The first time I found out about the strong link between Charleston, South Carolina (and the coastal islands off South Carolina and Georgia), and The Bahamas was back in 2004, when I went to Charleston for the very first time for the Spoleto Festival, held there each year.

That year, celebrated painter Jonathan Green was the featured artist, with an exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art displaying the painting that would also become that year's official Spoleto poster.

I happened to be photographing Jonathan while he was working on that painting, and Mayor Joseph Riley (Charleston's longtime popular mayor at the time) saw the images and immediately asked that they be included in Spoleto as a tie-in showing the actual making of the featured painting.

Jonathan upped the ante, exclaiming, "Charlie is also a filmmaker," and offered that I could create a documentary. Spoleto was only two months away, but once Jonathan Green put it out there, there was no turning back.

So, with that, I became the very first exhibition at the Old Slave Mart Museum. Side note: the museum wasn't supposed to be ready for another six months, but Mayor Riley pushed for it to be ready in just two months for my exhibition called Jonathan Green at Work.

I mentioned that Jonathan Green is a celebrated artist, often called one of the most important contemporary painters of the Southern experience, especially for depicting his Gullah Geechee roots. Those roots are one of the closest links between Charleston and Nassau, and another is the fact that both cities originally shared the same name.

Nassau was established by English settlers in the mid-17th century and named Charles Towne in honour of King Charles II of England (and The Bahamas). Similarly, Charleston was founded in 1670 by the Lords Proprietors as Charles Town, also named for King Charles II.

While Charleston eventually evolved from Charles Town, Charles Towne in The Bahamas was destroyed by Spanish forces in 1694, rebuilt, and renamed Nassau in 1695 after the Dutch House of Nassau.

Back in 1776, when the United States won its independence from Great Britain, those who wanted to stay loyal to the King were allowed to relocate to British colonies. These "Loyalists" moved to places like Jamaica and The Bahamas, bringing their enslaved people with them.

This is why, when I first walked down Market Street in Charleston and heard a Gullah vendor speaking, I thought she was from The Bahamas. They have an almost identical accent to us Bahamians because we were all primarily descended from people taken from the West Coast of Africa.

If you walk down many of the cobblestone streets, you'll also recognise many of the same street names as in Nassau: King Street, Cumberland Street, Meeting Street, East Bay Street, Nassau Street, George Street, and Market Street, where you can hear familiar accents reminiscent of our

own Market Street and see vendors crafting and selling straw products.

In Charleston, they have generations of Gullah sweetgrass basket makers, and one such vendor is Corey Alston, a fifth-generation sweetgrass basket weaver who is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Big Percy," the largest sweetgrass basket ever made.

Corey proudly explained the difference between Bahamian straw-making techniques and Gullah techniques. "The basic craftsmanship is similar from the origins of Africa, but with styles that differ, possibly because of the different materials used,” he said.

“I've noticed that Bahamian straw products are more robust and used as working tools with thicker bands, while Gullah baskets are made with finer bands and are mainly used as art or decoration."

Some Gullah sweetgrass baskets have been known to sell for hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

By the time I got to my exhibition at the Old Slave Mart later that night, I learned more and more about the connection between our two cities and our connection with our Gullah family. It really was an eye-opening experience, and it made it even more of an honor that both Mayor Riley and probably one of the most important African American politicians of today, Congressman James Clyburn, opened my exhibition that night at the Old Slave Mart Museum.

The Old Slave Mart is exactly what it sounds like, with a horrible, storied past as the place where enslaved Africans were bought and sold. But one thing Charleston seems to do well is take that dark history and teach, highlight, learn from, and honor it.

It was encouraging to overhear a tour guide in front of the Old Slave Mart Museum relate the history of the site to his tour in a way that acknowledged how wrong it was and told the uncomfortable story of Charleston's past, with the hope that it never, ever happens again.

Charleston is much more than its dark past. It is a city that has learned to preserve and use its history to create a vibrant and successful cultural tourism market.

The folks at Explore Charleston were kind enough to connect me with John LaVerne of Bulldog Tours, who gave me a quick overview of the many things you can do and see in Charleston - from museums and walking tours to fabulous restaurants, shopping, the arts, music, and its incredible historic architecture.

Two or three days is certainly not enough to absorb all that Charleston has to offer, and I wanted to end with someone with a Bahamian connection.

That person was Brice Lampkin, who is, yes, related to Bahamian actor and radio host Greg Lampkin. Like most folks with Bahamian heritage, there's a profound sense of pride and excitement that comes with being Bahamian. Mainly because of our relatively small population, we feel like we're part of a special family.

After laughing about the similarities between the potholes in Andros and the bumpy cobblestones of Chalmers Street, where the Old Slave Mart is located, we decided the rest of our conversation would have to wait for another day because not only did the people share similarities - so did the mosquitoes.

Do yourself a favor and check out Charleston to see the similarities for yourself.

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