MY HUSBAND, Weller, and I recently returned from a trip to South Carolina's Gullah country. Instead of flying, as we had previously, we took this journey aboard a motor coach.

Don't roll your eyes just yet. This was not a leaf-peeping tour with the parents.

And this certainly wasn't the bus trip I used to take to my grandmother's house for summer visits back in the day.

The state-of-the art motor coach we rode in had a restroom, satellite television, Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for computers and cell phones.

The trip was arranged by Virgie Washington's VMW Guided Tours, of Hampton, Va., which specializes in fully narrated itineraries focusing on black heritage. Local entertainers and step-on guides such as Darryl T. Murphy of Crossroad Historic Tours in St. Helena, S.C., and Al Miller of Sites & Insights Tours in Charleston, S.C., shared details about each destination in this "Southern Charm" excursion.

The Sea Islands or the Gullah/Geechee islands, as they have been called, stretch along the South Carolina and Georgia coastline to the northern tip of Florida.

Our first stop was Columbia, the South Carolina capital, for a tour of the capital building to learn about the complex history of the state that was first to secede from the Union in the Civil War - and which proudly waves the stars and bars flag prominently in the front of the building.

The one bright spot of the capital visit was viewing a magnificent monument of 400 years of African-American history by renowned sculptor Ed Dwight that sits on the east side of the capital.

The next morning, our tour moved on to the Low Country and St. Helena Island.

Islands such as Johns, Edisto, Daufuskie, St. Helena and Hilton Head were settled by African-Americans whose ancestors were brought to the Americas to work on cotton, tobacco, indigo and rice plantations. After the Civil War, many black residents stayed on the islands, living as they always had and passing the property they had managed to purchase down to successive generations.

Because of the islands' isolation from the mainland and their inhospitable climate, Gullah/Geechee residents, who spoke a type of Creole English, were left mostly alone. They preserved many of the songs, African folk tales and crafts such as basket weaving that can be traced directly to the West African countries slave traders raided for laborers skilled in rice farming.

"At one time, when people called you a Geechee, it was meant as an insult. To be called Geechee meant you were the most backward of all African people in the U.S.," said Amir Touré, who teaches about his native Gullah culture as the character The African Spirit. He made a breakfast presentation to the tour group.

Residents of Daufuskie Island recall taking boats to nearby Savannah, Ga., for supplies and getting their news from battery-powered radios as late as the 1960s. Through the years, many of the Gullah people left their ancestral lands for better opportunities on the mainland.

Residents frequently point to the 1956 construction of the bridge that connects Hilton Head Island to the mainland, and the introduction of modern conveniences such as electricity and air conditioning as the beginning of encroachment on the Gullah way of life.

The thousands of new residents on the formerly isolated islands are referred to as "Come hea" ("Come here"), and the people who grew up on the island as "Bin ya" ("Been here").

Today, Geechee culture is embraced through Gullah restaurants, art, music and other businesses in the region, even as modernization and rampant development of communities and resorts have threatened to obliterate that culture.

Congress deemed Gullah/Geechee culture so important it established the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act in 1995 to assist with promotion and preservation.

One evening during our tour, dinner and hilarious entertainment were served up at the Sea Islands Heritage and Conference Center on Lady's Island by the multitalented Anita Singleton Prather. Prather teaches Gullah culture through her one-woman show as Aunt Pearlie Sue, a character based on stories she learned from her grandmother while growing up on St. Helena Island. Joining Prather were the Gullah Kinfolk, an equally talented performance group of Prather's relatives who sang powerful religious, cultural and work songs.

The performance had the audience literally laughing and dancing in the aisles as they circled the room in a conga line.

Our itinerary had been planned so each day's drive would not exceed eight hours. Free time allowed opportunities to wander away from the group. The tours conclude by 9 p.m., leaving time for an independent dinner, exploration or a chance to enjoy hotel amenities.

The miles sped by as the passengers on the motor coach, bonded by shared interests, discussed literature, history and their travel adventures in destinations as varied as Africa and Antarctica.

By the time the motor coach arrived back in Hampton, phone numbers, addresses and hugs had been exchanged by everyone on the tour.

The trip certainly changed my perception of bus tours, I told Washington.

"You mean motor coach," she corrected. "Don't you dare call this a bus. People who have never experienced this would have a totally different image."

P.J. Thomas is editor and copublisher of Pathfinders Travel Magazine for People of Color, a nationally distributed publication founded in 1997. Contact her at pjthomas@pathfinderstravel.com.