Portal, GA — The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center (WHHRC) invites the public to its annual Heritage Festival, a weekend of history, culture, and storytelling.

This year’s theme, “Preserving the History of the Willow Hill Community: From Oral Traditions to Community Archiving—You Too Have a Story to Tell,” highlights the power of local memory and the importance of preserving the voices that shaped our communities.

✨SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:

• Gospelfest — a spirited afternoon of gospel music and community fellowship

Food available from Mosley Farms

Admission: Free and open to the public

Portal, GA — The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center (WHHRC) invites the public to its annual Heritage Festival, a weekend of history, culture, and storytelling.

This year’s theme, “Preserving the History of the Willow Hill Community: From Oral Traditions to Community Archiving—You Too Have a Story to Tell,” highlights the power of local memory and the importance of preserving the voices that shaped our communities.

✨SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:

8:00 AM – 12:00 Noon

• The William James High School Class of 1968 will host a Welcome Breakfast followed by a tour of the museum as part of their class reunion celebration

1:00 PM– 6:00 PM

• Featured presentation:

  • “The Heroism of the Black Men of the Willow Hill Community During the 1946 Gubernatorial Election” — developed for the Association of African American Museums Conference, this presentation honors the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

• Community Archiving Panel, featuring:

  • Dr. Ronald W. Bailey, PhD, Professor Emeritus of African American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign — a nationally recognized expert on Black political thought and community archives

  • LaPortia Mosley, Community Engagement Officer at the Georgia Historical Society, presenting the statewide Community Archives Initiative

• Community Interview with Bulloch County Commissioner Ray Mosley — an engaging conversation highlighting local leadership, legacy, and vision for the future

• Interactive archiving workshops and oral history interviews

• Museum tours and history exhibits

Food available from Mosley Farms

Admission: Free and open to the public

Community members are encouraged to bring funeral programs, photographs, and paper documents that may become part of the Willow Hill Community Archive—preserving local history for future generations.

Portal, GA — The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center (WHHRC) invites the public to its annual Heritage Festival, a weekend of history, culture, and storytelling.

This year’s theme, “Preserving the History of the Willow Hill Community: From Oral Traditions to Community Archiving—You Too Have a Story to Tell,” highlights the power of local memory and the importance of preserving the voices that shaped our communities.

✨FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS:

• Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for the new outdoor community space

• Guided museum tours

Admission: Free and open to the public

Association of African American Museums
47th Annual Conference

During this year’s AAAM Conference, WHHRC will be presenting the session, “The Heroism of Black Men in The Willow Hill Community of Bulloch County, Georgia During the 1946 Gubernatorial Primary: A Story of Voter Suppression and Racial Intimidation”
This session is scheduled for Thursday, July 24th 2025*.

View the concurrent session schedule.
Listing of Plenaries

*Schedule is preliminary and subject to change.

Cooking, observation, storytelling, reenactment and museum tours 1 PM-5PM - FREE

Click Here to Register for the Event

Pitmasters John “Bobbie” Robinson and Curtis Clifton will prepare a full meal outdoors over an open pit, as was done during slavery. Guests are welcome to observe the preparation or just come for a few hours. Dinner will be served at 6 PM for those who have purchased tickets. The menu is as follows: 

Entrée:

Whole Hog Pit barbecue

Smoked goat

curried goat

Smoked Chicken with kitchen pepper

FRIED CHICKEN

SIDES:

Hoppin John with Carolina field peas and smoked pork

Hoppin John with Carolina field peas and salt fish

Collard greens mixed with mustard/turnip greens 🌿

Candied yams 🌿

Okra with corn and tomatoes 🌿

Roasted beets with olive oil and rosemary 🌿

Dessert: 

Assorted Homemade Pies and Cakes. Homemade churned ice cream

Drinks:

Lemonade, Tea, Coffee and water

🌿=vegetarian

The following exhibits will be open for touring.

• The Waters of Ghana Meet America. An exhibit of the maritime history of Coastal Ghana curated by Dr. Kurt Knoerl Director of the Museum and Underwater Archeology at Georgia Southern

• "Keeping Warm": A History of African American Quilt Making. A Collection of Georgiana Byrd Davis (1867-1953)

• “Tragedy at Ebenezer Creek” by Isaac McCaslin

•  “Many Thousands Gone” - Prepared by Eric Saul and Amy Fisk in cooperation with The Center for Jubilee, Reconciliation and Healing, Inc., Patt Gilliard Gunn, President. 

• “Beyond Property: Slavery in Coastal Plain Georgia 1650-1865” – Prepared by Georgia Southern Museum and Department of History “Slavery in Bulloch County Georgia”

Your participation in this Fundraiser helps in the preservation of Bulloch County African American History at the Willow Hill Center as well as helping to keep our programs and events, free and open to the public

SAVE THE DATE - A food historian will prepare a full meal outdoors over an open pit, as was done during slavery. More information is forthcoming.

Tours of the 34 known African American Cemeteries in Bulloch County will continue on Saturday, February 16th with a tour of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. The one-hour cemetery tour by oral historian, Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, will begin at 10:00 A.M. Donations are welcomed.

Tours of the 34 known African American Cemeteries in Bulloch County will continue on Saturday, February 16th with a tour of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. The one-hour cemetery tour by oral historian, Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, will begin at 10:00 A.M. Donations are welcomed.

The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center (WHHRC) celebrates the life of Dr. Gayle L. Jackson P.h.D. Development Director for WHHRC.

The funeral service will be held at the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center starting at 3 PM on Sunday September 3rd 2023.

The burial will be at the the Historic Hodges Cemetery to follow the service

In lieu of flowers please donate to the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center

A hotel block is being held at the Comfort Inn and Suites Statesboro , Georgia (912) 225-9345 Group Willow Hill # 4688775 Hotel Website

After a two-year hiatus, the Willow Hill Heritage Festival is back. Join us for an afternoon of TOURS, FOOD, FUN, and MUSIC.

Rev. William (Bill) Parrish of Glendale OH, Mr. Joel R. Johnson of Washington DC, and Rev. Steve Taylor of Greensboro, N.C., all have connections to Bulloch County, GA. They will discuss their use of DNA. genealogical research, interviews of family and community members and obituaries to discover “untold” family stories. The Moderator of this session is Dr. Alvin D. Jackson.

African American Funeral Programs (virtual presentation)

Leaders of the Bulloch County NAACP chapter will consolidate their Juneteenth observance in Portal this year. They’ll begin Friday afternoon at the nearby Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center off of Highway 80 just outside Portal. For more information, contact BullochNAACPSecretary@gmail.com.

The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center, in partnership with Truthful Lodge No. 375, will be hosting the 1st Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Please join us for the community event that will include food, an egg hunt, music, and lots of fun.

The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center (WHHRC) was once a historic African American school, founded by former slaves in Portal, Georgia, in 1874. Incorporated as a non-profit by the descendants of those former slaves in 2006, WHHRC today is a vital community center, museum and archive, with its mission the preservation and promotion of African American history and community through research, cultural events and community engagement. This current and sixth building is an Equalization School built in 1954 to delay the integration of the school. The grounds have beautiful gardens and an outdoor Wi-Fi equipped pavilion. These events are free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. WHHRC observes mask wearing and social distancing.

Tours of the 34 known African American Cemeteries in Bulloch County will continue on Saturday, February 19th with a tour of Summerhill Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. The one-hour cemetery tour by oral historian, Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, will begin at 9 am. It will be streamed on Facebook Live on The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Facebook page at a later date. Please contact the center if you are interested in attending. These events are free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed. WHHRC observes mask wearing and social distancing.

The Bennett Grove School is the last example of an African American one room schoolhouse in Bulloch County. When the school building collapsed, we decided to move the building to the Willow Hill Campus and reconstruct it. Bennett Grove was established circa 1918 as a private family school by former slave Benjamin Bennett (1856-1941), and it served as a school in the Bulloch County Public School System until it was closed in 1952. After completing the seventh grade, Bennett Grove students graduated to the Willow Hill Junior High School. The Willow Hill School was founded in 1874 and was the oldest continually-operating school in Bulloch County when it closed in 1999. Both Bennett Grove and Willow Hill stand as living memorials to African American education in the period between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era.