IslandYou`re at the beach! You`re at the beach!

Pawleys
Island
You’re at
the beach!
Listen. Listen! What do you hear? What do you see?
Close your eyes. See yourself walking along the beach with
waves spilling onto white sand as the sun christens the dawn
of a new day. Feel the gentle ocean breeze comb your hair and
warm water caress your feet as sea gulls whisper in your ear.
You’re at peace, calm and relaxed and happy.
BY
DWIGHT MCKENZIE
U
Unforgettable isn’t it. All your senses come alive. It’s an
experience in paradise that consumes your soul. Awesome!
Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Pawleys Island and a
resident of Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, recalls in her
book…“You’ve seen gorgeous pictures of sunsets and the
marsh teeming with wildlife. But you don’t know Pawleys
until you’ve been there and experienced its tremendous
power. It is there that the Almighty Himself would like to
engage you in conversation and redirect your soul.”
Families have been vacationing at Pawleys Island for generations, and for good reason. Known as the oldest seaside
resort along the east coast, the barrier island 3.5 miles long
and .5 miles wide, accessible only by the North and South
Causeway, offers a variety of recreational activities.
Pawleys continues to be known for its carefree, “arrogantly shabby” laid-back lifestyle which includes crabbing in
the adjacent creeks, fishing, surfing, swimming and sunbathing. It’s unspoiled with a wide beach, sand dunes, fishing piers and public boat ramps.
Pawleys Island was settled in the early 1700s by families
of rice planters who owned plantations on the nearby rivers.
They escaped to the beach during summer months, beginning May, for health concerns and didn’t return to the mainland until the first frost in November. Although they didn’t
know about malaria in the 1700s, they did know enough to
get away.
Today, along the streets of Pawleys Island, 12 historic
homes remain that date back to the 1700s and mid 1800s.
Historical markers depict location of these homes.
The Ward House/Liberty Lodge is one of the oldest in
Pawleys that stands on land once owned by rice planter
Joshua J. Ward (1800-1853) who was lt. governor of South
Carolina 1850-1852. The house has hand-hewn sills and
joists and mortise and tenon joints.
LaBruce/Lemon House was built on 10 acres in 1858
and was owned by a successful rice planter in All Saints
Parish. Local tradition states the property has two small
dwellings that were slave cabins.
All Saints Academy House was built in 1838-1848 by
All Saints Academy for the summer residence of headmaster Robert F.W. Allston, governor of South Carolina in
1856-58. It was damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, but
was restored.
Another landmark home is the Nesbit/Norburn House
built in 1842 and owned by Robert Nesbit (1799-1848) a
native of Scotland and a rice planter who owned Caledonia
Plantation.
And let’s not forget the culture of those who planted
the rice and were caretakers of Low Country plantations…the Gullah.
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the
Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia which
include the coastal plains and the Sea Islands. The Gullah
people are also called Geechee, especially in Georgia.
Gullah storytelling, food ways, music, folk beliefs,
crafts, farming and fishing traditions all exhibit strong
influences from African culture. Tourists can visit the
Gullah Museum off the North Causeway on Waverly Road
and Petigru. It’s a must see.
Sightseeing is plentiful all along the mainland of
Pawleys, so don’t forget to take the camera and allow plenty of time and days for your adventure.
For starters, lets begin the trek southward on U.S.
Highway 17 toward Georgetown. Just past Hobcaw Barony
on the right side of the highway are two historical markers
of significance. It was at these spots where the Marquis de
Lafayette spent his first night in America, June 14, 1777, at
the home of Benjamin Huger. Lafayette’s quest was to
“conquer or perish” in the name of liberty, fighting for the
American cause. And George Washington, on his southern
tour, traveled over by Kings Road on April 27, 1791.
General Washington stayed at the home of Capt. William
Alston on the Clifton Plantation. Clifton was originally a
part of Hobcaw Barony.
Now, turn around and drive back north, traveling a
small distance to Hobcaw. Founded in 1718 on 12,000
acres, today Hobcaw consists of 17,500 acres and is owned
by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. The land is preserved
for conservation and wildlife research. Prior to its current
structure, Hobcaw consisted of 13 plantations. Stop in at
the welcome center and schedule a tour. You’ll be fascinated. And you just might see a few wild turkey and deer
crossing your path along with a wild pig or two.
Other points of interest are Brookgreen Gardens,
Huntington Beach State Park and Sandy Island, just north
off Highway 17 in the Litchfield community of Pawleys.
Brookgreen was founded in 1931 by Archer and Anna
Hyatt Huntington. The land of 9,000 acres is a National
Historic Landmark and features one of the most spectacular sculpture gardens in the country.
There are three major events in May and June so mark
your calendars now. Festivities begin with Treasures of the
Tidelands through May 13, Pawleys Pavilion Reunion on
May 12 and Tail Walker Challenge June 7-9. So bring your
sneakers, dance to the Shag and fish till dark.
Following dinner at Austin’s, Franks or the Fish
House, end your evening with a quiet stroll on the beach. It
is at this personal moment when you reflect on the day,
absorb nature’s wonderful offering, allowing the moon
light to penetrate your soul that makes you feel
alive…South Carolina ALIVE!
Y’all come back! SC
Dwight E. McKenzie is a 39-year newspaper veteran, most recently
serving as president and publisher of Georgetown Communications, Inc.
and The Times.
Sandy
Island
S
BY
PENN MOORE
andy Island maintains a distinctive place in the history, culture and geography of Pawleys Island and
Georgetown County. Located about three miles west
of the Atlantic Ocean, Sandy Island is more than
12,000 acres of high land and marsh. The
Waccamaw River makes up the eastern boundary of the
island, Thoroughfare Creek the south, the Great Pee Dee
marks the west, and the northern part of the island ends at
Bull Creek. Isolated from the mainland, Sandy Island preserves a way of life and landscape that is markedly different
from the high rise condominiums, multimillion dollar
oceanfront homes, golf courses and housing developments
that now dot the South Carolina coastline.
One of the great qualities about Sandy Island is that
much of the land remains undeveloped with little change
during the last century. In 1996, the South Carolina
Department of Transportation purchased a large portion of
Sandy Island and created a nature preserve. Today, the
Nature Conservancy maintains this land for the state government. Through their control of the property, visitors are
allowed access only to the island during daylight hours and
are forbidden to use motorized vehicles, ride bicycles, pick
plants, litter or start campfires. Sandy Island is a unique
land mass because it sustains complex upland and wetland
ecosystems. Today, the northern part of the island supports
a long leaf pine forest, which is an ideal habitat for the
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endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Additional animal
inhabitants of the island include foxes, deer and water fowl.
The river ways and wetlands of Georgetown County
allowed settlers of the area a world of new opportunity.
The earliest settlers utilized the virgin forests to sustain an
industry of naval stores producing pitch, tar, ship masts and
lumber. After a brief segue into indigo production prior to
the Revolutionary War, landowners on the Waccamaw
Neck and Sandy Island obtained their fortunes in the cultivation of rice. Waccamaw Gold, as the rice from the
Georgetown region was known, made the families that
owned plantations extremely wealthy. Prior to the Civil
War, the per capita wealth of rice planters on the
Waccamaw Neck was the highest in America. Along the
Waccamaw River, rice cultivation took place on the eastern
shores of Sandy Island.
The major work force that created these great fortunes
and sprawling rice plantations were slaves from Western
Africa. Through the middle passage to Charleston’s slave
markets, many bondsmen ended up on the plantations of
Sandy Island. According to George Rogers in The History of
Georgetown County, South Carolina, there were eight plantations on Sandy Island and they were named: Oak Hampton;
Ruinville; Mount Arena; Sandy Knowe; Oak Lawn; Holly
Hill; Pipe Down; and Hasell Hill.
Because of their population majority on plantations,
the enslaved Africans on the sea islands of South Carolina
maintained a unique culture and language, part West
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
African
and
part
American, known as
Gullah or Geechee.
Today the descendants
of the former slaves
remain on Sandy Island
and continue the Gullah
tradition.
One of the main
characteristics of Gullah
culture is their language. Until recent time, most outsiders
observed Gul-lah/Geechee as broken English. However, recent scholarship refutes this negative stereotype and suggests that the language incorporates syntax and words of
West African origin. Additional research indicates that
early West Africans who were transplanted into the
Lowcountry of South Carolina already spoke a creole language that formed the early foundation for what became
Gullah. In addition to their language, the Gullah people of
the South Carolina Lowcountry share a tradition of oral history and craft.
The Gullah community at Sandy Island today retains
much of its identity because of its separation from the
mainland, unlike other places where development has pressured local people. Three communities still exist on Sandy
Island and they are called Mount Arena, Georgia Hill and
Annie Village. They are located on the southeastern portion
of the island where the property owned by the descendants
of freed people. These landholdings are adjacent to the government’s property. Mount Arena and Georgia Village are
near the island’s boat dock. Annie Village is northward of
the other settlements by about two miles. Because there are
only a few vehicles on the island and no paved roads, the
main method of travel, even today, is walking. As a result of
transportation limitations, most of the residents reside
around Mount Arena.
The old school house remains at Sandy Island, but, the
students today attend public schools on the mainland in
Pawleys Island. Each day the school children load onto
Prince Washington, the State School Boat, and traverse the
Waccamaw River to catch a school bus. This is an unusual
fact of life that young children face when growing up on
Sandy Island. In this modern world, where self sufficient
farms are of the distant past, parents on Sandy Island also
may commute to the mainland for work. Several of the residents of the island maintain motorboats to take them to
parked automobiles that they keep at Sandy Island Landing.
Today there is a firehouse on Sandy Island, where they
keep a fire engine. Due to the history of wildfires this offers
added protection to the residents of the island. Secondly, a
centerpiece to the Sandy Island community is the church.
The existence and preservation of Sandy Island is an
anomaly considering coastal development during the past
half century. Due to isolation and the state’s desire to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of Sandy Island, visitors today still can get a snapshot of the past. When
Genevieve Willcox Chandler conducted folklore and oral
history interviews for the Federal Writers’ Project during
the 1930s, she captured the timbre and voice of former
slaves, who experienced great changes in their lives, but
were only beginning to see the influx of the outside world.
Today, these same speakers might not recognize Pawleys
Island, but, one would like to think they would know Sandy
Island. Sandy Island is a true example of the force of preservation to provide each of us with a cultural and historic
reminder of a way of life uncommon in the hustle and bustle of the 21st century.
Because of its natural seclusion, you must go by boat to
visit Sandy Island. Today, there are public boat landings on
the Waccamaw River at Hagley, Sandy Island and Wacca
Wache. Additionally, Rommy Pyatt with Tours de Sandy
Island offers trips to the island and personal insights to its
history and culture. You can contact him at www.toursdesandyisland.com or by phone at 843.408.7187. SC
Penn Moore is a graduate of the University of South Carolina
Honors College, where he finished with a degree in History and a minor
is Southern Studies. Currently, he lives in Pawleys Island, where he works
in the real estate profession, tries to find time to fish, and aspires to write
the next great Southern novel.
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PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
A delicious evolution
PHOTOS COURTESY FRANK’S RESTAURANT
Frank’s Restaurant
defines gourmet in
Pawleys Island
F
BY
HEATHER PELHAM
Frank’s Restaurant in Pawleys
Island is the rarest of gems — an eating place where every facet is flawless,
from the award-wining cuisine to the
elegant, historic interior. After 19
years of packed dining rooms, the
internationally famous restaurant has
every right to call itself a landmark,
and perhaps even rest on its laurels.
But owners Salters and Elizabeth
McClary show up to work every day
exuding the same energy they
displayed during their grand opening
in 1988.
“This is something I always
thought about doing and wanted to
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do,” Salters McClary says
with a grin. “I was managing a golf club at the time
and had a lot of ideas
about the direction I
thought it should go in. So
many, in fact, that I decided to open my own restaurant.”
The search for the
perfect location was over
before it even began. As a
teenager, McClary bagged
groceries at Marlowe’s Super Market
in Pawleys Island, where owner Frank
Marlowe portrayed a friendly figure in
his uniform of cigar and butcher
apron. When McClary returned to
Pawleys after earning an economics
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
degree from Wofford College, he
promptly resumed his friendship
with Marlowe.
“The day I decided to open my
own restaurant, I stopped in after
work to have a drink with Frank,”
McClary says. “I told him about my
plans, and he said, ‘What about
here?’ He told me he was ready to
retire and that I could have the
place.”
McClary slept on the offer for
just one night. He and Marlowe soon
signed a one-page lease notable for its
lack of legal jargon.
“We just wrote that we’d talk
things out if anything came up,”
McClary says. “Frank gave us a big
break on the early years of the lease.
That was a huge help — he knew
we’d be sinking everything into getting the restaurant up and running.”
There was a great deal to be done
before a concrete floor and cinderblock walls could be transformed
into hardwood floors and buttery, yellow walls, offset by vintage French
poster art, plush oriental rugs and
vases filled with delicate sprays of
everlastings. The McClarys had an
additional challenge — they were
determined to maintain the charm of
the old Marlowe’s Super Market.
Today, black and white pictures of the
old store grace one wall and the
store’s giant walk-in refrigerator still
serves as the restaurant’s cool storage.
“We don’t have a freezer, because
I believe keeping food refrigerated
and not frozen helps retain its flavor,” McClary says. “Our seafood and
produce is delivered fresh every day
from local markets. I just remember
that when I caught fish as a kid and
cooked it while it was fresh, it tasted
so much better.”
The McClarys are equally particular about the menu offerings, a dedication shared by executive chef
Pierce Culliton, who helped open the
restaurant in 1988 and has shared
his genius for delectable taste combi-
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PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
(Top) Frank’s now, (Bottom) The original building
Frank’s and Frank’s Outback
10434 Ocean Highway
Pawleys Island
Reservations recommended
Frank’s: (843) 237-3030
Frank’s Outback:
(843) 237-1777
www.franksandoutback.com
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nations ever since. A select group of
employees, including sous chef
Paulkelly Renault, constantly brainstorm exciting new recipes. The menu
is changed with the seasons and availability of fresh ingredients and a good
deal of experimentation goes on to
make sure flavors are perfect.
“We taste test every day,” McClary
says. “When you’re making all your
sauces from scratch, you have to
ensure they taste the way you originally envisioned.”
The constant effort pays off with
delicious dishes like sautéed lump crab
cakes with whole grain mustard sauce;
seared tuna in a pool of Thai Spice
Mussel Soup, crispy noodles and
wasabi vinaigrette; and seared sea
scallops with fall spaghetti squash,
crisp prosciutto and balsamic reduction. The McClarys make sure to provide one of the most extensive wine
lists in the state to accompany your
meal, and also offer a decadent end to
your evening with fresh handmade
desserts like traditional French crème
brulee and fresh berry cobbler with ice
cream.
There’s also a great deal of effort
expended on keeping the décor fresh
and comfortable, with designers invited
annually to add their particular style.
“The interior has evolved over the
years, and every year we do something
to dress up the restaurant in a new
way,” McClary says. “When the latest
designer removed the fabrics on our
booths, we found four other layers of
fabric underneath. Of course, we’ll
always keep the wood floors and oriental rugs. And I love the antique bar
that a fellow restaurant owner found
for us in Atlanta. I went down with a
friend and a U-Haul and brought it
back. It’s a perfect fit.”
By 1992, it was obvious that the
bustling business could use more
room. So a new, al fresco restaurant
was built under the soaring live oaks
to the rear of Frank’s and dubbed
Frank’s Outback. The cuisine and
amenities there are just as elegant, but
the menu offers different dishes,
including gourmet pizzas baked in an
oak burning oven.
“It’s the same fresh ingredients as
Frank’s and some of the most popular
menu items are offered in both restaurants,” McClary says. “Frank’s Outback is just a more casual ambiance,
with its fire and indoor or outdoor
seating.”
Both restaurants have earned
their share of accolades, including
prestigious awards and features in
Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Southern
Living. But McClary is most delighted
with the praise — and continued
patronage — of some 80,000 diners
who visit Frank’s every year.
“I love hearing that folks drove
from North Myrtle Beach or
Charleston or made a special visit during their vacation,” he says. “We’ve
even had some celebrities visit, like
Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Andie
MacDowell, although I tend not to recognize them. Most of the time someone on my staff has to point them out
to me.”
It hasn’t hurt business that
Frank’s is located in bucolic Pawleys
Island, where a gentle day enjoying
beach breezes, sampling eclectic shops
and touring historic sites attracts people who love the good life.
“Definitely, spend the day on the
beach, or golfing,” McClary urges.
“Take a tour of historic Georgetown,
Brookgreen Gardens or Hobcaw
Barony. Head out to the Georgetown
lighthouse in a catamaran. Just come
here for dinner afterwards and we’ll
give your day a perfect ending.” SC
Heather Pelham is a writer and documentary film producer living in Georgetown, South
Carolina. The winner of five South Carolina
Press Association Awards, she has worked as
a reporter in television, radio and newspaper
and especially enjoys documenting Lowcountry
history.
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BROOKGREEN GARDENS
Gullah Culture
in Pawleys Island
N
BY
RON DAISE
o need to journey beyond
Pawleys Island to begin
exploring Gullah culture. E
dey rightcha!
Gullah heritage developed, in part, among the vast population of enslaved West Africans working the nearly 45,000 rice fields in
Georgetown County during the 1700s
and 1800s. Long before surf action,
beach resorts and hammocks became
the community’s focal points of interest, Gullah culture been rightcha!
Gullah forbears were brought as
captives from rice villages along the
African Grain Coast during the
Transatlantic Slave Era. Hailing from
countries that included Senegal,
Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Sierra Leone and Liberia, this
enslaved workforce, along with captives from other West African countries, did much more than merely cultivate rice. They produced rice to the
extent that the European settlers who
had secured land grants from King
George I of England in areas along the
Waccamaw Neck became among the
richest plantation owners in our
country’s history.
Where do you need to go to experience Gullah culture and heritage?
Visit Gullah O’oman Shop and
Museum, 421 Petigru Drive, and see
colorful Story Quilts, handmade grass
dolls and cultural memorabilia. Listen
to owners Vermelle “Bunny” and husband Andrew Rodrigues regale with
anecdotes about community history,
traditions and individuals.
Drive along the causeway onto
Huntington State Park and view a
trunk and gates resembling ones once
used on Georgetown County rice plantations. Although this device wasn’t
Enslaved African Female (left) and Enslaved
African Male (right) by Babette Bloch.
built to cultivate rice but to manage
the Park’s freshwater habitat, it’s patterned after the hollowed-out tree
trunks and gates used centuries ago in
rice villages along the African Grain
Coast. Enslaved West Africans
brought with them the technological
utilization of rice trunks for flooding
and draining rice fields using freshwater tidal creeks.
Spend time at Brookgreen
Gardens in nearby Murrells Inlet and
experience heritage tourism at its
finest. Stroll The Lowcountry Trail
and view impeccable stainless steel
sculptures of four primary characters
who helped to shape Gullah/Geechee
heritage. Interpretive signs and archeological attractions along the quartermile outdoor museum exhibit showcase the Plantation Owner, Overseer,
Enslaved African Female and
Enslaved African Male.
Brookgreen visitors also can
cruise aboard a pontoon boat along
the tidal creeks. While viewing former
rice fields and watching animals and
plants that comprise the freshwater
tidal ecosystem, Creek Excursion passengers will learn about the monumental expertise and labor with
which enslaved Africans impacted the
rice economy.
And each Wednesday at 1 p.m.,
Brookgreen’s Gullah/Geechee Program Series enlightens audiences with
invaluable information about heritage,
culture, language and lore. Presentations by a Gullah historian and
author are interactive, educational
and entertaining. They include “Gullah/Geechee Rhythms” (Mar. 14 –
May 13); “O, Freedom Ova Me!”
(June 13 – Sept. 5); and “Priscilla’s
Posse: A Press Conference about
Gullah Heritage” (Sept. 12 – Nov. 14).
Vestiges of Gullah culture await
onlookers in communities throughout
Georgetown County and beyond. But
don’t bypass Pawleys Island. E dey
rightcha. E been rightcha. E gwine be
rightcha fa all fa see! SC
Ron Daise is Vice President for Creative
Education at Brookgreen Gardens. An author
of several books and a performing artist, he is a
recipient of the S.C. Order of the Palmetto and
the S.C. Folk Heritage Award. Daise is a
“Gullah-born” native of St. Helena Island, S.C.
Gullah-ese
"E dey rightcha" means "it's right
here"; "been rightcha" at the end of the
2nd paragraph actually should read
"Gullah culture e de been rightcha"
(with the last four words in italics),
which means "has been right here"; "E
gwine be rightcha fa all fa see" means
"it will be here for all to see".
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN HENRY
STEVE MURRAY PHOTO
Sea View Inn
T
BY
CHRISTY ANDERSON
Rustic charm, pristine beaches
and three southern meals a day sounds
like the perfect coastal vacation. But
when doing it at the Sea View Inn on
Pawleys Island, there’s a twist.
You get the added bonus of being
able to live as though you are hundreds of miles from civilization.
There are no phones, cell phones,
televisions, fax machines or computers — none of the modern day distrac-
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tions which are now common in every
home and office. Sea View owners
Brian and Sassy Henry know that in
leaving all these things behind patrons
are not loosing luxuries, but are
instead finding the purest form of
relaxation.
“This place is not for everybody,
but those who have been here and
experience it come back year after
year. We have a fiercely loyal clien-
tele,” Brian says.
The inn is perfect for families of
all ages and stages. Smooth, old hardwood floors ease fears of bringing in
the sand and sea and the unpretentious décor makes it friendly for
younger guests. Everything moves at a
relaxed pace. Perhaps the best part is
that once you’ve settled into your
room, there is no need to get in your
car again until you leave.
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
Each room in the inn has its own
half-bath and is only lightly furnished.
And every room’s double and twin
beds are dressed in hand-stitched bedspreads from Guatemala. The common areas allow guests to relax outside of their rooms and get a chance to
meet one another.
“In the summer the living
room has board games everywhere,” Brian says, then pointed
out the wall of bookcases. “And
that’s our library. I rotate out most
of the books every year or so…
during meals the dining room has
at least 40 people in it.”
Large iron bells hang along
one of the dining room walls.
They ring for breakfast, lunch
and dinner each day to announce
meal time.
“You can hear them all the
way down on the beach. Everyone
comes in and is seated and the
food comes out all at once. We’re all
served together,” Brian says.
The front porch is lined with
more than a dozen rocking chairs and,
of course, houses the old beach hammock. With open views of the beach,
the porch is a popular spot, especially
at sunset. The inn’s creek dock holds
kayaks for patrons. Tucked underneath the house are tons of sand toys,
umbrellas and beach chairs. Everything needed for a day at the beach.
“It’s old Pawleys in every way.
This is beach rustic. It is what it is,”
Brian says.
The Sea View Inn began in the
1930s after Pawleys had already
become a favorite of vacationers.
Among the large numbers of repeat
visitors were Will and Celeste
Clinkscales. Through the years they
became familiar with the island and
the people who visited at the same
time each year. What began as
Celeste’s interest in helping the
Kaminksi’s run a bed and breakfast on
the island, turned into the
Clinkscales’ building the Sea View Inn
in 1937. The inn was built with the
intention of becoming a place where
the same guests could return for the
same week in the same room each
year. Their first guests were family
and friends, along with some Pawleys
Island regulars who wanted to try the
new inn in the middle of the island.
According to Brian, while the Tip
Top Inn on the northern end of the
island attracted more people from
North Carolina, most of Sea View’s
patrons were from South Carolina.
Visits to the inn were quiet and relaxing, though visitors were kept on their
toes by the antics of Will’s brother,
George Clinkscales, a professor at
Converse College and later Wofford
College, who bought the house next
door to the inn. During the 1950s,
George would reportedly fire a cannon he had built toward the ocean
during nap time. He also kept live
turkeys and chickens under his house.
In the spring of 1952, Sea View
was sold to Thelma Albright, Alma
Hull and Loma Squires. The three
ladies, who worked at Queen’s
College, had been taking annual vacations to the inn for more than 10
years. In April they bought the inn
and welcomed their first guests the
next month. The trio carried the tradition of simple vacationing, but made
a few changes. They added special
events, such as guided nature expeditions, artist and photography workshops and plantation tours, which
continue today.
When Hurricane Hazel struck
South Carolina in October 1954,
the Sea View Inn was completely
destroyed. In a letter from Albright to guests on March 16, 1955,
patrons were told the inn was still
recovering from Hazel, but they
would eventually reopen. “The
plan is essentially the same as the
old Sea View; the government
required that and allowed practically no deviation,” Albright wrote.
The main building was completed by 1956 and is the same
structure that remains, along with
the original cottage. Not much else
has changed through the years. In
all, the inn has only changed owners a
handful of times. The Henrys purchased the inn from Page Oberlin in
2002 and kept the staff of five local
ladies.
“Our focus is on freshening up
the place,” Brian says. “The essence of
the place we haven’t changed. There is
almost a pride in not changing and the
guests have asked us not to… We plan
to be here another 20 years. My wife
would love to see our two daughters
married here one day.”
Rooms at the Sea View Inn start
at $190 a night for a two-night stay
and go up to $275 a night for ocean
front. Reservations can be made by
calling (843) 237-4253 or visiting the
website at www.SeaViewInn.com.
Prices include three meals a day and
all the peace and relaxation you can
carry. SC
Christine Anderson is a freelance writer
and photographer for newspapers and magazines throughout South Carolina. She lives in
Columbia with her husband and son.
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PHOTO S BY SHERRY MCCOY
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
PHOTO BY JACK ALTERMAN
Dorothea B. Frank
A
54 |
BY
CHRISTINE ANDERSON
rrogantly shabby Pawleys
Island is a dying breed
among coastal resort towns.
It doesn’t boast of high rise
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condos or waterslides or even up-tothe-moment architecture. What it
does offer, however, is a safe haven for
those who have ever found peace
along its pristine shores.
That simple, quiet way of life that
still resounds in Pawleys is what
caught the attention of author
Dorothea Benton Frank. A native of
Sullivan’s Island, S.C., Frank has been
bringing the Lowcountry alive for
readers all over the country for years.
In her fifth novel, Pawleys Island, she
introduced her loyal following to the
small island’s way of life. And with
more than 700,000 copies sold, she
has really gotten the word out.
“Pawleys Island is for a specific
kind of person — one who wants a
quiet getaway with old shoe style,”
Frank says. “It’s not for rabble
rousers. There are plenty of other
places you can go to raise Cain.
Pawleys is almost hallowed ground. So
you’d better behave yourself or the
Grey Man will get you.”
Frank first visited the island in
the backseat of her daddy’s car. As a
teenager she says she would dance her
feet off at the old Pawleys Pavilion.
She claims the Pawleys ambiance
reminds her of what Sullivan’s Island
and the Isle of Palms looked like when
she was younger. It is that old fashioned, slower way of life that beckoned Frank to turn Pawleys into the
backdrop of her book.
Pawleys Island opens with the
poem “Tangled” by Marjory Heath
Wentworth, South Carolina’s Poet
Laureate. Wentworth wrote the poem
specifically for the book and it touches the very nerve the book is written
on — that of being connected to the
land as well as its people.
The story follows the lives of
gallery owner Huey Valentine, retired
divorce attorney Abigail Thurmond
and recent divorcee, artist Rebecca
Simms. When Simms happens into the
lives and close-knit friendship of locals
Valentine and Thurmond, she not only
finds the acceptance she longs for, but
plenty of unwanted help. True to
southern life, Valentine and Thurmond
refuse to let Simms stay the victim of
her ex-husband. They set out to do
everything in their power to reverse the
divorce settlement she received less
than two weeks earlier and find justice.
What follows is a story that is
both funny and heart wrenching.
Friendships grow closer, old flames
are rekindled and past hurts are
unburied and finally dealt with in
proper fashion.
PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
Pawleys Island by
Dorothea B. Frank
“When I am thinking about writing a new book I think about the story
I want to tell and then I try to choose
a place where it belongs,” says Frank.
“In Pawleys Island two of the main
characters were escaping themselves,
searching for refuge, and desperately
in need of a place where they could
spend time thinking about what they
wanted the rest of their lives to look
like. That’s why I chose Pawleys
Island. It is beautiful, noncommercial
and offers endless solitude.”
And solitude is often what is
needed to slow down and actually
look at where life is heading and how
to continue. It is also needed for the
immense healing that takes place
within the characters. This story
couldn’t have taken place in a large
metropolitan area. “I will never accept
that these changes could have come
about any place but Pawleys Island,”
Frank wrote as the voice of Abigail in
the book’s opening pages.
Frank added that it wasn’t the
island’s beaches alone that drew her
to the setting, it was also the “great
beauty of the Waccamaw River and
the contrast of the enormous commercialism of Myrtle Beach.”
“You know, it’s like, you can fill
your life with noise (Myrtle Beach) or
you can settle yourself down and
think this through in a place like
Pawleys Island or overlooking one
of the south’s most beautiful rivers,”
she says.
As the characters find healing and
refuge, their lives are joined together,
not only with each other, but with
their surroundings. One of the questions Rebecca Simms must answer by
the end of the book is whether or not
her temporary stay will become permanent.
“The island is like the great
downy bosom of the spirit of the
Lowcountry,” Frank says. “Probably
like immigrants felt when they saw
the Statue of Liberty for the first time,
Pawleys Island makes you feel like if
you get there you will be all right. Life
will be all right. The island is a safe
haven.”
The idea of coming home again is
common in all of Frank’s novels. Her
collection of Lowcountry tales includes Sullivan’s Island, Plantation,
Isle of Palms, Shem Creek and Full of
Grace. Her seventh novel, The Land of
Mango Sunsets, will be released in
April, by William Morrow, an imprint
of HarperCollins Publishers.
Frank will be honored as the
keynote speaker at the opening night
reception of South Carolina’s Book
Festival in Columbia on February 23.
Frank has appeared on NBC’s
Today Show, Parker Ladd’s Book Talk
and many network affiliated television stations. She also holds an
appointment on the New Jersey
Cultural Trust and serves on the
Advisory Boards of the Southern
Literature Council of Charleston, S.C.,
and the New Jersey Theater Group.
She speaks frequently to students
of all ages on creative writing and the
writing process. She has served on
numerous boards for the arts and
charity, including The New Jersey
Chamber Music Society, Whole
Theater, Dance NJ, American Stage
Company and Senior Care of Montclair. Frank was appointed to the New
Jersey State Council on the Arts in
1991. She has been a public speaker
on fundraising and Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance
locally and nationally for the National
Endowment for the Arts. Her work
on ADA compliance and the Arts
Access Task Force was filmed by NJ
Network, a PBS affiliate and nominated for a regional Emmy in 1995.
With her busy schedule, Frank
says she doesn’t get back to Pawleys
Island as much as she would like to
anymore. However, the effects of a
visit are not far from her mind.
“After you walk the beach and get
your pulse beat back to normal…Did
we talk about the food? I think Louis
Osteen of Louis’s Fish Camp plates up
the most authentic and delicious
Lowcountry cuisine there is to be
found. Go there for dinner, load up on
some fried chicken and whatever he’s
cooking that day, buy a hammock
from the Hammock Shop, get in and
have a snooze,” she says. “You’re
gonna come away relaxed, your life
will be in focus and that’s the whole
point!”
Frank divides her time with her
husband and two daughters between
Sullivan’s Island and the New York
area. SC
Christine Anderson is a freelance writer
and photographer for newspapers and magazines throughout South Carolina. She lives in
Columbia with her husband and son.
Book Signing April 13th, 2-4
14427 Ocean Hwy. Unit G
Litchfield Landing
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Tel: (843) 237-8138
Fax: (843) 237-0201
[email protected]
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PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
Tenth Pawleys Island
Pavilion Reunion
ANN M. IPOCK
awleys Island is many things to
many people: a place to vacation, swim, sunbathe and find
seashells. Nicknamed “arrogantly shabby,” it is home to
America’s oldest seaside resort. The
island itself, about 3-1/2 miles long,
has a population of 138. And except
for major holidays, (the fourth of July
for example), this is an off-the-beatenpath peaceful haven. In fact, about the
noisiest it ever gets is from the sounds
of friends chatting, volleyball players
laughing or children squealing at
waves. But all of that changes each
May when the Pawleys Pavilion
Reunion explodes. This year, the
Reunion will be held May 12, 2007,
beginning at 6:30 p.m. Entertainment
will be provided by the Band of Oz.
The committee—headed up by
Molly Mercer, who was the brainchild
of the Pawleys Pavilion Reunion—
works faithfully and tirelessly each
year, securing sponsors and employing volunteers to ensure the
Reunion’s success. In fact, the entire
event is a well-oiled machine, moving
as smoothly as the shaggers on the
dance floor. Mercer explains:
Whether or not you ever were
lucky enough to dance at one of the
four pavilions at Pawleys Island from
the 1920s to 1970 [no longer in existence due to fires and/or storms], you
can come back and “Relive the
Memories” at the Pawleys Pavilion
Reunion. She continues with, “Always wishing to relive my memories
of those lazy, fun-filled days and
dance-filled nights spent at the
Pawleys Pavilion, these dreams came
into existence for me in 1998 while
serving on the Board of Directors for
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ness Association (PILBA). We had to
have it where the ghosts were or the
memories just wouldn’t be the same.
What began in 1998 as a celebration for the shag-dance and for beach
music lovers has evolved into a muchanticipated ritual that sees crowds of
more than 1800. Transportation is
provided to shuttle guests who’ve
parked their cars at Pawleys Island
Plaza on Hwy. 17 (near Tuesday
Morning). Arriving at the North
Causeway bridge, folks pay admission
(most have prepaid), get their armbands and can buy food and drink
tickets and collectible t-shirts.
Walking a little further, couples are
seen shagging (a lazy jitterbug) to a
live band on the huge wooden dance.
The city supplies the park—near
where the last Pavilion was—for the
evening. Lining the dance floor are
vendor booths selling everything from
crab cakes to calamari, barbecue to
burgers, shrimp to scallops, plus barbecue, beer, water and wine.
Each year, the crowd grows as word
spreads of its success. Many attendees—
both local and far away—are graduates
of nearby Georgetown High School,
Winyah High School (now defunct) and
Myrtle Beach High School.
Mercer tells me, People have
come from throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and
Georgia and as far away as Connecticut, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Everyone dances under the stars to
“Be Young, Be Foolish, But Be Happy”
as the song goes. Many shed tears of
joy mixed with wistfulness while
dancing the night away on this hallowed ground. It’s like one big party
where you can be yourself at 16 again
and dance like no one is watching!
PHOTOS BY CLAYTON STAIRS
P
BY
PHOTO BY JOHN HOOK
But if you are a people watcher,
this is a night you don’t want to miss!
The traditional Ivy-league dress du
jour for guys means khaki shorts, golf
shirts and loafers (without socks).
Suntanned gals wear beach dresses or
summer sweaters, capris and sandals.
It’s not uncommon to see guys slapping each other on the back, “Man!
How long’s it been since you moved
away? Twenty years? How’s your
family?” The gals reminisce to the
Painting - used on our shirts of the last Pavilion (1960-1970). It was "our" building where we
danced the night away from Easter to Labor Day on Pawleys Island.
time their daddy let them drive over to
the old Pavilion with a car full of giggling girls, saying, “Remember the
time…?” Two generations and sometimes three show up for the festivities.
Even if you don’t shag, the entertainment, food, southern hospitality and
gorgeous night sky are reason enough
to show up. And if you’re lucky, you
just might start some new memories
of your own.
For more information, contact
Molly Mercer at 843-235-6021. SC
Ann Ipock is an award-winning southern
humorist and national speaker who writes for
Georgetown Times, Sasee, Camden
Chronicle Independent, Columbia County
Magazine in Augusta and now, South
Carolina ALIVE! “Life Is Short, So Read This
Fast!” is her third book.
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Ghosts
BY
ELIZABETH HUNTSINGER WOLF
A
A seaside resort for many generations, the quaint barrier island of
Pawleys and the neighboring
seashores have long been maritime
havens for those who lived on the
nearby mainland. The lives and
adventures of many of the island’s
past residents have left us with a legacy of history — and ghosts.
While Pawleys Island’s resort
roots grow back into the 1700’s, it was
in the 1820’s that local rice planters,
many whose Waccamaw River plantation tracts ran east to include Pawleys
Island’s seashore, built seaside summer homes there.
Though many of these early
homes were swept away by the great
hurricane of September 1822, at least
one house survived the storm.
According to legend, a man dressed in
grey, the “Grey Man” as he is called
who warns island residents of hurri-
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canes, is believed by many to have
been seen first just before the storm
unexpectedly struck. The Grey Man
had recently perished in a riding accident, but appeared to his bereaved
fiancé on the wind-swept island shore
just prior to the hurricane disaster to
warn her. Dressed in the grey cape she
had sewn for him and holding a
lantern, he disappeared before her
very eyes. His warning spared her, her
family, and their island home.
By the 1850s, a colony of rambling, antebellum, rice plantation
summer homes had emerged nestled
behind the island’s high dunes. One
such home was on the eastern-most
end of Hagley Plantation, the river-toocean tract owned by rice planter
Plowden C. J. Weston, who loved the
island dearly. He died near the end of
the Civil War and was buried on the
Pawleys Island mainland. Many
believe Weston, carrying a lantern and
dressed in his Confederate grey uni-
form and long grey greatcoat, is the
Grey Man.
The Grey Man still appears on
Pawleys Island prior to every major
hurricane. Anyone who sees him and
leaves the island is spared, as is their
island home. Sightings of him were
documented just before the last two
major hurricanes — Hazel of October
1954 and Hugo of 1989. These storms
devastated the island, but inexplicably
left certain homes standing.
Next to the Grey Man, perhaps
the most famous ghost of Pawleys
Island is that of plantation belle Alice
Flagg, who died in 1849. Feverish
with malaria and broken hearted over
forced separation from her fiancé, distraught fifteen-year-old Alice died
asking for her missing engagement
ring. She never knew that Allard, her
domineering older brother, threw her
beloved ring into the ocean creek
behind their Murrells Inlet home. Laid
to rest on the Pawleys Island mainland
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH WOLF
Pawleys Island
PHOTOS BY SHERRY MCCOY
Litchfield
Plantation
Alice Flagg grave site
over a century and half ago wearing
the white ball gown that she hoped to
be married in, ethereally lovely Alice
still relentlessly searches for her ring.
During the halcyon antebellum
days of the mid-nineteenth century,
Dr. Tucker of Litchfield Plantation
spent his days overseeing the rice production of his many fertile fields.
Most of his nights were spent riding
horseback through Pawleys Island and
the surrounding countryside, constantly summoned to attend the
urgent medical needs of the many
slaves, relatives and friends on his
own plantation as well as on neighboring ones. Over 150 years later, Dr.
Tucker still roams the darkness. He
ends each late-night ride by ringing
the ghostly bell outside his old gatehouse, rapping the bell over and over
with his riding crop and hoping the
gatekeeper will wake up and let him
in. Removal of the bell years ago never
stopped his ghost from ringing it. Nor
has Dr. Tucker ever tired of walking
up the stairs of his Litchfield
Plantation house late at night, his
ghostly footsteps creating more chills
for those who have just been awakened by his bell.
Not all of the Pawleys Island
ghosts are spirits of plantation gentry.
Across the creek from the south
end of Pawleys Island, just beyond the
mainland shore, the Witch of Pawleys
Island once lived. Her sought-after
charms and potions brought many
lovelorn Georgetown County folk slipping to her door in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. A century later, her
ghostly silhouette still is seen sometimes stirring her potions in her black
cast-iron pot over the fire outside her
cabin.
A few miles north, on the
Huntington Beach shore, visitors are
sometimes stopped by a little boy selling stone crabs. He only asks a few
cents for each crab—in his day, that
was the going price. It is only after he
disappears into thin air that his
prospective customers discover they
have met the Crab Boy, who perished
there many years ago while catching
stone crabs.
Pawleys Island is home to many
ghosts—some whose history is welldocumented, and others whose names
have been lost to time. Each has left in
earthly form only to return, ethereally, time and time again. SC
Elizabeth Huntsinger Wolf, author of
Ghosts of Georgetown and More Ghosts of
Georgetown, is a full-time storyteller with the
Georgetown County Library. Her new book,
Georgetown Mysteries and Legends, was published in February 2007. She and her husband
Bob Wolf conduct Ghosts of Georgetown
Lantern Tours by reservation on Friday nights.
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Something to
Crow About
Wild Rooster Sauces wow critics
and grilling enthusiasts
I
BY
HEATHER PELHAM
t all started with a barbecue grill and a flair
for flavors.
Robert and Cindi Kornegay, co-owners of Wild
Rooster Sauces in Pawleys Island, have been serving
mouth-watering barbecue to friends for years.
“Cindi and I have always loved gourmet cooking
and entertaining,” explains Robert. “People kept telling
us, ‘You should market this sauce. We’ve never had anything like it.’”
The Kornegays kept the thought in the back of their
minds, but it wasn’t until 2001 that they decided to
share their savory creations with the world at large.
“Shortly after we retired, we decided we just
weren’t built for that kind of
lifestyle,” Cindi recalls. “So we started the business with three of our
favorite barbecue sauce recipes. We
learned a lot. Having a barbecue
party for 14 friends is a lot different
than packaging and marketing sauces
for everyone.”
The Kornegays were fast learners, and soon won culinary honors
for their Fiery Vinegar, Wild Tomato
and KC Kicker sauces, from prestigious sources like California’s
“America’s Best Food Events Show.”
Gourmet shops and grilling
enthusiasts began ordering Wild
Rooster products, but things really
started sizzling when the Kornegays
created a Wild Rooster website and
began traveling to tasting shows in
their specialty van.
“We put out all 16 of our products at every show,” Cindi says.
“These shows cater to 10,000 people
a day, and they all stop at our booth.
Best of all, it always seems like once
people try it, they buy it.”
The enthusiastic response to
their sauces inspired the Kornegays
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PHOTOS BY HEATHER PELHAM
to introduce some of their other favorite recipes, like Black
Bean and Roasted Corn, Southwest, Cilantro and Smoked
Jalapeno salsas.
“All of our recipes represent different areas where we
have lived,” Cindi says. “Every area thinks their style is the
best, but we respectfully enjoy them all.”
“We both grew up in eastern North Carolina, and that’s
where our Fiery Vinegar barbecue sauce comes from,” Robert
adds. “KC Kicker honors Kansas City, where we lived for 17
years. Every place taught us something about flavor.”
Even Pawleys Island has inspired a bold, unique taste,
with the recent creation of Pawleys Island Sunburn Hot
Sauce.
“A lot of local restaurants started putting the sauce on
their tables,” Robert says. “Ironically, they had to discontinue doing that because diners kept stealing the bottles.”
While living in the Southwest, the couple discovered
dry rubs, complex blends of spices that bring out robust flavors in meats.
“It’s a cooking style that is becoming en vogue in the
east now,” Robert says. “A lot of chefs on TV are talking
rubs. It’s a lot of flavor, and grilling enthusiasts love that
they can add rubs and sauces together for a really intense
flavor.”
“We’ve also found that a lot of people are buying our
rubs because they don’t contain MSG,” Cindi says. “A lot of
rubs do, and people don’t like the aftereffects. In fact, all of
our products are all natural, no preservatives or ingredients
with names you can’t pronounce.”
The Kornegays were surprised to find that their number
one product wasn’t a sauce, rub, or salsa — it’s their artichoke spinach dip, another winner of numerous awards.
“I think women appreciate it because it’s not only delicious, but also incredibly versatile,” Cindi says. “It can be
served hot or cold, and we include 10 recipes that use the
dip. Especially around the holidays, we have trouble keeping artichoke dip in stock!”
The Kornegays ship their products to gourmet stores
throughout the country and oversee bustling Internet sales
from their neat-as-a-pin packing warehouse, but they save
time to experiment, to find fascinating new flavors for discriminating dinner tables.
“We’re serious about developing flavors far more robust
than the big commercial sauces and salsas,” Cindi says. “We
cater to gourmet tastes, and we believe in our motto: ‘From
the finest of southern scratch.’” SC
Robert and Cindi Kornegay,
co-owners of Wild Rooster
Sauces in Pawleys Island.
Heather Pelham is a writer and documentary film producer living
in Georgetown, S.C. The winner of five South Carolina Press Association
Awards, she has worked as a reporter in television, radio and newspaper
and especially enjoys documenting Lowcountry history.
To place an order or locate retailers who carry Wild Rooster
Sauces, visit their website at www.wildroostersauces.com.
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PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
Belle's Legacy
BY
LEE BROCKINGTON
A
As the owner of a sprawling lowcountry estate, Belle
Wilcox Baruch knew the future of Hobcaw Barony would
be in question after her death. As a world traveler, she had
seen the growth of development along coastlines. In South
Carolina, she had witnessed the rise of golf, tourism and
year-round living.
And so, by 1964, Belle created a trust in her will
enabling the Belle W. Baruch Foundation to hold in perpetuity her home, 17,500-acres of woods, swamps, marsh and
beach, for the purposes of research and education in forestry,
wildlife and marine science while preserving the historical
value of the land. This far-sighted woman created a gift to all
South Carolinians through her love of Hobcaw Barony.
"Hobcaw," an American Indian word meaning "between
the waters," is situated at the south end of the Waccamaw
Neck and is bordered by the Waccamaw River, Winyah Bay
and the Atlantic Ocean. The Waccamaw tribe used the land
seasonally to camp, harvest clams, oysters, fish and shrimp,
later created a village on a high bluff above the bay.
By 1718, Hobcaw Barony was surveyed and presented
to one of the Carolina colony's Lords Proprietors as a part of
the plan of King George I to settle the land between Virginia
and Spanish Florida. Eventually, the barony was re-sold several times before becoming a number of plantations during
the 18th century. Some of the earliest exports from the plantations were naval stores or forest products, which included
lumber, pitch, tar and turpentine. English ships' masts and
planks were made of Hobcaw's longleaf pines and live oak
trunks and limbs were used as the ships' ribs.
In the clearings, cattle and hogs grazed, while homes
and slave villages appeared. Indigo emerged as the money
crop, but was supplanted by rice at the end of the
Revolution. By 1861, Hobcaw had been divided into 14
individual tracts, with boundary lines extending from the
river to the sea. Plantation names such as Alderly,
Bellefield, Friendfield, Calais and Oryzantia were on the
lips of owners Alston, Allston, Ward and Fraser.
The changes wrought by the Civil War posed too great
a burden on rice planters. With slaves emancipated, laborintensive rice foundered. Competition from western states
caused the price of rice to drop, and a series of "weather
events" — hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts and heavy
rainfall — caused Georgetown to go from being one of the
richest districts to one of the poorest in the nation by the
turn of the 20th century.
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Clambank Landing,on the edge of Hobcaw's 5,000-acre salt marsh, was the
summer home to a 19th century rice planter who built a breezy cottage to
escape malaria on the plantation. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland stepped
out into the pluff mud nearby and "nearly drownt to death." Beginning in
1905, Bernard Baruch built a second hunt cabin at Clambank and launched
boats before sunrise to harvest an average of 100 ducks per day.
Belle Baruch was an international equestrian and defeated men at the top
level of competition. The Oct. 7, 1931, Chicago Tribune described this photo,
"Belle Baruch and her horse Souriant III take a breathtaking leap in the
thrilling Isola Bella Cup, the 11th International Horse Show at Stresa, Italy. Miss
Baruch took 3rd place against Europe's top horsemen." Belle won more than
300 trophies in her lifetime, competing in France, Germany and Italy.
ing, but several sold to newcomers. The Donaldson family
bought a number of the plantations by 1900, but when their
brick rice mill burned after several years of failed crops they
leased their marshes to gun clubs and hosted duck hunts. It
was in 1894 that President Grover Cleveland stepped out of
a boat into the pluff mud of Hobcaw and "nearly drowned
to death" when he sank to his knees. The news created an
interest among wealthy northerners who were seeking
happy hunting grounds of their own.
Bernard Baruch, native South Carolinian and Wall
Street millionaire came at his Kaminski cousin’s encouragement to duck hunt over the abandoned rice fields of
Georgetown County. Talk of "100 duck days" was no myth.
Baruch's hunt at Hobcaw resulted in a spontaneous offer to
buy the woods, swamps and marshes. Between 1905-07,
Baruch bought 11 former rice plantations and began entertaining the elite of American politics, military, medicine,
music and journalism. Other northerners, the DuPonts,
Yawkeys, Guggenheims, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts and Luces
owned lowcountry plantations and collectively rejuvenated
South Carolina’s economy, all the while depleting the state's
wildlife.
PHOTOS COURTESY THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION
Because there were no bridges to the mainland until 1935, Baruch family visitors arrived at Hobcaw by boat across Winyah Bay.Winston Churchill, in 1932,
and President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1944, utilized South Carolina's sun and
salt air to recuperate and gain strength for difficult days of war.
As early as the 1930s, there emerged a new generation
of conservationists, many preserving their former winter
retreats against development. Sixty miles of shoreline on
the South Carolina coast, roughly from Georgetown to
Charleston, makes up the largest piece of protected property on the east coast. The gateway for this contiguous stretch
of coastline is Hobcaw Barony.
Belle Baruch was only six years old when her parents
began their purchase of Hobcaw. She learned to hunt, ride
and shoot in what she called "the friendliest woods in the
world." After an idyllic childhood of winters spent on the
barony, Belle moved with her horses to France to pursue an
interest in grand prix jumping. A champion in France, Italy
and Germany, Belle began to long for "a piece of Hobcaw I
could call my own." Her parents relented in 1935.
She purchased 5000 acres and renamed her consolidation of six tracts "Bellefield." She built a home and stable
and was soon managing all of Hobcaw for her father. By
1956, he offered to sell the remainder to her and she came
Bernard Mannes Baruch, born in 1870 in Camden, S.C., was a Wall Street millionaire by age 35 when he became "the Baron on Hobcaw" bu purchasing
17,500 acres on the Carolina coast. His father was a Jewish immigrant and his
mother's family owned slaves on a S.C. cotton plantation prior to the Civil War.
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PA W L E Y S I S L A N D
to own 17,500 acres. Alas, in 1964, she contracted cancer
and died at the age of 64, but not before leaving a detailed
will which outlined the future for her beloved Hobcaw.
Belle's dream of an outdoor laboratory for scientists and
educators from South Carolina colleges and universities has
been realized. Utilizing every environment at Hobcaw, scientists have studied beach erosion, weather, water quality,
the role of estuaries, fisheries and rookeries, longleaf pine
forests, tree genetics, and white-tailed deer, feral swine, redcockaded woodpeckers, sea turtles, dolphins, crabs and
white ibises. Clemson University and University of South
Carolina-established institutes and full time staff is assigned
to the property. Belle's monetary trust has been invested and
diversified by dedicated trustees, allowing for the management of the land without cost to the state or federal governments. Hobcaw Barony is a world-recognized center for
environmental research.
From Belle's first glimpse of a Carolina sunrise to her last
sunset over Winyah Bay, she knew that protection of Hobcaw
could teach others how to understand the fragile ecology of
South Carolina and she hoped that this gift might preserve
the richness, the bounty and the heritage of Hobcaw Barony.
Belle Baruch, c1930, served as a self-appointed truant officer in the one-room
schoolhouse the Baruch family operated for the children of black employees
at Hobcaw. Strawberry Schoolhouse's teacher supervised 40-60 children of
different ages from first through fourth grade.
Lee Gordon Brockington has served since 1984 on the staff of the Belle
W. Baruch Foundation at Hobcaw Barony and is a former curator of education for the Historic Columbia Foundation. Her writing has appeared in
newspapers and magazines and she served as editor for Pawleys Island, a
collection of oral history interviews published in 2003. Her book
Plantation Between the Waters, A Brief History of Hobcaw Barony was
released in 2006 and she is at work simultaneously on two photographic
histories.
Bernard Baruch, second
from right, and his cronies
prepare to board a boat
from the dock at Hobcaw
House on Winyah Bay,
with the newly rebuilt
Hobcaw House in the
background.
Baruch
owned a second, smaller
quail hunting retreat up
the Black River in
Williamsburg
County
named Little Hobcaw. He
was
well-known
to
Kingstree citizens as it was
to Little Hobcaw that he
"retired" in 1956, continuing to hunt quail until his
94th birthday.
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