Bread Raising Basket Collected in West Virginia, 19th Century

This coiled grass basket was collected in Morgantown, West Virginia. However, by the style, shape, and use of bulrush and other plants, curators know that this basket was probably made in the late 1800s or early 1900s somewhere in the Lowcountry (coastal) region of the Carolinas and Georgia or on the nearby Atlantic Sea Islands. The basket was probably carried to West Virginia. The Gullah or Geechee people who made baskets of this type both carried on traditions from African ancestors and incorporated innovations created by American-born ancestors. This small basket could have been used to carry many small items. The distinctive Lowcountry region of the Carolinas and Georgia and the nearby Atlantic Sea Islands culture are now part of the National Park Service as the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.