By Charles deV. Williams

Alphonso Brown is a well-known Charleston tour guide who sprinkles his presentation with the Gullah dialect, a fusion of English and African words.

The affable retired band teacher heads Gullah Tours and is a lecturer and author of a "Guide to Gullah Charleston." He has been featured twice in Southern Living magazine and is in the book, "Charles Kuralt's America."

Brown's 21 passenger bus takes tourist all over the city, stopping at notable historic sites along the way. But his tour isn't limited to African-American history.

"You can't separate the two," he said.

One of his stops is at Bethel Methodist church graveyard, where freed black people and slaves were buried side by side.

Brown also intrigues visitors with accounts of Dr. Buzzard, the notorious St. Helena Island witch doctor who supposedly "fixed" people by casting spells on them. Brown also tells about Cabbage Row, a section of Church Street that was the inspiration for Catfish Row in the opera "Porgy and Bess."

Brown concludes his tour with a stop at the home of blacksmith Philip Simmons. The designer and builder of many of Charleston's wrought iron gates, Simmons' work is in the Smithsonian and the S.C. State Museum. "He's a genius of a man," Brown said.

Tourism officials are hoping that the increased focus on African-American history in Charleston will keep building into its own market.