The Pin Point Heritage Museum: 130+ Years of Rich Gullah Geechee Culture

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Savannah, Georgia was an absolute delight to visit, I’ll get that spoiler out of the way now. It was the last official destination on my two month road-trip around the American South, and it was such an excellent note to end on. Throughout my three days in Savannah, I delighted in delicious food, fun walking tours, and even had time for some much needed R&R, but nothing stuck with me quite like my visit to the Pin Point Heritage Museum.

Before visiting the Pin Point Heritage Museum, I honestly hadn’t heard too much of Gullah Geechee people or their history. But as someone interested in American history, especially Black American history, I knew it was the one museum in Savannah that I wanted to put into my itinerary.

Actually, the Pin Point Heritage Museum was the only museum I visited in Savannah, Georgia haha. And yanno what, it gave me EVERYTHING I wanted in a heritage museum! I highly recommend adding it to your Savannah itinerary too.

Logistics

address	9924 Pin Point Avenue Savannah, GA 31401
hours	Thursday – Saturday* 9:00am to 4:00pm
admission price	$15 per adult $7 per child (ages 3-12)
phone number	912-355-0064

*closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, & New Year’s Day

The Pin Point Heritage Museum is located just outside of east Savannah, in the former A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab Factory, right along the marsh which is foundational to the coastal Gullah-Geechee culture.

Pin Point was established in the 1890s, a community founded by formerly enslaved Africans (and their descendants) who were brought to the shores of Georgia and South Carolinas. The museum is dedicated to this community, and the guided tours cover Gullah-Geechee culture in the forms of food, language, religion, and livelihood.

Experience

I visited a bit after lunch, but since it was April, the weather was mild but not chilly. The parking is free and onsite, just a short walk to the gift shop where I purchased my admission ticket. I had just missed a guided tour that was starting, so I hurried to catch up with them in the first building.

The museum is a mix of inside and outdoor exhibits. In the first exhibit, our guide talked about the role the marsh and coastline played in sustaining the Gullah-Geechee community in Pin Point.

I don’t want give everything, but just a little context for folks who might not have heard of the Gullah-Geechee people, or at least not much, the roots of Gullah-Geechee culture stems from forced migration. The ancestors of the people of Pin Point were enslaved people from Sierra Leone, Angola, and other West African nations to work on the Sea Island plantations (located along the coast of Georgia).

The first crops on these plantations was indigo, then cotton and rice. Unlike plantations in other areas of the American South, many plantation owners in the Sea Islands chose to live on Georgia’s mainland to get away from the oppressive heat and gnawing pests. So, for the large majority of the time, those enslaved on the islands lived in relative isolation from their white slave owners. With these conditions, they were allowed to develop and cultivate their own unique culture specific to them.

Gullah-Geechee.

Having a guide for the museum really helped paint a clear picture of the history of the Sea Islands, and also answer questions from the group.

One of my favorite parts of the Pin Point Heritage Museum was the building that showcased the fishing that was integral to their lifestyle, set up in what workstations for oyster shucking would look like back in the day.

While the men did the majority of the fishing, women would shuck the day’s oysters. The oyster chutes were gravity-operated that allowed them to work at their own pace. Personally, I’ve never shucked an oyster, but it looks HARD.

Another reason this was one of my favorite portion was because they had multiple profiles of community members with their commentary on the exhibit. There were also recorded commentary that made the experience really immersive. Plus, you can really feel how connected the community members were to each other, and the support system that allowed their culture to thrive for centuries.

Another favorite exhibit of mine touched on language and food. As an African-American, this portion resonated with me as I found so much overlap between my own upbringing and my family’s traditions. Things such as having nicknames for every family member or common Black lexicon like “chirrin” have meaning, purpose, and a REASON that goes back to pre-slavery. It was so incredible to read the backstory of these traditions.

We really are all connected.

Conclusion: Pin Point Heritage Museum

I absolutely loved my time at the Pin Point Heritage Museum, and it was such an honor to learn about the Gullah-Geechee culture from the source. Along with the Underground Railroad Museum, it was one of the more unique Black history and heritage museums I visited during my road-trip. If you’re in Savannah or the nearby area, I highly recommend a visit!

Have you ever been to the Pin Point Heritage Museum? If so, what were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!

Pin the Pin Point Heritage Museum

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