simulator •Build your own rocket and launch it towards space from our Rocket Launch facility •Tumble and spin in the Multi Axis Trainer just like the Mercury Astronauts •Experience a world without friction in our MMU- Manned Maneuvering Unit •Lift off in one of SPACE CAMP’s Shuttle Simulators, or command or support everything from our Mission Control Center. Live and work in SPACE CAMP’s International Space Station simulator

Space TrackIn addition to a Shuttle Mission, space track campers go through extensive Mars training!Example Activities:

Shuttle Missions Mars Mission History Experiments Astronaut Simulators Constellation Program based activities

Aviation TrackLearn flight dynamics, wilderness survival, teamwork, and spend time in our high-performance jet fighter simulators. Learn the skills American fighter pilots use to rule the skies!Example Activities:

Jet Fighter Simulations Land Survival Hands-on Aircraft Aviation Principles Shuttle Mission Astronaut Simulators

Robotics TrackRescue astronauts from the International Space Station! Trainees in the Robotics Track work together to design and program the ultimate robot.Example Activities:

Shuttle Mission Robotics Design, Engineering Teamwork LEGO® Robotics Competition Astronaut Simulators

Mississippi“The Magnolia State”

Mississippi Blues• The music called the blues that emerged from Mississippi has shaped the

development of popular music. • As far as historians can tell, the blues were born in the Mississippi Delta, an

elaboration on work chants, “sorrow” slave songs, and the lyrical and haunting “field hollers.”

• The king of the Chicago blues was Muddy Waters he was born in Rolling Fork, MS in 1915.

Soft-spoken, mild-mannered John Hurt was born in Teoc,

Mississippi, in 1893, and lived most of his life in neighboring Avalon. He recorded 13 songs

for the OKeh label in 1928, including Avalon Blues,

Frankie, Ain't No Tellin', Stack O' Lee Blues, Candy Man

Blues, and Spike Driver Blues -- a ballad he learned during a brief stint as a railroad worker

in 1916. John Hurt died in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1966.

B.B. King, the most popular bluesman ever, has given the

blues its place in popular Western culture. His heartfelt

rendering of the timeless classic The Thrill Is Gone

remains the most recognizable blues tune in the

world. B.B. King was born Riley B. King in Indianola, Mississippi, in 1925. His

recording career began in earnest at Sam Phillips'

Recording Service in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1951.

King recorded The Thrill Is Gone in 1970, which launched

him into international stardom.

John Lee Hooker was born in Vance, Mississippi, in 1917 and sang gospel music as a

child before moving to Memphis, earning money as

a theater usher and street musician. He went to Detroit in 1943, where he practically

stumbled into the blues world with his 1948 hit

Boogie Chillen. Two recent albums, The Healer and Chill

Out, earned him Grammy Awards in 1992 and 1996,

respectively. John Lee Hooker passed away on June

21, 2001.

Vicksburg National Military Park• Vicksburg, Mississippi was

home to one of the biggest battles of the Civil War.

• More than 17,000 Civil War soldiers are buried in the Vicksburg National Cemetery.

• The USS Cairo, a union ironclad which sank in the Mississippi during the war, is restored and on display.

Vicksburg Museum