CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Glass bottles placed on bare tree branches around the Lowcountry have been tended to for hundreds of years, symbolizing protection and rooted in superstition in the Gullah-Geechee community.
Corren Alston and her family have several bottle trees in their yard, deliberate in saving and maintaining their Gullah heritage.
“Representation of my family keeping it alive,” Alston said.
West African origins
“It’s one of these carry-overs from West Central Africa that came over with our enslaved ancestors,” Dr. Kameelah Martin, a College of Charleston professor of African American Studies and English, said…