For rates, terms, and more, download the brochure.

"You will have experiences here that make your world bigger through exposure and knowledge. It is my job to make it smaller again by connecting these experiences to the places that  you call home." ~Dr. Ambre Dromgoole

Dr. Ambre Dromgoole brings a rare vitality, curiosity, and depth of presence to every learning experience—from the classroom to the field—including her immersive 2025 CAU Study Tour to Cuba, where music became a gateway to understanding Afro-Cuban history, spirituality, and everyday life. Over the past several CAU Summer sessions, students have consistently described her courses as transformative, emerging with insights that feel both intellectually rigorous and meaningfully applicable well beyond the classroom. Learn more about Dr. Dromgoole

Visit one of the most intact living Gullah Geechee communities in the United States, guided by master basket maker Yvonne Grovner. Through homesteads, churches, and shared meals, experience how land, kinship, foodways, and artistry sustain a vibrant culture rooted in ancestral continuity.

Encounter one of the oldest surviving African American spiritual traditions in the nation. The ring shout—combining call-and-response singing, rhythmic movement, and devotion—offers a powerful expression of African spiritual survival and communal worship preserved for generations in coastal Georgia.

Reflect at the site of the 1859 mass slave auction that violently fractured families from Butler Island, one of the largest such sales in U.S. history. Guided by a Gullah Geechee truth-teller, this experience connects historical trauma to living cultural memory through storytelling, song, and place-based interpretation.

Arrive at Brunswick Golden Isles Airport and transfer to Darien, one of Georgia’s oldest coastal towns. Settle into Oaks on the River Resort, overlooking tidal marshes and moss-draped oaks. This afternoon, visit Butler Island Plantation, a former tidewater rice estate whose wealth depended entirely on the agricultural knowledge and labor of enslaved West Africans. Walk among the remains of dikes, rice fields, and industrial structures while exploring how African expertise shaped Carolina Gold rice cultivation—and how isolation allowed Gullah Geechee language, crafts, and spiritual traditions to endure. Meet with descendants and local preservation advocates who continue efforts to protect Butler Island amid environmental threats and recent losses. Meet your fellow travelers over a glass of wine and a local cuisine dinner this evening.

(Meals included: Dinner)

Travel by ferry to Sapelo Island, one of the most intact Gullah Geechee communities in the United States, shaped by plantation agriculture established after Thomas Spalding acquired the island in 1802. More isolated than most Sea Islands, Sapelo remains a living cultural landscape where African-descended families have sustained language, land stewardship, foodways, and spiritual traditions from enslavement through Reconstruction and into the present. Guided by Yvonne Grovner, a master basket maker and nationally recognized cultural bearer, explore Hog Hammock, the island’s historic settlement, where kinship networks and ancestral landholdings continue to define community life. Visits include the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society and First African Baptist Church, enduring institutions at the heart of cultural preservation and worship. At the ruins of the Spalding plantation, including tabby structures and the Reynolds Mansion, learn how enslaved West Africans powered one of the coast’s most experimental and profitable estates while shaping the foundations of Gullah Geechee culture. Return to Darien for an evening with the McIntosh County Shouters, whose ring shout—recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts—offers a powerful, living expression of African spiritual resilience in American history.

(Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

Depart north through Harris Neck, once a thriving Black coastal community displaced during World War II by federal seizure of land. Meet with descendants engaged in long-term advocacy for restitution and recognition. Continue to Savannah to reflect at the site of the 1859 “Weeping Time,” one of the largest slave auctions in U.S. history, which violently dispersed families from Butler Island. Join a Gullah Geechee storyteller for an interpretive walk exploring West African cultural survivals in Savannah’s historic landscape. Transfer to the Beaufort Inn, located in the heart of downtown Beaufort with locally inspired interiors throughout. Enjoy an introductory walking tour of the Old Point district, highlighting Reconstruction-era history and Sea Islands culture.

(Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch)

Travel this morning to St. Helena Island, a cornerstone of Gullah Geechee history where landscape, memory, and community illuminate the educational, political, and spiritual evolution of post-emancipation Black life. Visit the Penn Center, founded as the first Southern school for formerly enslaved Africans and now a National Historic Landmark, where Reconstruction ideals, Gullah cultural preservation, and Civil Rights organizing converged, including meetings led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Enjoy lunch at Gullah Grub, where seasonal, locally sourced dishes reflect traditional foodways and the enduring relationship between culture, land, and sustainability. Continue to the Mary Jenkins Praise House, a rare surviving example of sacred community spaces that nurtured African spiritual traditions, communication, and justice in an era of enslavement and segregation. Return to Beaufort for a farewell dinner, concluding a day that traces resilience and self-determination from slavery through Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, fittingly observed on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

(Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

Transfer to Hilton Head Airport for flights home.

(Meals included: Breakfast)

October 9 - 13, 2026
To reserve your space, contact CAU partner Distant Horizons
Phone: 562-983-8828 | Email: emilyw@distant-horizons.com

For rates, terms, and more, download the brochure.

Week One: July 5 - 11  |  Week Two: July 12 - 18
Take a riveting one-week CAU Summer course in your favorite subject taught by leading Cornell faculty on campus. Alumni, family, and friends are welcome.

CAU is your first choice for in-depth, lifelong learning with Cornell faculty in the classroom and around the globe.

We're so excited to travel with you! Make sure you read the travel and safety policy for important information about all Cornell Alumni Travel and CAU opportunities.

We are committed to ensuring that CAU and Cornell Alumni Travel tours provide a welcoming and inclusive experience for everyone. You can find the expectations that are applicable to all attendees of Cornell University alumni events, both on and off campus, by visiting this link.