2024 Legends V38

Decades of dedication have preserved the beauty of Kiawah Island’s residential community, its 10 miles of pristine beach, tidal marshes, maritime forests, and freshwater ponds. Kiawah’s distinctly designed-with-nature real estate offerings bring the best of the Island’s Lowcountry nature and amenities to your doorstep.

Kiawah is, and will always be, a nurturing habitat for wildlife and the families who call it home.

Nature Nurtured

HERE THE GOOD LIFE COMES NATURALLY

Architecture by Shope Reno Wharton

IF THESE WATERS COULD TALK...

They would flow with feelings of joy, bubble with secrets to tell and ripple with stories to share. Every pool holds a story. What will your waters say?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ON THE COVER: Swimming at Sandy Point Photo by Lawson Builder

26

MEMBER PROFILES

KAITLIN AND JA VANDURA BARB AND

BOB STRUBLE

30

DROP ANCHOR

Take a boat tour of our favorite places to swim, shark tooth hunt, and fish.

40

BEAU WELLING TAKES

ORANGE HILL

Kiawah Island Club’s new golf course on Johns Island has particular significance for designer Beau Welling.

40

48

SPRING TABLE

Kiawah Island Club Chef Kelly Lucas creates a dinner to remember for the Beach family and their guests.

62

KIAWAH’S GOLDEN HOUR

Look back at the events that shaped the last fifty years on Kiawah Island.

76

LET’S GO KIAWAH!

Campers explore the great outdoors, kayak, fish, and surf with GoKiawah.

30

GOOD WORKS: KIAWAH IN THE COMMUNITY | 128

SERVING ACES | 134

ON & ABOUT KIAWAH | 140

ADVERTISER INDEX | 152

END NOTE | 154

86

A PREHISTORIC PARADISE

Archaeologist Dr. Mary Socci provides a window into the last great Ice Age, a time when mastodons and saber-toothed cats roamed this landscape.

96

THE SUBVERSIVE BEAUTY OF JONATHAN GREEN

Writer Stephanie Hunt catches up with one of Charleston’s most celebrated artists, painter Jonathan Green.

104

HISTORY COMES ALIVE

Charleston’s long-awaited International African American Museum is a powerful chronicle and ode to the African diaspora.

112

KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB CONCERT SERIES

Review the lineup of esteemed musicians the Kiawah Island Club hosted throughout 2023.

118

THE CAPE CLUB

Get a sneak peek at The Cape Club, Kiawah Island Club’s newest amenity at West Beach.

96

104

112

Extraordinary quality + style

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR & DESIGNER

Hailey Wist

COPY EDITOR

Sunny Gray

PHOTO EDITOR

Nathan Durfee

PUBLISHER

Kiawah Partners

SPECIAL THANKS

Amy Anderson

Bob Beach

Marilyn Beach

Cortney Bishop

Elizabeth Boineau

Karen Burger

Taylor Cochrane

Will Culp

Lucinda Detrich

Kelly Franz

Maureen Gibson

Jonathan Green

Drew Holcomb

Ellie Holcomb

Kenneth Hyatt

Mike Lata

Brenda Lauderback

Ted Legasey

Ethan Linen

Kim Long

Celeste Marceca

Patrick Melton

Marshal Mize

Chris Motamed

Brittany Nelson

Tom Nevin

Diana Permar

Mark Permar

Jordan Phillips

Woody Platt

CONTRIBUTORS

Lawson Builder

Joel Caldwell

Stephanie Hunt

Bryan Hunter

Sandy Lang

Patrick O’Brien

Lizzy Rollins

Lindsey Shorter

Mary Socci

Mike Touhill

Katherine Verano

Charlotte Zacharkiw

Malika Pryor

Jessica Puder

Raisa Rajib

Chris Randolph

Lionel Richie

Chris Rogers

Nalini Rogers

Justin Schram

Chris Shope

Nathan Stone

Barb Struble

Bob Struble

Cindy Thompson

Jim Thompson

Ja Vandura

Kaitlin Vandura

Grace Vine

Beau Welling

Shannon Whitworth

Boyd Wright

Contributors

Katherine first visited Kiawah in the spring of 1986. The highlight of her trip was the Straw Market shops and a pair of neon pink sweatpants emblazoned with Kiawah Island. Thankfully, her appreciation for Kiawah has grown deeper over the last thirty years. As a former employee and longtime visitor, she considers herself fortunate to have been present for so many of the Island’s historic moments.

As someone celebrating her own golden milestone this year, I found it very apropos to relive the last fifty years on Kiawah.

As an avid saltwater fly fisherman and hunter, it’s incredibly fulfilling to photograph our beautiful waterways, especially when it involves introducing our beaches and salt marshes to the next generation.

Lawson Builder is a stills photographer based out of Charleston, South Carolina. His work focuses on the commercial outdoor industry, local food and beverage, and anything else that grabs his interest—especially if it means being outside. When he’s not pushing buttons on cameras and computers, you can find Lawson fly fishing, traveling with his wife, or making a mess in the kitchen.

For twenty-five years Patrick O’Brien has created memorable photography for clients across the globe. He learned early in his career that passion, preparation, and discipline are the fundamental traits for sustained creative success. He has been thrilled to collaborate with art directors, designers, and clients who share his passion for creating images that inspire and surprise.

Being trusted to capture the enduring beauty of Kiawah Island over the past twenty years has been the honor of my career.

Sandy Lang writes for commercial brands and editorial clients—about design and art, food, travel, and character-rich people and places. Her second-floor studio on Wadmalaw Island is eye-level with the oak canopy, and her past stories for Legends include a dive into indigo blues, a sojourn to St. Kitts, and an ode to winter-blooming camellias.

It was a treat to explore the tucked-away Orange Hill property for this story—there’s a beautiful wildness to this landscape!

SANDY LANG | WRITER

LAWSON BUILDER | PHOTOGRAPHER

KATHERINE BARRY VERANO | WRITER

PATRICK O’BRIEN | PHOTOGRAPHER

Contributors

Since she began making photographs in 2009, Lizzy has felt drawn to the way photography enables people to get intimately involved in each other’s lives. She developed a passion for studying that closeness and uses it to create images that feel inclusive and honest.

For friends to gather before a view like this and eat the food that connects us to the Lowcountry— it’s special! I’m glad I had the opportunity to document it.

A longtime Lowcountry resident, Stephanie Hunt writes features, profiles, and essays for numerous publications, including Veranda, Southern Living, Coastal Living, Garden and Gun, and Charleston Magazine, where she is editor at large. She is also the author of Veranda—At Home in the South (2022) and Veranda Simply Chic (2023).

I loved the overlap in my stories for this issue— Jonathan Green has been an artist ambassador/ educator for African American and Gullah Geechee heritage for as long as I can remember.

Mary Socci holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a PhD in anthropology from Yale University. She has served as the lead archaeologist for Palmetto Bluff since 2004. Her extensive research has yielded a wealth of new insights into life in southern Beaufort County from the second millennium BCE to the 1930s.

Seeing fossils from the Ice Age animals that once roamed South Carolina sometimes makes me wish I had become a paleontologist instead of an archaeologist.

Photographing GoKids Camp felt less like an assignment and more like being a kid again! I watched as the children paddled fearlessly into the surf, did handstands in the marsh, and kissed their catch on the river.

Charlotte Zacharkiw is a photographer and selfproclaimed Adventure Mom based out of Charleston, South Carolina. She is the founder of WEREAWAY, a website providing travel inspiration for adventurous families. Her latest project took her around the world photographing interiors for The House Romantic by author Haskell Harris, debuting in Spring 2024.

STEPHANIE HUNT | WRITER

LIZZY ROLLINS | PHOTOGRAPHER

MARY SOCCI | WRITER

CHARLOTTE ZACHARKIW | PHOTOGRAPHER

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EDITOR’S LETTER

The development of Kiawah Island has long been characterized by an unwavering commitment to intentional development. This year marks five decades of environmentally sensitive and thoughtful land and community planning. We are so grateful to take part in the Kiawah story and contribute to this extraordinary place. We hope you enjoy this issue. See you soon!

PATRICK, WILL, JORDAN, AND CHRIS SOUTH STREET PARTNERS

Over a decade of coming and going from this special Island, and I still find new stories to tell. While so much about Kiawah Island remains constant—its pristine beauty, the ebb and flow of seasons, the daily rituals that make life here so sweet—I have also seen so many evolutions over the last ten years.

A living, breathing community is dynamic. It does not stagnate but rather shifts to reflect the progressions of its people. How wonderful to watch this unique place evolve over time. In this issue, we celebrate fifty years since the original master plan in “Kiawah’s Golden Hour” (pg. 62). And we get a first look at two new amenities that will mark a new chapter in the evolution of the Island in “Beau Welling Takes Orange Hill” (pg. 40) and “The Cape Club” (pg. 118). We meet the Beaches (pg. 48) and the Strubles (pg. 28), both long-time residents of the Island and stewards of its community and legacy. In short, I hope this issue is a reflection of the ongoing evolution and refinement of this extraordinary place. It has been a joy to participate.

HAILEY WIST

THE GREATNESS OF A COMMUNITY IS MOST ACCURATELY MEASURED BY THE COMPASSIONATE ACTIONS OF ITS MEMBERS.

— CORETTA SCOTT KING

Mary Whyte

coming to freshfields in 2024

Kiawah Island Club Members

KAITLIN & JA VANDURA

Q Where are you from originally?

A Kaitlin: I’m from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ja: I lived all over the place growing up, but I lived the longest just outside of Buffalo, New York.

Q How did you meet?

A Ja: I moved to Charlotte from Boston after I finished school. Kaitlin moved a few years later. We had this big group of friends who all hung out together for years.

Kaitlin: So we met at a bar! But there were mutual friends involved.

Ja: We got married in Charlotte. I work in finance and was commuting back and forth from Charlotte to New York every week. Kaitlin was at a point in her career where she wanted a change. So we moved to New York City in 2011.

Kaitlin: I owned Pure Barre franchises. My business partner and I opened the first studios in New York City. It was really fun.

Ja: And we had Max and Eleanor in 2015.

Q How did you find Kiawah?

A Ja: I’m very close with my sister. She and her husband have owned a place here forever—Holly and Jon Centurino. Kaitlin: They have two daughters, Blair and Darcy. The cousins are very close! So that’s really the big driver.

Q What were your first impressions of the Island?

A Ja: We stayed at the Centurino’s house a year or two after we got married. It was mid-fall, perfect weather. We just fell in love with it. I love to run, play golf, and be outside. So for me it was perfect.

Q Tell me about this house.

A Ja: Kaitlin sold her business in June of 2019, and we moved back to Charlotte. When the pandemic hit, we came down to Kiawah and rented a house. We had always wanted to buy something here, but that trip was the icing on the cake. We found the neighborhood and bought the last lot on the street.

From CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Q What do you do when you’re here?

A Ja: Kaitlin has gotten completely hooked on tennis. And we have a core group of friends here.

Kaitlin: We have such a great group. There are a lot of families from Charlotte.

Ja: We all play tennis together and have fun dinners.

Q Tell me about the community.

A Ja: The neighbors are fantastic. We hang out all the time. Some people are here full time so it truly feels like a neighborhood. We could ask anybody for a favor and vice versa. It almost feels like it’s your first home, but it’s a second home. Everyone is so friendly and easy.

Kaitlin: And we have a Kiawah dog! Our neighbors found a breeder on Edisto, so Winston has a cousin a couple doors down from us.

Q When are you guys down here?

A Kaitlin: Whenever we can be! As long as the kids don’t have soccer or activities, we come.

Ja: We try to be here at least once a month, and then all the major holidays. Last year, Kaitlin and the kids spent the entire summer here.

Kaitlin: It was amazing. The kids go to camp. And we love bingo. Every Thursday over the summer we are at bingo.

Ja: Eleanor likes to golf.

Eleanor: I love swimming in the pool, and I like to go in the ocean.

Max: I like to surf and kayak. Once, a dolphin came right up to me when I was kayaking.

Ja: The river is near our house. We get out in the kayaks to see if we can catch the dolphins strand feeding. The two of them, especially Max, are super into everything related to the ocean. Max loves jellyfish.

Q How do you see your family’s future here?

A Kaitlin: We’re all in at Kiawah.

Ja: We can certainly spend an extended period of time here. Even if the kids only have one day off, we’re always willing to make the trip. It’s so worth it. We miss it when we’re not here.

From MANSFIELD, OHIO BARB & BOB STRUBLE Kiawah Island Club Members

Q Where are you from?

A Barb: I’m from Rockford, Illinois.

Bob: And I grew up in the small town of Bucyrus in northern Ohio.

Q How did you meet?

A Bob: We met in Boston. I was an intern/resident at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Barb: I graduated from Denison University in Ohio, then traveled around Europe with a friend. On my return, I assumed an editing position at Abt Associates, a research and development firm in Cambridge.

Bob: I was off on a Friday night and thought I’d go out for dinner. There was a popular bar in the city called Your Father’s Mustache, and I stopped by there first for a drink. It was early in the evening so there weren’t too many people. I walked in and sitting at a table was a blonde dressed in a miniskirt. Remember Twiggy? Of course, I hustled over there. After a brief conversation, I knew this was someone I wanted to know better. So I asked her to dinner. There you go!

Barb: We’ve been married fifty-five years.

Q Where did you go from there?

A Bob: After a stint in the Air Force, we returned to Ohio where I practiced pediatrics for eight years.

Barb: But I never saw him. We had two little kids, and he was always on call.

Bob: We decided to go to Wisconsin so I could return to school and become board-certified in allergy/ immunology. We then moved to Mansfield, Ohio, and I maintained an allergy practice for thirty-three years.

Q And you have two kids?

Barb: Our son, Steve, an orthopedic surgeon, lives in North Carolina. He and his wife have two young children. Our daughter, Susy, an IT consultant, lives in California with her husband and two teenage sons.

Q How did you discover Kiawah?

A Barb: Our son attended Duke, introducing us to the Carolinas. We’re avid skiers and rarely vacationed in the South. Wanting to investigate building a vacation home

in a warmer climate, in 2001 we put golf clubs in the car and drove down to Beaufort, South Carolina. Working our way up the coast, we stayed at Seabrook. As we were leaving, we saw the Kiawah sign and decided to take a look. We quickly realized Kiawah was the place for us. We bought a lot a few months later and built our house in 2005. As of this Christmas, we will have been in our home for eighteen years.

Bob: For a while, we lived part-time here and in Mansfield. In 2018, we decided it was time to leave Ohio. We built a home in Apex, North Carolina, to be near Steve and his family. But Covid changed things. We were much more involved in activities here, so we sold our North Carolina home in fall 2023.

Q What do you like to do here?

A Bob: We enjoyed playing golf but now play pickleball regularly with a large group of friends.

Barb: I feel pickleball is more vigorous and less timeconsuming. I enjoy playing with groups at both Cassique and Roy Barth [Tennis Center]. I belong to different clubs and like being involved in community service projects. Of course, I also spend time gardening, biking, traveling, and beach walking.

Bob: I am involved with the turtle patrol. I realized there are a number of physicians who own homes on Kiawah, so I organized a medical mingle, which casually meets once a month at The Nest for coffee and conversation. Barb and I like to kayak, and we enjoy local boat trips with the grandkids and friends. And, of course, there’s fishing, cast netting, bike riding, and beach walking. Never a dull moment on Kiawah.

Q Tell me about the move to Seafields.

A Barb: In many ways, living at Seafields is an extension of living on Kiawah. By maintaining our Club Memberships, we can visit the Island, play pickleball, kayak, and eat at the great restaurants. We can still do all of the things we love, but we’ll have the medical and social support of a CCRC [Continuing Care Retirement Community] as needed. It’s the best of both worlds.

Bob: I know we won’t be able to do what we’re doing right now in the future, but Seafields provides a gradual transition in our lives.

Barb: Bob and I feel very fortunate.

DROP ANCHOR

BUILDER

STORY by HAILEY WIST

PHOTOGRAPHY by LAWSON

THE SOUTH CAROLINA LOWCOUNTRY IS A MOSAIC OF ECOSYSTEMS, A GEOLOGICAL SYMPHONY OF WILD ISLANDS, ABUNDANT ESTUARIES, AND A LABYRINTH OF MEANDERING RIVERS AND CREEKS. KIAWAH ISLAND IS FOLDED INTO THIS UNCOMMON COASTLINE, THE CROWN JEWEL OF THE LOWLANDS. IT IS A LANDSCAPE RULED BY TIDES, BY THE DAILY EBB AND FLOW OF THE ATLANTIC. WITH THE KIAWAH RIVER MEANDERING ALONG ITS NORTHERN EDGE AND THE ATLANTIC AGAINST ITS SOUTH-FACING SHORE, THE ISLAND IS DEFINED BY WATER. THE WAY WATER MOVES THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE INFLUENCES HOW WE EXPERIENCE THIS ISLAND. IT OFFERS A PLACE TO WATCH THE SUNSET FROM THE DOCKS, PICNIC IN THE SAND, WADE INTO GENTLE WAVES, AND EXPLORE, PADDLE, AND FISH. HERE, WE CAN COMMUNE WITH NATURE.

FOLLY RIVER MOUTH

Neighboring Folly Island spans about five square miles and stretches diagonally from northeast to southwest. Like Kiawah, Folly encompasses a diverse range of beaches, marshes, and maritime forests. While its town center is often bustling, the southern end of the Island is still wild and pristine, the well-kept secret of boaters. At this far end of the Island, there is a narrow strip of high ground surrounded by an expanse of marsh and tidal sandbars teeming with life. Hunt for shark teeth and shells, or bring a picnic to enjoy at low tide. From this vantage point, you can look across to the Stono Inlet at Bird Key. The Stono Seabird Sanctuary is one of only three sanctuaries designated by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and is an essential nesting and resting ground for migratory birds.

SANDY POINT

Sandy Point, a white sand beach at the eastern tip of Kiawah Island, feels a world apart. Dense maritime scrub covers a narrow strip of high ground that separates Penny Creek and the Stono River. This perfect sandy beach is a favorite summer destination of boaters, shell hunters, and sunbathers from the nearby islands. In the winter it is quieter, a haven for shorebirds feeding at low tide and various crab species—sand fiddler, ghost crabs, and even the odd horseshoe crab—gathered at the confluence of creek and river. It is a magical spot, like something out of a storybook, and the perfect place to anchor and wade ashore. There are shells and sand dollars hidden in the dunes, a wide expanse of hard-packed sand for taking in the South Carolina sun, and a deep spot for swimming.

RHETT’S BLUFF BOAT DOCK

This boat ramp and deepwater dock is the perfect jumping-off point for high adventure in the Lowcountry. Tucked away in the Rhett’s Bluff neighborhood just east of River Course, this amenity is a hidden gem. With a picnic pavilion, expansive dock, and convenient bathrooms, the Rhett’s Bluff boat launch serves as a home base for exploring the Kiawah River and beyond. It is also a great place to cast a net for mullet and shrimp or to drop a line to catch a redfish, flounder, or sea trout. In the evenings, residents stroll in pairs down the long dock to watch the sunset over the Lowcountry marsh.

THE KIAWAH RIVER

The Kiawah River meanders along the northern edge of the Island, carving a path through the vast salt marsh system from the Stono River to Captain Sams Inlet to the west. Small hammock islands dot the marsh landscape, wild islands no bigger than an acre. The Kiawah River is home to a resident dolphin pod known to approach smaller crafts and put on a show. While this picturesque river is a conduit, connecting the Kiawah River with the greater barrier island ecosystem, it can be a destination in itself. Drop anchor for a swim or a snack!

BEAU WELLING TAKES

ORANGE HILL

ONE OF THE BUSIEST GOLF COURSE DESIGNERS IN THE COUNTRY SPINS STORIES AND TALKS DESIGN UNDER THE OAKS.

STORY

by SANDY

LANG

PHOTOGRAPHY by JOEL CALDWELL and PATRICK O’BRIEN

ALONG THIS STRETCH OF BOHICKET ROAD, THE MEMORIES BEGIN. BEAU WELLING RECALLS HIS CHILDHOOD VISITS TO KIAWAH ISLAND. HE ZEROES IN ON THE MEMORY OF HIS SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD SELF AND THAT CHRISTMAS NIGHT CAR ACCIDENT HE SOMEHOW SURVIVED.

He’ll never forget seeing a tractor’s headlight beams cutting through the night’s darkness, silhouetting the outlines of live oaks. It was a farmer from a nearby house who heard the crash and drove out to help.

Welling, who’s now a golf course designer with projects around the globe, is also a natural storyteller. “I remember the car spinning, flying through the trees,” he says, looking up into the pines on the sandy road that leads into the Kiawah Island Sporting Club.

He knows he’s lucky. Not just because of the deathdefying crash that ended in a soft landing but also because of chance connections and opportunities throughout his career, like working for Tom Fazio in his twenties, founding his own successful design firm, and collaborating with Tiger Woods and TGR Design.

At fifty-four, Welling is fulfilling a dream to design a truly special project in his home state—the mixed-use development that will be built between River Road and Bohicket Road on the 933-acre Orange Hill tract, including an 18-hole golf course for Members of Kiawah Island Club.

On a late fall day, the rain stops just long enough for Welling to hop on a golf cart with Kiawah Island Club’s director of golf maintenance, Randall Glover, to lead a couple of guests

on a morning tour of the property. Along the ride, the designer’s eyes follow the topography, the gentle rises and dips, and what sometimes look like remnant dunes. “Maybe they are,” he says, pondering the possibilities. “This was once the ocean.”

Welling grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and his family had a home on Kiawah Island when he was a child. He’s known for his fervor for intellectual and creative pursuits, including earning a physics degree from Brown University (and playing on the golf team), studying landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, studying as a visiting scholar at Trinity College in Dublin (his first chance to play a links course), and earning his masters in international business at the University of South Carolina. Lately, he’s been getting to know this large Johns Island tract that has been host to the Sporting Club in recent years. Preserving the grand trees and working with the natural landscape is key to the look and feel that his firm, Beau Welling Design, will create at Orange Hill.

When completed, plans include a scenic entry off of River Road that will wind past cottages, Club buildings, and larger residences. Golf will be the centerpiece. The private golf course, along with a short course and practice facility, will encompass some three hundred acres, nearly one-third of the property’s acreage.

PRESERVING THE GRAND TREES

AND WORKING

WITH

THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE IS KEY TO THE LOOK AND FEEL THAT HIS FIRM, BEAU WELLING DESIGN, WILL CREATE AT ORANGE HILL.

Welling has had a lifelong love of golf and figures he took his first swings by age two. But before the group talks more about golf and the plans for Orange Hill, the subject turns again, this time to Welling’s blue sweater embroidered with an insignia for the World Curling Federation. Yes, he nods, that’s the winter Olympic sport of curling. He beams at the question, and the conversation leads to more stories, including one about the first time he took a winter trip to Bemidji in northern Minnesota to see curling matches in person. “They couldn’t believe a guy with a Southern accent was so interested.”

His passion for the sport grew, and more than two decades later, Welling now serves as the president of the World Curling Federation. He also founded South Carolina’s first curling club in his hometown of Greenville. And while the two sports may seem unconnected, Welling contends that they have a lot in common and notes that both golf and curling were first played centuries ago in Scotland. He’s been fascinated by the sport—the sliding of stones across ice toward a target—since watching Olympic competitions in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Both golf and curling involve studying angles and trajectories, have particular terms and jargon, and are built around camaraderie, according to Welling. And, he says with a smile, each sport “offers a fine excuse to drink Scotch.”

Ah, Scotland, and those unfettered, undulating greens. A mention of old Scotland brings us back to the 933 acres stretching out before us, to spiky palmettos and sprawling live oaks, sandy pathways, and the geometry of trees.

BEYOND THE GRAND TREES, NUMEROUS SANDY AREAS THAT AREN’T TRAPS BUT SIMPLY NATURAL TO THE LANDSCAPE WILL ADD ANOTHER ASPECT FOR INTERESTING PLAY.

Welling was inspired by traditional courses, and his plans for the course at Orange Hill feature “Old World slopes and contours around the greens.” From the start, he says, the course will have an aged feel because of the mature trees, especially the ancient live oaks with outstretched limbs. He’s been involved in land planning and golf course design projects around the world—from Scotland to the Bahamas to PGA Frisco in Texas—and he’s bringing that experience and vision to this project. Closer to home, he says local cues for Orange Hill include Yeamans Hall Club and the Country Club of Charleston, both impressive for their gentler imprint on the land.

Welling steps off the golf cart to unroll the conceptual master plan for Orange Hill, and he points out various features—homesites and cottages, a fish camp by one of the ponds, wetlands and natural areas that will be conserved, and farmland plots for vegetables and flowers. About three hundred acres of Orange Hill will be dedicated to golf, including the practice area and a short course of ten 50- to 100-yard holes, along with the Club’s core 18-hole course.

The short course will be great for practice and is less intimidating for beginners, Welling explains, which is vital as interest in golf has grown in recent years, especially since the pandemic. “We want to deliver a golf experience that everyone can play, and each hole is different.”

Beyond the grand trees, numerous sandy areas that aren’t traps but simply natural to the landscape will add another aspect for interesting play. (Likely descendants of those ancient Sea Island sand dunes.) Welling suggests that the more skilled players will take on such risks and hazards differently.

Other specific features at Orange Hill will come to life once the grading and technical work begins. Welling will visit the course as it progresses and will stand again by these pines and oaks. That’s when the land planning and course design gets a finer point. Sight lines and challenges become more apparent, “and the design becomes more about what’s right in front of you.”

Almost like that long-ago night when fate sent Welling flying through the very trees where he stands now. And where Orange Hill’s new chapter will come to life. — S.L.

SPRING TAB L E

THREE COUPLES, OLD FRIENDS AND NEW, GATHER FOR A SUNSET DINNER AT THE BEACH FAMILY HOME ON KIAWAH ISLAND.

RECIPES BY CHEF KELLY FRANZ LUCAS PHOTOGRAPHY BY LIZZY ROLLINS

Marilyn and Bob Beach bought a lot on Kiawah Island on impulse in the late seventies. Bob was working on Wall Street and Marilyn was in law school. They traded lots for the next couple of decades before finally settling on their current location and building a house. All three of their daughters were engaged at Kiawah, and now the house is a gathering place for their burgeoning family of sixteen.

Cindy and Jim Thompson honeymooned on Kiawah in the early eighties, back when the old Inn ran jeep safaris on the sandy dirt roads to the east end of the Island. They moved abroad and mostly forgot about Kiawah until Bob and Jim worked together for a brief stint in Winston-Salem. The Beaches invited the Thompsons to Kiawah, and the four visited The Beach Club with their young kids. The Thompsons were hooked. They bought a place in 2002.

Nalini and Chris Rogers bought the house next to Bob and Marilyn in 2021 and became friends while renovating their house. The Beaches discovered that the Rogers summered with mutual friends in Maine. It also turns out Nalini and Jim went to business school together in the eighties. The Beaches and the Rogers share the same extraordinary view across Ibis Pond to The Beach Club and the Atlantic beyond.

This gossamer web that connects the Beaches, Rogers, and Thompsons epitomizes how Kiawah can make a big world feel small. These connections—loose acquaintances turned neighborhood friendships—forge a feeling of community and closeness.

TONIGHT, THE THREE COUPLES ARE GATHERED TO EXPERIENCE THE CULINARY PROWESS OF KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB CHEF KELLY LUCAS. SHE IS A VETERAN OF THE ACCLAIMED CHARLESTON FOOD SCENE AND, MORE RECENTLY, THE BELOVED CHEF BEHIND THE RIVER COURSE CLUBHOUSE.

LUCAS HAS CREATED A MENU TO DELIGHT— ROASTED CHICKEN WITH PEA SUCCOTASH, A NICOISE SALAD, GNOCCHI WITH ROASTED MUSHROOMS, AND HOT-OUT-OF-THE-OVEN CORNBREAD WITH SORGHUM BUTTER.

Clockwise: Kiawah Island Club Beverage Director Larry Caraviello pours wine pairings for the dinner.

|| Esteemed Chef Kelly Lucas of the River Course Clubhouse || The group gathers to admire the view of Ibis Pond. || Host Marilyn Beach drinks cocktails with her guests.

SKILLET CORNBREAD

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided

2 tbsp. sorghum syrup

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir together. Pour the buttermilk into a small bowl and add eggs. Stir together with a fork. Add the baking soda and stir. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir until combined.

In a small saucepan, melt ¼ cup butter. Slowly add melted butter to the batter, stirring until just combined. In a cast iron skillet, melt the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter over medium heat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Spread to even out the surface. Place skillet in oven and bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Edges should be crispy.

To make the sorghum butter, mix 2 tbsp. sorghum syrup into ¼ cup softened butter. Top hot cornbread with the butter.

NICOISE SALAD

Ingredients

2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and cut into pieces

1 cup pitted Greek olives

1 cup marinated artichoke hearts

10 baby potatoes

1 bunch asparagus

1 bunch Easter egg radishes

2 lb. raw ahi tuna

Directions

Ahi Tuna Rub

1 tbsp. dried basil

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. granulated onion

Roast baby potatoes and radishes with olive oil until al dente, 10 to 15 minutes at 375°F.

Lightly blanch asparagus in simmering water with a pinch of salt for 1 minute; shock in ice water.

Mix all herbs together and rub on the tuna steaks. Sear each side for 1 to 2 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then cut into quarter-inch slices. Compose the salad and serve family style.

GNOCCHI with ROASTED MUSHROOMS

Gnocchi Ingredients

4 large (about 2 lb.) Idaho potatoes

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Directions

2 large eggs

2 tbsp. plus 2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt freshly ground black pepper

Place unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add 1 tbsp. of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 40 minutes. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water. Drain potatoes and peel while still hot, holding them with a clean kitchen towel. Pass potatoes through a ricer or a food mill onto a lightly floured work surface. Make a well in the center of the mound of potatoes and sprinkle 2 tbsp. flour evenly over the potatoes. Break eggs into the well and add 2 ½ tsp. salt and the ground pepper. Using a fork, lightly beat eggs and incorporate the remaining 2 cups of flour to form a dough. Knead lightly on the work surface until the dough is soft and smooth. Lightly dust the work surface again with flour. Divide dough into 4 balls and shape each ball into a rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.

Fill a large saucepan with cold water, add 1 tbsp. salt and bring to a boil. To cook gnocchi, drop half of them into the boiling water and cook until they float to the surface, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the cooked gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place them in the ice bath for about 20 seconds. Transfer from an ice bath to a colander. Repeat this process with the second half of the dough.

Roasted Mushroom Ingredients

1 1/2 lb. shiitake or oyster mushrooms

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

Directions

1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Toss together with remaining ingredients and spread on a sheet pan. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes.

Whipped Ricotta Ingredients

2 cups ricotta cheese

1/2 cup whole milk Greek yogurt

2 lemons, juiced and zested

Directions

2 tbsp. Maldon flake sea salt

1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped

Whip all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Add additional salt to taste. To serve, top gnocchi with whipped ricotta and roasted mushrooms.

ROASTED CHICKEN over PEA SUCCOTASH

Succotash Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter

1 red pepper, diced small

1 green pepper, diced small

1 small red onion, diced small

2 stalks celery, diced small

2 cups sweet corn from the cob

Directions

2 cups green peas, fresh or frozen

1 tbsp. dill, chopped

1 tbsp. parsley, chopped kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add bell peppers, red onion, and celery and sauté until onions are translucent. Add corn, peas, and herbs, stirring often. Remove from heat when peas are just warm. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Chicken and Brine Ingredients

1 lemon, halved

2 bay leaves

1 sprig parsley, chopped

3 sprigs thyme, chopped

2 tbsp. honey

Directions

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp. black peppercorns

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 gallon water

6 9-oz. airline chicken breasts

Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, making sure salt is dissolved. Cool completely. Cover chicken and brine for 24 hours. Remove chicken from brine after 24 hours and pat dry. In a cast iron skillet, sear chicken breasts skin side down for 6 to 7 minutes over medium heat, until they separate from the pan naturally and are golden brown. Flip the chicken and place in a 375°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked thoroughly. Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Lay roasted chicken breasts over succotash. Serve at room temperature.

SEA GLASS

1.5 oz. Nippitaty Aurora Gin

.75 oz. Cocchi Americano

.75 oz. Blended Family No. 17 Triple Sec

Shake on ice, strain into coupe. Garnish with lemon wheel and lavender flower.

Nippitaty is an organic gin distilled in North Charleston. Nippitaty means a particularly good and strong liquor.

Nippitaty Aurora Gin gains its beautiful color from the addition of Butterfly Pea, a tropical climbing vine that produces flowers often used as a natural food coloring.

KIAWAH’S GOLDEN HOUR

Story by Katherine Barry Verano and Mike Touhill

Milestones are almost always celebrated with one eye on the future and one on the past, a lifetime of memories woven together to create the moment that is today. This year, Kiawah Island celebrates a golden milestone. It was fifty years ago that the Island began its transformation from a private, family retreat into one of the most sought-after resort and residential destinations in the country. Like the rising and falling of the tide, Kiawah remains constant. Since 1974, generations of families have come to call Kiawah home, and a culture of community has flourished amidst its windswept dunes and dynamic saltwater marshes. Journey with us over the last half century and relive the moments that have defined the Island and its legacy.

1974

The Royal family, who logged timber on the Island and built its first seaside vacation homes, sold Kiawah to Kuwait Investment Company for $17 million. The new owner, in consultation with Sea Pines Company, completed an extensive environmental inventory and created a master plan for development.

The Kiawah Island Community Association is Founded

Marsh Point Golf Course Opens

Real Estate Sales Begin

1975

Sea Pines Company Takes Over Management of Kiawah Island

1976

In May 1976, Kiawah Island Golf Resort officially opened with the Kiawah Island Inn. Perched atop a prominent beachside bluff, the Inn had two oceanfront swimming pools, the Charleston Gallery and Jasmine Porch restaurants, and the Topsider Lounge bar. The resort also opened a nine-court tennis complex and the Straw Market shops.

1981 1988

Turtle Point Golf Course was designed by the renowned Jack Nicklaus and features stunning oceanfront holes in the heart of East Beach Village. Nicklaus returned to Kiawah in 2016 to oversee a full renovation of the course.

The Town of Kiawah is Incorporated

Osprey Point Golf Course Opens

1989

Hurricane Hugo

The “Storm of the Century” barrelled into Charleston on September 21, 1989. A Category 4 storm, Hurricane Hugo left a swath of devastation across the greater Charleston area.

Kiawah Resort Associates Acquires Kiawah Island

In 1988, Kiawah Resort Associates (KRA) purchased the Island for $105 million from the Kuwait Investment Company. And so began the Island’s transformation into one of the top luxury communities in the U.S.

The Ocean Course Opens

Kiawah Island Hosts the Ryder Cup

In 1991, the biennial Ryder Cup golf matches came to the shores of legendary Pete Dye’s newest creation, The Ocean Course. What was then a brand-new golf course draped at the end of a wild barrier island is now among the top golf courses in the world. A U.S. victory was secured in dramatic fashion on the final hole, all the while introducing the world to its next great seaside destination.

1993

Virginia Investment Trust Acquires Resort Properties from Landmark Land Co.

In what has been described as “a dramatic scene inside a Dallas hotel ballroom,” an auction decided the fate of the resort when Bill Goodwin’s Virginia Investment Trust acquired the resort properties.

Kiawah Island Club is Founded

T he Robert A.M. Stern-designed Beach Club opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day to four hundred pioneering Members—and Kiawah Island Club was born.

River Course Opens

1995 1996

River Course Clubhouse Opens

1997

Kiawah Conservancy is Founded

As Kiawah grew, so did the need to protect its greatest asset—the natural beauty. Established by Island residents in 1997, the Kiawah Conservancy is a chartered nonprofit, grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the Island’s natural habitat. Working alongside leaders across the Island, the Conservancy aims to balance the protection of Kiawah’s expansive wildlife habitat with residential living. To date, the Conservancy has worked with Kiawah Partners and other local organizations to preserve nearly 40 percent of the Island.

1999

River Course Named Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary

Little Bear Island Preservation

The year 1999 was important for conservation. Audubon International certified River Course as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, noting the course’s vibrant bird and wildlife habitat. That same year, Kiawah’s development team placed the 250-acre Little Bear Island into conservation. This tract was one of the largest barrier island conservation areas in the Southeast.

2000

Cassique Golf Course Opens

Fashioned out of flat tomato fields, the links-style Cassique golf course was designed by six-time British Open champion Tom Watson, his first solo design in the U.S. Inspired by the rugged dunes of Ireland and Scotland, Cassique is a playing experience unlike any other in the area.

2001

Cassique Clubhouse Opens

Sasanqua Spa Opens

2003 2004

Freshfields Village Opens

The Sanctuary Opens

Following the momentum of the Ryder Cup, Kiawah Island Golf Resort continued developing assets for beachgoers, nature lovers, and most emphatically, golfers. A collection of five championship golf courses designed by famed architects dot the Island, offering a variety of playing opportunities, each with a unique character. But the pinnacle stands alone in the five-star Sanctuary Hotel. With 255 rooms set along the Atlantic Ocean, The Sanctuary exemplifies unparalleled luxury.

The Sports Pavilion Opens

2006

2007

The Ocean Course Hosts the Senior PGA Championship

2010 River Course Clubhouse Fire

2012

The New River Course Clubhouse Opens

With a blank canvas at their disposal, architects and designers rebuilt an iconic amenity befitting a vibrant, growing Membership while preserving its history and memories.

The Ocean Course Hosts the PGA Championship

Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s status as a world-class golf destination, one worthy of hosting the game’s greatest championships, was evident in 2012, when the PGA Championship came to the famed Ocean Course, and a rising star and future Hall-of-Famer Rory McIlroy hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy.

2013

South Street Partners Acquires Kiawah Partners

In 2013, South Street Partners acquired Kiawah Partners, the Island’s master developer. The purchase included Kiawah Island Club, four hundred undeveloped properties, Freshfields Village, Kiawah Island Real Estate, and Kiawah Island Utility.

“Kiawah is personal to us. Building, and improving upon, Kiawah’s original plan is the legacy we hope to leave. To see second and third generations of Members experiencing the Club and wanting to spend more time here is incredibly rewarding.”

- Chris Randolph, South Street Partners

The Sporting Club Opens

Marsh House Opens

With its award-winning, open-air design and expansive marshfront deck and pool, the Marsh House opened in Ocean Park. The community’s premier gathering spot and marketplace influenced much of Ocean Park’s contemporary residential design.

2017 2019

Golf Learning Center Opens at Cassique

Kiawah Conservancy

Recognized as Accredited Land Trust

The Beach Club Renovations are Complete and B-Liner Opens

2021

The PGA Championship Returns to Kiawah Island

Phil Mickelson turned back the hands of time, clenched the Wanamaker Trophy, and became the oldest major championship winner in golf history.

2024 and Beyond

MUSC Health Sea Islands Medical Pavilion

Two Meeting Street Inn

Seafields at Kiawah Island

The Cape Club Orange Hill Golf Course

Building upon a continued commitment to smart, sustainable growth, Kiawah Partners has a healthy roster of upcoming projects, including The Cape Club in West Beach and Orange Hill, a new 18-hole golf course and residential offering on Johns Island. Seafields at Kiawah Island will be a first-of-its-kind, luxury life plan community for Kiawah and Seabrook.

Lastly, MUSC Health’s new state-of-the-art medical facility, located near Freshfields Village, will provide emergency care services and convenient access to primary care and outpatient treatment.

50 Years of Kiawah

My introduction to Kiawah was in the early days of my flight training. It was the spring of 1969, and I was a twenty-fouryear-old Lieutenant in the Air Force. My flight instructor was a bit of a thrill seeker and liked to land in unusual places. One of those unusual places was on Kiawah’s beach at low tide.

My first visit to Kiawah was July 4 of that same year when I was invited to attend a get-together at the home of thenGovernor John C. West. There were maybe twenty houses on the Island at that time. A mutual friend from Camden invited me to come out to the gathering, and boy, what a special day that was! We rode dune buggies through the sand, and I enjoyed seeing a different side of Kiawah. Prior to that day, I had only seen the Island during landing and takeoff. It was love at first sight. During the next four years, we spent many fun days on the Island’s northern beach at the mouth of the Stono River.

After leaving the Air Force in July of 1972, my thoughts turned to Kiawah and how I could return. Fortunately, there was a home for rent on Eugenia Avenue. I’d visit every chance I could for a week or a weekend.

you cleared the dunes, you would see the old Vanderhorst Mansion. Mr. Royal’s sawdust pile was located near where Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA) headquarters is today, and they had pens to catch feral hogs out there too. Hunting on the Island was one of my favorite things to do, along with catching all the oysters, clams, and shrimp we could eat. Every holiday, every vacation, every free day was spent on Kiawah.

We continued to land airplanes on the beach until the Inn opened. At one time, there were five airplanes on the beach at the same time—one of them was a twin-engine Piper Apache! It was a great runway at low tide. We’d fly low along the beach, looking for soft spots in the sand before landing. It was a really neat experience.

Marshal Mize

ISLAND EXPLORER

1969–Present

KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB MEMBER

1993–Present

One of my most memorable times on Kiawah was when, for five days, my dog and I were the only ones on the Island. That dog was my soulmate, a German Shepherd named Kiawah. During this time, Kiawah and I were walking the beach when I noticed this large silver thing up in the sky. It got closer and closer, and much to my surprise, it was the Goodyear Blimp! They were flying right up the coastline. I waved to the pilots, and they waved back to me.

I roamed all over the Island back then in an old jeep that I’d bring down. One year, I also had a motorcycle down there that provided more fun in the dunes, on the old logging trails, and of course on the beach. Back then, you’d turn off the beach at the present-day allée of oaks, and as soon as

I knew I wanted to own something at Kiawah the first time I set foot on the Island. It was just a matter of convincing someone to sell me a piece of land. I happened to be on Kiawah when they started surveying, and I watched them survey lots one through six. I inquired about the lots, and they told me they would be listed at $40,000. I immediately called my dad and said, “Let’s buy three, sell two, and build a house.” My dad laughed and said, “Son, where are we going to get $40,000, much less $120,000?”

I’ve always wanted to be here. Kiawah was it for me. My wife, Donna, and I celebrated New Year’s Eve on Kiawah in 1976. It was her first visit to the Island, and much like me, she couldn’t wait to come back.

With development comes change, and while a lot of it is positive, I do miss the old days and feel very lucky to have had my experiences on Kiawah. Even with development, the natural beach remains our favorite. I think it is important to cherish the past and to anticipate the future, and Kiawah will always be a part of our lives. There’s just nowhere else like it.

LET’S GO

KIAWAH!

SWIM! SURF! KAYAK! FISH! KIAWAH’S KIDS GET OUT ON THE WATER WITH THE KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB’S GOKIAWAH SUMMER CAMP.

PHOTOGRAPHY by CHARLOTTE ZACHARKIW

KAYAK KIAWAH

GOKIAWAH CAMPERS AGES NINE TO TWELVE ARRIVE AT THE KAYAK DOCK IN THE CASSIQUE NEIGHBORHOOD. COUNSELORS LEAD THE KIDS SOUTH THROUGH TIDAL CREEKS AND INTO THE KIAWAH RIVER. THE GROUP DISEMBARKS ON THE INLAND SIDE OF CAPTAIN SAMS SPIT TO SWIM, LOOK FOR SHELLS, AND PLAY GAMES.

FISH KIAWAH

CAMPERS AGES NINE TO SIXTEEN SPEND

THE DAY ON THE WATER WITH CAPTAIN ELLIOT, FISHING IN THE TIDAL CREEKS AND RIVERS AROUND KIAWAH. CAPTAIN ELLIOT POSSESSES A WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT FISH AND BIRD SPECIES AND LOWCOUNTRY ECOLOGY. FISHING TRIPS EMBARK FROM RHETT’S BLUFF BOAT DOCK.

SURF KIAWAH

SURF CAMP IS LED BY PROFESSIONAL SURFER KYLE BUSEY OF CAROLINA SALT SURF LESSONS. AT THE BEACH CLUB, KYLE LEADS NINE- TO SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD MEMBERS THROUGH THE BASICS. CAMPERS LEARN HOW TO PADDLE AND PUSH UP INTO POSITION, THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STANCE AND SAFETY IN THE WATER.

YOUR PROJECT IS OUR PRIORITY

A PREHISTORIC

PARADISE

STORY by DR. MARY SOCCI

THE GIANT GROUND SLOTH, OR MEGALONYX, WAS AROUND TEN FEET TALL AND WEIGHED ROUGHLY 2,200 POUNDS.

CAPYBARAS, DEPICTED ON THE PREVIOUS SPREAD, ONCE ROAMED THE SOUTHEAST OF NORTH AMERICA.

MASTODONS, GIANT GROUND SLOTHS, AND SABER-TOOTHED CATS PROBABLY DON’T SPRING TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF KIAWAH ISLAND

WILDLIFE. BUT AT THE PEAK OF THE LAST ICE AGE, 21,000 YEARS AGO, THESE ANIMALS CALLED SOUTH CAROLINA HOME. AND THAT HOME WOULD HAVE BEEN UNRECOGNIZABLE TO ITS MODERN INHABITANTS.

On Kiawah Island, the tidal estuaries and maritime forest that surround us were thousands of years in the future. In fact, because so much water was frozen into more northern glaciers and snow, the sea level was much lower and a vast stretch of the continental shelf of North America was exposed. The marshes and waters of the Atlantic Ocean lay one hundred miles to the east of what are now our sandy beaches. Kiawah was not an island, just an inland section of the mainland.

Evidence of Kiawah’s Ice Age ecosystem can be found in the Stono River and other nearby rivers and estuaries. Currents and tidal action have exposed fossils of teeth and bones from the prehistoric beasts that once roamed the Lowcountry. These fossils are consistent with what paleontologists have found elsewhere in the Southeast, and they reveal that South Carolina had a warm subtropical climate, despite the global cooling during the last Ice Age (150,000 to 11,000 years ago). For example, the mammoths that roamed what is now a sea island weren’t the woolly mammoths that wandered the tundra near the edge of the ice sheets. Instead, this was home to the Columbian mammoth, which stood about thirteen feet tall, two feet taller than its northern cousin. (Woolly mammoths were about the size of African elephants, nine to eleven feet tall). And Columbian mammoths weren’t woolly. They didn’t

need thick fur because if the temperature ever dipped below freezing, it didn’t stay that cold for very long. Animals such as capybaras and giant tortoises, animals that no longer live in South Carolina but continue to thrive in the tropics, flourished in the mild climate of the Ice Age in the Lowcountry.

The fossils recovered from the rivers provide more than just a list of the animals that once lived here and clues about the temperatures, they also provide other details of the prehistoric environment. Mammoths, bison, and wild horses are grazing animals whose diets consist of a high percentage of grasses. The large number of fossils of these grazers (and fossil pollens from other locations) indicates that vast grasslands or savannas covered much of South Carolina’s ancient coastal plain. On the other hand, mastodons primarily ate the seeds, leaves, and even small branches of shrubs and trees, as well as grasses and sedges. The presence of mastodon fossils corroborates botanical studies that suggest patches of forests and copses along wetlands broke up the expanse of grasslands.

Although fierce predators, such as saber-toothed cats, jaguars, American lions, and dire wolves, stalked the large herbivores of the Ice Age, it may have been the combination of changing climate and human hunting that caused the extinction of these animals. In Alaska, the lower sea level during the Ice

DESPITE THE GLOBAL COOLING DURING THE LAST ICE AGE (150,000 TO 11,000 YEARS AGO), SOUTH CAROLINA HAD A MILD SUBTROPICAL CLIMATE.

A PACK OF DIRE WOLVES CONFRONT A SABER-TOOTHED CAT | ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX COPPOLA

A COLUMBIAN MAMMOTH | ARCHIVE PL / ALAMY

ALTHOUGH SIMILAR IN APPEARANCE, MASTODONS AND MAMMOTHS ARE ONLY DISTANT RELATIVES. (MAMMOTHS ARE MORE CLOSELY RELATED TO MODERN ELEPHANTS THAN THEY ARE TO MASTODONS.) MASTODONS WERE SMALLER, ABOUT THE SAME SIZE AS AN ELEPHANT, AND THEIR TUSKS WERE LESS CURVED. MASTODONS GRAZED ON LEAVES, TWIGS, AND THE SEEDS OF SHRUBS AND TREES WHILE MAMMOTHS GRAZED ON GRASSES. THIS DIFFERENCE IN DIET MEANT THAT MAMMOTHS AND MASTODONS OCCUPIED DIFFERENT NICHES IN THE SAME ECOSYSTEM.

Age exposed an isthmus of land—the Bering Land Bridge—that connected western Alaska to eastern Russia. Hunter-gatherers who had lived in Asia for millennia took advantage of the new connection and became the first people (called Paleo-Indians by archaeologists) to inhabit the Americas, around 23,000 years ago. Likely, the earliest arrivals moved south along the coast, fishing and hunting seals. Eventually, as groups reached the southern edge of the great ice sheets, some moved inland, spreading into North America and down into South America. Approximately 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians were hunting the savannas of the Lowcountry.

By the time the Paleo-Indians arrived in the area of what would become Kiawah Island, the Ice Age was ending. Warmer temperatures were melting the vast ice sheets that covered the northern and southern ends of the earth, and the sea level was rising. Over the following millennia, the sea continued to rise until about 6,000 years ago. The coastline was much like that of today: the Stono River flowed with the tides; live oaks, longleaf pines, and palmettos grew up in what had once been grasslands; and the sea surrounded Kiawah, creating the Island and the iconic sandy beaches we now enjoy.

TWO AMERICAN LIONS PREY ON A BUFFALO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX COPPOLA

the subversive beauty ofHEART.

JONATHAN GREEN

STORY by STEPHANIE HUNT PHOTOGRAPHY by LINDSEY SHORTER

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PREVIOUS PAGE: CORENE | OIL ON CANVAS | 48 X 60

One image stands out at Charleston’s new and longawaited International African American Museum.

Amid the powerful exhibits conveying the heartwrenching horrors that unfolded on this site—Gadsden’s Wharf, where hundreds of thousands of captive Africans were forced into enslavement—a Jonathan Green painting delivers a different kind of gut punch. The work, titled Beach Dance, presents a Gullah woman in glorious all-white, her skirt billowing in the wind, a big hat with flowing ribbons crowning her head, polka dots of ocean blue adding bursts of cheer. The woman’s shoes lay discarded in the bottom corner as off she sashays toward the water, a sense of freedom and joy unmistakable in her buoyant movement. While the museum chronicles the brutal inhumanity of slavery, Green bears witness to the resplendent humanity of the enslaved. Like those discarded shoes, he unlaces layers of victimhood and turns the narrative upside down. This woman, like his grandmother and all the Gullah Geechee women who raised him in Gardens Corner, South Carolina, knows and celebrates her autonomy. She is beautiful and beloved; she is dancing.

Over the nearly five decades that the native South Carolinian has been producing work, Jonathan Green’s style remains consistent and recognizable. Jubilant color, joyfulness, and lightness are paramount. Scarves tango in

the sea breeze. Shirts hung on a laundry line morph into artful, swaying banners. Humble church pews and regal church ladies echo a call to worship. Farmers and fields where grass grows tall and black crows rise up against a royal blue sky become more than a rural backdrop; they represent resilience and sovereignty. And fashion and style are always at the forefront. Kin, community, praise, power, light, nature, water, history, memory, reverence—these are the elements of Jonathan Green’s art.

His two books, Gullah Images and Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green—both published by the University of South Carolina Press—are testimony to his singular vision and intention: to capture and honor his birthright. Or in the words of the legendary Pat Conroy, Green’s paintings are saturated with the “mythic grace and nameless grandeur” of the Gullah culture. As his numerous awards (among them, the NAACP’s Key of Life Award and South Carolina’s highest honor, The Order of the Palmetto) and international renown suggests, he is to canvas what Miles Davis is to music, what Toni Morrison or James Baldwin is to prose, what Alvin Alley is to dance. But you’d never know it by talking with him.

Green, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is as soft-spoken in person as he is vibrant in palette—a consummate gentleman, elegantly dressed, deeply

kind and generous, and (as a true child of the South) demurely polite. But he’s also an intellectual force field and a man with a mission. “I’m trying to set the record straight,” he says.

In his downtown studio near The Charleston Place hotel, Green, an improbable sixty-eight (a slight, handsome tinge of gray is the only hint he’s not thirty-eight), is at work on a new series, several canvases in early stages washed in a base layer of vivid indigo blue. “This is how I start, with the color that warded off evil spirits and designated the house of a healer. Using natural, living paint that is so connected to African mythology is a way to enter the past.” Plus, he adds, “It gives the canvas such vibrancy.” Against that blue background, outlines of women are beginning to emerge—two balancing baskets of flowers on their scarf-wrapped heads, one ferrying a small boat loaded with flowers headed to the market.

His inspiration for this new series? Green picks up an old black-and-white image from the Charleston Renaissance era of the 1930s, depicting Charleston’s Gullah flower ladies in sepia quaintness, a photographic version of isn’t that nice?

Green’s art is undeniably visually pleasing, uplifting even, but as that indigo base layer suggests, a subversive undertone is at work. Beauty draws you in, and truth trickles out.

Brushstroke by brushstroke, he’s out to rebuff that genteel lore and misguided representation, replacing it with an air of selfsufficient splendor. “These were working women. They were farmers; they planted, harvested, gathered, and transported their flowers to the city in their canoes. They were proud entrepreneurs—just look at how they dressed,” he says.

Green’s art is undeniably visually pleasing, uplifting even, but as that indigo base layer suggests, a subversive undertone is at work. Beauty draws you in, and truth trickles out—the truth of the astonishing architectural, engineering, and agricultural legacy left by enslaved people from Africa, i.e. those who created the wealth that established the Carolina Lowcountry as a colonial powerhouse. All the things that drive Charleston’s tourism industry today—its plantations and gardens, the city’s architecture, its okra and shrimp and grits, “none of it would be here if not for the contributions of my African ancestors. I have so much to be proud of,” he says. And his colorful canvases, represented in museums around the world and in private collections in all fifty states, are his nod, his thank you.

Green’s reach goes beyond paintings and his popular calendars, prints, and other merchandise. His art has inspired ballets, opera, film, the set design of Spoleto’s Porgy & Bess, fashion, children’s books, public art installations, and educational endeavors like the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project, among other things, and soon, a new cultural and

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research institution will honor his broad, expansive legacy. The Jonathan Green Maritime Cultural Center is underway at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, not far from where Green was born and raised, where he won first place in a county art fair as a fifth grader, where he graduated from high school.

“The center will tell the story of African American maritime history, a story that really hasn’t been told. Gullah Geechee culture stems from maritime communities in Africa— it’s in the water, of the water, on the water,” says Dr. Kim Long, a professor of interdisciplinary studies at USC-Beaufort, who is spearheading the center alongside esteemed co-chairs Dr. Johnnetta Cole, the former president of Spelman College and Bennett College and former director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, and Dr. Harris Pastides, former president of the University of South Carolina. Indeed Green’s prolific body of work is integrally tied to bodies of water, to those whose history and livelihoods are entwined with Lowcountry creeks and waterways, flooded rice fields, the vast Atlantic. “The fact that the University wanted to build a museum in Jonathan’s honor speaks to the magnitude of this man,” adds Long. “Jonathan approaches art from a scholarly and historical perspective, and he is methodical in his intent to maintain and preserve a unique culture.”

Back in his studio, adjacent to the residence Green shares with his partner, business manager, and fellow art collector Richard Weedman, Green picks up some sketches of his flower lady series underway. “My paintings are complicated to do, but the message is simple,” he says of his effort to evoke a semblance of their beauty and culture and the economic contribution the women made. “These women are talking to me.” Lucky for us—thanks to Green’s bold brushstrokes and clear vision—we are invited into the conversation.

Brushstroke by brushstroke, he’s out to rebuff that genteel lore and misguided representation, replacing it with an air of selfsufficient splendor.

HISTORY COMES ALIVE

CHARLESTON’S INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM IS A LONG-AWAITED ATHENAEUM ON ONE OF THE MOST HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT SITES OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. A GROUP OF KIAWAH RESIDENTS AND IAAM DONORS TOUR THE MUSEUM WITH CHIEF LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT OFFICER MALIKA PRYOR.

WRITTEN by STEPHANIE HUNT

PHOTOGRAPHY by SAHAR COSTON-HARDY/ESTO

Clockwise from Top Left: Malika Pryor, Chief Learning and Engagement Officer for the International African American Museum | Photo by Hailey Wist || The Museum Exit Towards Wharfside Street || Hood’s Abstract Reliefs Inspired by the Brookes Diagram || View from the Cooper River

On an unusually foggy morning in late fall, a group from Kiawah gathers at the edge of Charleston Harbor. The blue-gray water is glassy calm, and all but the very tip of the Ravenel Bridge is curtained by misty clouds. This veiled morning, with a hint of sunshine beginning to sparkle through, is eerily apropos—as if things both right in front of us yet also long obscured are suddenly brought forth anew. This is exactly what Charleston’s still-new International African American Museum (IAAM), which we are here to tour, does for our community and the broader world: It illuminates and honors the untold stories of the African American experience. Here at the water’s edge, with Fort Sumter and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance and the resplendent former homes of plantation owners just a seagull’s soar down the waterfront, the fog is lifting.

“We are standing on a portion of what was once Gadsden’s Wharf, the largest wharf and the most active during the transatlantic slave trade here in the port of Charleston, which was unquestionably the most prolific slave port in the United States,” explains Malika Pryor, chief learning and engagement officer for the new museum, which opened to the public in June 2023. She points to a brick outline on the East Garden lawn, near a towering grove of West African palms and in front of parallel black marble walls inscribed with Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise.” During archaeological digs as part of pre-construction site prep, the team discovered footings of former storehouses. “The brick represents the footprint of one of these warehouses where captive Africans were held until the laws of supply and demand moved the prices up, ensuring top dollar at auction,” she explains. “In the winter of 1807, records show that some seven hundred of those captive Africans died when temperatures dropped to freezing.”

Pryor shares such harrowing accounts without editorializing. She, like the museum itself, lets the facts

speak for themselves, with a low-octave fortitude that carries its own power. Indeed, the IAAM is a testimony to the humbling hallowedness of presence. From the “floating” modular building’s non-rhetorical architecture, designed by the late Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, to the ground-level African Ancestors Memorial Garden designed by Walter Hood of Hood Design Studio, every element is meant to be “interpretative and non-literal, creating space for us to be in conversation and in reflection. To remember our ancestors in a quiet and honored space,” says Pryor. Even for those not of African heritage, the story of the IAAM, she adds, is “a fundamental American story and an incredibly significant international story, and we believe those who crossed this wharf’s edge are thus part of everyone’s legacy and story.”

She leads us to that wharf’s edge, or rather, the steel band that demarcates where Gadsden’s Wharf once stood, inscribed with a litany of place names where captive Africans embarked from Africa and then their many points of arrival in the Americas. Perhaps the most evocative and artful part of the museum’s lower level is the “Tidal Tribute,” a ground-level horizontal fountain that rhythmically fills and empties, mimicking the ebb and flow of the tides, tying the museum to the Atlantic Ocean. The tabby basin is etched with abstract reliefs inspired by the Brookes Diagram, a sketch illustrating how to maximize the loading of human cargo in a slave ship’s hold. When Walter Hood first saw the diagram while on a research trip to Sullivan’s Island, he thought it evoked the graphic patterns of African textiles, and knew he’d found his inspiration. “When the fountain is full, the bodies almost appear as if on the bottom of the ocean. This acknowledges and honors the thousands who lost their lives during the Middle Passage,” Pryor says.

Hood’s garden-level design is infused with symbol and story at every turn, from benches surrounded with art

The African Ancestors Memorial Garden

SHE LEADS US TO THAT WHARF’S EDGE, OR RATHER, THE STEEL BAND THAT DEMARCATES WHERE GADSDEN’S WHARF ONCE STOOD, INSCRIBED WITH A LITANY OF PLACE NAMES WHERE CAPTIVE AFRICANS EMBARKED FROM AFRICA AND THEN THEIR MANY POINTS OF ARRIVAL IN THE AMERICAS.

installations, calling to mind slave badges, to a serpentine brick wall winding through wispy stands of sweetgrass, to a stele garden of abstract monoliths meant to honor African American heroes and ancestors, intentionally undesignated so viewers can choose and personalize their own steles.

Upstairs in the museum proper, however, specific African and African American heroes and notable figures, from early West and West Central African empires to colonial days in the Carolinas to the present day, get their due. Upon entering, an immersive multimedia corridor evoking the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural elements of the transatlantic experience sweeps you into the museum. From there, our group dissipates, peeling off in different directions—some towards the replica of a Praise House, others through the Atlantic Worlds and Gullah Geechee galleries, and others pausing to take in the chronological sections of the American Journeys gallery— all presenting a rich and nearly overwhelming bounty of history and information. Some move toward the West Wing, where a center gallery hosts special exhibitions— currently featuring a postmodern surrealist installation by Charleston-based artist Fletcher Williams.

The museum’s layout invites this to-and-fro wandering, which feels a bit like the African diaspora itself. Indeed, the free flow is almost necessary, as some exhibits, particularly

the African Roots and African Routes section overlooking the harbor, are so riveting and heart-wrenching that it helps to step away for a bit to absorb it all. “Maybe you can see now why it took almost twenty years to bring [the IAAM] to completion,” Pryor says of the process that began in 2000 with then-Mayor Joe Riley’s vision for a worldclass museum, to official groundbreaking in 2019, and finally the grand opening of the $96 million museum in June 2023. Our group nods, concurring that one visit is far from enough to take it all in. Which, our host suggests, is also intentional. “It’s not our goal to tell the whole story, but we are trying to represent a holistic story, so you walk away with a sense of continuity, with an experience that feels whole even though it could never be quite complete,” she adds. “It’s our hope that visitors are compelled to come back, to look further, to go deeper.”

“This is a dream come true,” says Kiawah resident and early IAAM supporter Brenda Lauderback. Reflecting on his visit, Lauderback’s Island neighbor Mark Permar, himself an architect and planner, shares the sentiment. “It’s an amazing building within the landscape that is more a story than a structure. The true test of architecture and landscape architecture is that it not only provides a platform for people to experience and deliver the intended use, but it gets better over time,” Permar says. “This place will live well, and people’s lives will be better because of it.”

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, HAS A PROFOUND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN THE NARRATIVE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE.

REVERBERATING WITH ECHOES OF BOTH RESILIENCE AND STRUGGLE, CHARLESTON WAS A FOCAL POINT OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND HOLDS A PIVOTAL PLACE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY.

THE CITY’S ROOTS INTERTWINE DEEPLY WITH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, FROM GADSDEN’S WHARF, WHERE THOUSANDS OF ENSLAVED AFRICANS FIRST STEPPED FOOT ON AMERICAN SOIL TO THE RICH CULTURAL TAPESTRY WOVEN THROUGH GULLAH GEECHEE TRADITIONS THAT PERSIST IN THE LOWCOUNTRY. THESE IMAGES ARE PART OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION OF THE MUSEUM AND ILLUSTRATE A CHARLESTON HISTORY THROUGH TIME.

CREDITED LEFT TO RIGHT AND TOP TO BOTTOM: AFRICAN AMERICANS WORKING, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA || VIEW OF RUINED BUILDINGS THROUGH PORCH OF THE CIRCULAR CHURCH, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865 || FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS HEAR THE READING OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION NEAR BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA, JANUARY 1, 1863 || WATERMELON MARKET AT CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, FRANK LESLIE’S ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER, 1866 || ROBERT SMALLS, CAPTAIN OF THE GUN-BOAT “PLANTER” || WATCHING A GAME AT FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION, ST. HELENA ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, 1939 || FREEDMEN’S SCHOOL, IMAGE BY SAMUEL A. COOLEY, EDISTO ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, CA. 1862-1865 || ZION SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, BY ALFRED R. WAUD, 1868 || “MARCHING ON!”—THE FIFTY-FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS COLORED REGIMENT SINGING JOHN BROWN’S MARCH IN THE STREETS OF CHARLESTON, FEBRUARY 21, 1865

SHANNON WHITWORTH and WOODY PLATT

On a warm spring evening at River Course, musicians Shannon Whitworth and Woody Platt illuminated the stage with their soulful melodies and storytelling. Until recently, Platt was the frontman of the Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers. Whitworth has been a long-time fixture on the folk and Americana music scene, applauded by critics and enthusiasts for her distinctive voice, lyrics, and versatility. The two have spent the majority of their musical trajectories apart. This evening, Shannon’s evocative vocals intertwined seamlessly with Woody’s instrumentation to create a tapestry of sound. Together, they created a musical brilliance that resonated with Club Members.

Photos by Charlotte Zacharkiw

DREW and ELLIE HOLCOMB

Kiawah Island Club partnered with award-winning bourbon label Sweetens Cove to bring Drew and Ellie Holcomb to Kiawah Island. As twilight settled over River Course, the couple took the stage. Drew, renowned for his stirring compositions and magnetic stage presence, has carved a musical legacy marked by emotive ballads and poignant lyricism. Grammy-nominated and a GMA Dove Award recipient, Ellie is known for her heartfelt storytelling and warmth. Though their musical journeys have been distinct, the couple played as a duo, crooning into the warm spring evening. Their performance felt personal, and they had the audience laughing with anecdotes from their life together.

Photos by Charlotte Zacharkiw

KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB CONCERT SERIES

KIAWAH ISLAND CLUB CONCERT SERIES

LIONEL RICHIE

Kiawah Island Club’s concert series culminated in a performance from Lionel Richie at the annual Rock the River concert in late November. Richie is a living legend with a remarkable career that spans decades. Renowned for his soulful voice and impeccable songwriting skills, Richie’s influence stretches across genres like R&B, pop, and soul. Richie was a key member of the Commodores in the 1970s, but his solo career truly solidified his iconic status. Over the years, he has garnered numerous accolades, including Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Kennedy Center Honor. His ability to craft timeless ballads and energetic anthems has left an indelible mark on the music landscape. Members and guests rocked and rolled into the evening on the eighteenth fairway of River Course.

Photos by Charlotte Zacharkiw

At the edge of the maritime forest on the west end of Kiawah Island, a new amenity is taking shape. Today, the site bustles with construction, the sounds of hammers and drills echoing through the cool December air. Trident Construction project manager Nathan Stone hands out hard hats and Day-Glo vests to the group. We’ve gathered for a first look at The Cape Club, the newest chapter in the Kiawah Island story. In just a few months, the new beachside club will welcome Members.

There is talent in attendance today. Cortney Bishop, an internationally recognized interior designer, has been involved with The Cape since its inception. She has shaped the look and feel of the project, the visual experience of the place. Renowned chef and Charleston darling Mike Lata, tapped as executive chef for The Cape Club restaurant, has envisioned the dining experience.

This ambitious project represents the confluence of great talent. East West Partners (EWP), a national developer, partnered with San Francisco-based architect Hart Howerton to evolve the seven acres along Kiawah’s west end. The Cape will include six residential buildings with a total of seventyeight luxury residences. At its center, The Cape Club will boast a beachside bar and restaurant, an infinity pool, a fitness center, and over 11,000 square feet of decking. The Club is the crown jewel of the larger project, an enhancement that will bring new flavor to the already impressive lineup of Club amenities on the Island.

Nathan leads us up a sandy drive, crisscrossed by wide tire tracks, between two three-story residential buildings crawling with workers. As we walk toward the beach, a warm winter breeze cuts through the cold. We arrive at the back side of the new Club, and Nathan stops to explain the master layout and landscaping, painting the picture of a grand central lawn punctuated by palms and native plants. We climb a back stairwell, passing through what will be the kitchen of the restaurant and emerging onto a sunlit deck. The views are astounding. It feels as if we’re floating above the dunes, one hundred and eighty degrees of blue-green ocean sparkling on the horizon before us.

Cortney takes the helm now, leading the group through the bar area and onto the vast deck. She and Mike sideline about various aspects of the restaurant, the flow of service, the size and capacity of the bar. For now, the concept is coastal Mexican with a focus on local fresh ingredients. Mike is a shining star of the national food scene. His two Charleston restaurants, FIG and The Ordinary, have graced the pages of many national publications. A multiple James Beard Award winner, he has appeared on The Today Show, Top Chef, Iron Chef America, and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. The Cape Club restaurant is Mike’s second collaboration with Kiawah Island Club. His inaugural project, B-Liner at The Beach Club, brought a new level of culinary excellence to the Island. “The Cape Club is a beautiful property that really speaks to bright, simple, flavorful cuisine,” he says. “We think coastal Mexican really hits the mark, not only for this property but as another amenity for the Kiawah Island Club.”

Cortney details the materials and color tones as she walks us toward the fitness center. “The interior palette is organic, with greens and light coastal beach colors, a lot of texture and stained woods,” she tells us. “I wanted it to be a little bit sexier and moodier, a little spice and flavor.” As we talk, workers are setting the forms for a series of large planters, the beginning of an elevated dining space taking shape. At this stage, the scene is all wood and concrete, but you can imagine the space trimmed with lush greenery and tall palms, the deck filled with chaises and sunbeds. “Imagine beautiful hues of pinks, burgundies, and rusts. There is this rustic safari vibe that plays to the natural beauty of the Island, the green ocean and the orange and pink of the sunsets,” she says.

Cortney pulls inspiration from a deeply personal experience of the Island. She spent her childhood coming to Kiawah, riding her bike to the old Straw Market, and exploring sandy roads on the backside of the Island by Jeep. She got married at The Beach Club, gathered with her nearest and dearest in the place she loves most. So when EWP approached her in 2018, she jumped at the opportunity to participate in The Cape project. “It was serendipitous,” she tells me. “I’ve

LEFT: Interior Designer Cortney Bishop is known for her sophisticated and timeless aesthetic, blending modern and traditional elements to create elegant and personalized spaces. She is responsible for creating the look and feel for The Cape. BELOW: Cortney curates a collection of materials and inspiration pieces for The Cape. | Images Courtesy of Cortney Bishop Design

been able to pull from my experience here to create something fresh and different.”

The Cape has been touted as a “last of its kind” project, situated just east of Beachwalker Park at a convergence of the Kiawah River and the Atlantic Ocean. The maritime forest transitions to low-lying dunes and shrub thicket, a comely mix of green and tan, texture and foliage. As always on Kiawah, the “Designing with Nature” approach has informed the planning of the project since its inception. Exterior colors and materials will blend with the natural environment and appear folded within the landscape. “I want to build on this environmental awareness,” Cortney says. “Our ocean isn’t blue, it’s green. We’re surrounded by nature, beautiful trees. That’s where I wanted the interior palette to go.” A Kiawah safari indeed.

The Cape Club will soon open its doors, marking the culmination of this collaborative vision and an ever-present commitment to blending development with the natural environment. Standing at the edge of the infinity pool in the slanted winter sun, we see a line of pelicans coasting along the water’s edge, riding the updraft. It’s easy to imagine reclining on a sun bed, sipping a margarita, and staring out at this view. —

H.W.

ABOVE: Kiawah Island Club COO Tom Nevin, Trident Construction Project Manager Nathan Stone, Cortney Bishop, and Mike Lata | Photo by Blake Shorter || RIGHT: An artist rendering shows the infinity pool and deck at The Cape Club. Design is subject to change. | Rendering Courtesy of East West Partners

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KIAWAH IN THE

COMMUNITY

Kiawah Island Club Members and employees are dedicated to making a difference, not only on Kiawah Island but also throughout the wider Lowcountry community. Whether through the investment of time, expertise, or financial resources, there are abundant opportunities to effect change. We are so pleased to share this snapshot of just a few of the new and established philanthropic initiatives that benefit from Kiawah involvement, a testament to the impactful contribution and support made by our Kiawah community.

Angel Oak Elementary

The spirit of giving thrives annually through the Angel Tree tradition at Kiawah Island Club, benefitting Angel Oak Elementary School on Johns Island. Club Members and Kiawah Partners employees selected a child’s name from the tree and fulfilled their holiday wishes, ensuring that nearly forty kids received gifts. Support extends beyond the holiday season with the Back-to-School Drive for the teachers of Angel Oak Elementary. Club Members and employees collectively provided over $10,000 worth of essential supplies, empowering educators and enriching the educational experience for the students.

Our Lady of Mercy

Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach focuses on fostering equitable communities by providing essential resources, like basic necessities, education, employment aid, and healthcare services. The Kiawah community has long supported this local organization. Recently, Kiawah Partners employees took on a significant project at Our Lady of Mercy, revamping the grounds for the new playground and updating the landscaping and amenities, like benches and picnic tables. Additionally, many employees volunteer beyond planned projects, showcasing their giving spirit throughout the year.

The Gift Today

Founded by Kiawah Island Club Members Bonnie Kelly and Karen Burger, The Gift Today is a philanthropic venture that convenes quarterly to allocate funds to charitable causes. With quarterly individual contributions from each member, the cumulative donation grows throughout the year. Since its inception in 2018 starting with twelve members, The Gift Today has organically grown to over 135 members and has donated over $330,000 to charitable organizations in the Johns Island and greater Charleston areas. This ongoing commitment underscores the group’s dedication to effecting positive change through collective generosity.

Backpack Buddies

The Backpack Buddies program actively combats childhood hunger, focusing on economically disadvantaged students from preschool to eighth grade on Johns and Wadmalaw Islands. It supplements local schools’ weekday meal programs, providing crucial nutritional aid outside of school hours. Identified by school counselors, students receive weekly provisions throughout the school year, with each bag containing two to three breakfast items, two to three lunch items, assorted fruits, and snacks. Last year, around eight thousand food bags were distributed, benefiting almost three hundred students directly. Recently, the program organized a dental kit drive, welcoming contributions from Club Members and staff, aiming to provide essential dental hygiene items. These endeavors underscore an unwavering dedication to battling hunger and ensuring the well-being of local kids.

The HEARTest Yard

The HEARTest Yard, affiliated with MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, supports families affected by congenital heart disease. Founded by NFL player Greg Olsen and his wife, Kara, it provides comprehensive care, emotional support, and resources to families navigating the complexities of pediatric cardiac conditions, offering financial assistance, counseling, and access to specialized medical services. This year, profits from Kiawah Island Club’s Rock the River concert with Lionel Richie directly supported The HEARTest Yard. Members also donated directly, further amplifying the assistance provided to this vital cause. In addition, Kiawah Partners employees assembled over thirty holiday goody bags destined for the patients in The HEARTest Yard ward at the hospital. These thoughtfully prepared bags—full of toys, books, art supplies, and gift cards—were part of the ongoing effort to bring joy and support to The HEARTest Yard’s community.

The Giving Tee

The Giving Tee, a recent initiative by Kiawah Island Club, featured an online auction in mid-November benefiting the youth of Johns and Wadmalaw Islands that raised $80,106. Funds were distributed to six local beneficiaries: Communities In Schools of South Carolina, WINGS for Kids, St. John’s High School Athletics, Reading Partners of Charleston, Yo Art!, and Fetter Health Care Network. The Giving Tee aims to empower local children, offering assistance in crucial areas like education, health, and sports opportunities.

Backpack Buddies supports economically disadvantaged students from preschool to eighth grade on Johns and Wadmalaw Islands, offering nutritional assistance beyond school hours.

NFL player Greg Olsen’s initiative, the HEARTest Yard, serves as a lifeline for families navigating the complexities of congenital heart disease, offering comprehensive support ranging from medical care to emotional assistance.

GOOD WORKS

Sea Island Habitat for Humanity

The third oldest affiliate of the global nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, the Sea Island chapter was founded in 1978 and provides affordable housing and invaluable homeownership skills to local low-income families of Johns, Wadmalaw, and James Islands. The organization works in partnership with families to build better lives for themselves and their children.

The Sea Island chapter has constructed over 350 homes in its forty-five years of operation. Habitat’s mission extends beyond home building, ensuring that new residents are prepared for the responsibilities that accompany homeownership by providing resources and help on everything from property taxes to home upkeep. Year after year, numerous Members and staff contribute and volunteer to ensure families have what they need for safe and affordable shelter.

Sea Island Habitat for Humanity builds and renovates homes, providing affordable housing solutions for families in need. Decent housing is crucial for fostering stability, health, and dignity.

Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic

Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic (BIFMC) on Johns Island provides healthcare options to uninsured, low-income adults who live or work on Johns, Wadmalaw, and James Islands, and it has more recently expanded into other areas surrounding the Sea Islands. The clinic helps patients address their medical needs, from a common cold to chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary disease, and depression. BIFMC has had a long, successful relationship with Kiawah Island, and a number of the organization’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors seats are held by Kiawah Island Club Members and employees. The BIFMC Golf Invitational is an annual fundraiser held at the Kiawah Island Club, and several members of the community support the event through sponsorship or play. The tournament is the largest fundraiser of the year for BIFMC and provides the operational costs for more than 450 monthly patient visits.

In Addition

Kiawah Island Club’s women golfers raised $2,500 for the Lowcountry Food Bank, contributing over six hundred pounds of food. Kiawah Island Real Estate employees provided 150 meals that fed six hundred individuals this past Thanksgiving through the annual Feeding the Multitude initiative. These impactful gestures underscore the community’s commitment to addressing food insecurity in neighboring communities.

Are you doing something to support the community? Let us know at legends@kiawah.com.

SERVING ACES

THE GROWTH OF RACQUET SPORTS AT KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT

BY BRYAN HUNTER

Roy Barth had never stepped foot in the state of South Carolina. But here he was in 1976, a new father having just left the rarified yet demanding world of the professional tennis tour. He gazed over the future site of a new tennis center where anyone less visionary would only see a dense jungle of native plants. Roy envisioned a world-class tennis center right in the heart of a paradigm-shifting new development on Kiawah Island that endeavored to harmoniously blend the natural and built environments.

Grand Slam tennis great Tom Gorman, Roy’s former doubles partner in the tour, and the person responsible for connecting Barth with the nascent resort, recalled in 2022, “Kiawah Island was beyond a diamond in the rough at that time. There was nothing here, but you could tell the place was so special, and the way the developers were going about it, it wasn’t going to be overdeveloped like so many places on the East Coast. Even today when you play here, it has such a natural feel to it.”

By the time Roy was ready to retire (a relative term—he still regularly teaches lessons at the resort’s tennis center that bears his name) forty-two years later in 2018, not only had his vision come to fruition, but it was also poised on the verge of expansion. Upon his retirement, Roy’s son Jonathan, having worked in the tennis program since 1999, most recently as head pro, assumed the reins from his father. Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s tennis programming had been perennially ranked number one internationally, and all tennis programming was well on its way to being consolidated from two locations on the Island into one facility at the Roy Barth Tennis Center with the expansion of ten new Har-Tru HydroCourts to bring the number of courts to twenty-one.

KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT’S TENNIS PROGRAMMING HAD BEEN PERENNIALLY RANKED NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONALLY.

But there were other big changes. One year into his role as director, Jonathan brought in tennis instructor Bruce Hawtin to completely revamp and rebrand the resort’s full-time juniors training program as the Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy. Hailing from Australia, Bruce had a strong track record of running an extremely successful junior tennis academy in the Charlotte area. Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy was conceived as offering full- and part-time tennis instruction to highly competitive juniors who aspired to play Division I tennis or to join the pro tour. A big part of the training would focus on proper physical development, so Jonathan and Bruce brought in leading sports fitness expert Dr. Mark Kovacs of the Kovacs Institute to design the academy’s highly individualized strength and conditioning program. Dr. Kovacs has worked with numerous world-class athletes, including current tennis greats Sloane Stephens and Frances Tiafoe.

“The philosophy of Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy is simple,” said Bruce. “Playing world-class tennis depends on establishing world-class fundamentals. Our approach first instills the right process for establishing tennis fundamentals before we begin thinking about results. Commitment, built upon strong character, is at the heart of our culture, and we will hold each other accountable in those areas every day.”

Now four years after launching, Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy has already made waves by placing a number of graduates in major college tennis programs. Among its fulltime enrollment are boarding students from as far away as South America and Africa. But it is also making a strong impact on the local community. In 2022 Jonathan and Bruce launched the Third Serve Foundation, a registered 501(c)

(3) after-school program that serves kindergarten through middle school students at local schools throughout the Charleston area that lack the resources to provide tennis programming.

“Many of these students have natural athletic talent, but they’ve just never been exposed to tennis,” explains Jonathan. “Our ultimate goal is to offer full scholarships to those students who display exceptional potential as tennis players. Exposing these students to tennis at a young age presents the opportunity to change their pathway through life if it leads to a college scholarship, but at the very least it’s introducing them to a sport for life.”

Another unexpected change for the center since Jonathan assumed responsibility has been the rapid growth of pickleball as a participation sport. A lot of the demand was coming from members of the resort’s Governor’s Club, which is offered to Island residents, as well as from guests who enjoyed racquet sports. The resort lined its handful of hard tennis courts for pickleball to accommodate both sports. The popularity of those courts quickly proved so great that soon Jonathan hired a full-time head pickleball instructor and created six dedicated pickleball courts to replace the dual-purpose courts. And the resort is considering plans for further future expansion.

Closely mirroring the resort’s exhaustive tennis program, Kiawah Island Golf Resort now offers group and private instruction, clinics for juniors and adults, pickleball social events, junior camps, and special fall and winter pickleball weekends. Head Tennis Professional David Boyd, who has spent more than a quarter century at the resort, cites the

opening of The Sanctuary in 2004 as being a big reason for propelling the growth of tennis programming. The Forbes Five-Star hotel is a quick ten-minute walk from Roy Barth Tennis Center. “The Sanctuary opening really allowed us to increase programming, such as our fall and winter women’s tennis weekends,” Boyd explains. “The first year the hotel opened, we had one tennis weekend. It was all locals, but word spread and it doubled by the next year,” he recalls. “Now we entertain almost three hundred players during eleven weekends throughout fall and winter.”

Boyd credits this level of rich programming with why the resort is perennially named the number one tennis (and now pickleball) resort by Tennis Resorts Online, the leading authority on resort tennis destinations. “There are a lot of great resorts that have tennis courts,” he says. “Where we differ is that we have outstanding tennis instruction and programming, for all ages and all levels of players, to complement our world-class accommodations, golf, spa, and dining.” That was all part of Roy Barth’s vision from the day he first laid eyes on a tangled patch of barrier island ground. That vision not only became a reality, but it also continues to adapt, grow, and become stronger.

RED,

ON AND ABOUT KIAWAH

Throughout the year, Kiawah hosts dozens of soirées, outings, and activities. It was a fantastic 2023!

TURKEY TROT

PHOTOGRAPHY by CHARLOTTE ZACHARKIW

RED,

EASTER

TOM’S COOKING CLASS

RED, WHITE & BOOM

TURKEY TROT

MEMBER MINGLE

EASTER AT THE BEACH CLUB

RED, WHITE, & BOOM

Sea Islands Medical Pavilion

DELIVERING RAPID EMERGENT CARE TO YOU.

COMING SOON

The MUSC Health Sea Islands Medical Pavilion will help meet the demands of the growing community with its new facility that is slated for completion in late 2025. Construction on the facility will begin in 2024.

For more information please contact:

Brian Panique, Senior Director of Principal Gifts

843-792-0861 • panique@musc.edu

■

24/7 Emergency room care

■ Helicopter transport

■ State-of-the-art CT-scan and radiology services

■ Access to primary care and outpatient services

For the latest on the Sea Islands Medical Pavilion, visit musc.co/SeaIslands or scan the code.

Thank you to Kiawah Partners and all of our amazing donors for your partnership.

Dillard-Jones is proud to announce their partnership in bringing the 2024 Southern Living Idea House to life., located near historic downtown Charleston. As the chosen custom builder for this 4,400-square-foot farmhouse, the build beautifully blends history and charm, capturing the true essence of Lowcountry living.

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843.353.0203

dillardjones.com

Dillard-Jones is a luxury custom homebuilder proudly offering our services to clients in Charleston & Johns Island, SC. A few of the prestigious areas we serve include Kiawah Island, Johns Island, Daniel Island, Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island.

Anderson

Aqua

Barrow Interiors.........................................133

Bleecker

Charleston

Cobb

D.

Dolphin Architects and Builders...................11

Ferguson.......................................................84

Four Corners Building Supply......................85

GDC Home....................................................13

Henselstone Windows & Doors.....................17

K&L Gates...................................................127

Kiawah Island Real Estate..................FIC, BIC

Kiawah

Kingswood Custom Homes.............................9

Kristin Peake Interiors...................................5

M.

Mangan Inc..................................................21

Margaret Donaldson Interiors....................59

Mary Whyte..................................................20

McDonald Architects..................................155

R.M. Buck Builders.......................................23

Seafields at Kiawah Island.........................156

Seamar Construction Group......................127

Shope Reno Wharton Architecture.................2

South Street Partners.........................150, 151

Tammy Connor Interior Design...................22

The Island Company....................................BC

The

The Steadman Agency....................................7

Three Oaks Contractors................................61

Vinyet Architecture.......................................95

Watts Builders............................................125

Yellowstone Landscape...............................124

The Art of

COMMUNITY

In 1974, the first iteration of Kiawah Island’s master development plan was set in motion. It reflected forward-thinking, a deep respect for nature, and a commitment to careful growth. Half a century later, this obligation to the environment and community remains the same. The Kiawah we know and love today results from conscientious planning, decades of authentic engagement, and continuous discussions about how best to steward this remarkable Island. Here’s to another fifty years!

Patrick O’Brien

Seafields— Kiawah Island’s first and only 62+ Life Plan Communi — pairs a magnificent location in Freshfields Village with 89 spacious independent living residences ranging om 903 to 2,891 square feet, as well as luxury amenities, 16 assisted living residences, and continuing care services. An in-house wellness clinic and new MUSC Health medical o ce building and ER located steps away will ensure residents 24/7 access to world-class primary, special , and emergency health care.