With more than 50 resident Gullah artisans, the Charleston City Market is the very epicenter of sweetgrass basketry, one of the nation's oldest and most beautiful handicrafts of African origin. For more than 300 years, people in Charleston have been weaving baskets using locally-harvested bulrush, a strong yet supple marshgrass that thrives in the sandy soil of Lowcountry. Originally used as winnowing fans to separate the rice seed from its chaff, sweetgrass baskets are regarded among the nation’s most prized cultural souvenirs.