cover notes
The painting on our cover is "View from the Fourth Floor" by Alexandra Sharma, one of two instructors offering online classes this month through the Art League of Hilton Head. For more information, see our story on page 7.
L o w c o unt r y
August 5 – August 18, 2020
Publisher: Jeff Evans — Jeff@LCWeekly.com
Editor: Margaret Evans — Editor@LCWeekly.com
Staff Writer: Mindy Lucas — Mindy@LCWeekly.com
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Art Director: Lydia Inglett
Layout & Design: Amalgamated Sprinkle Works
Contributing Writers: Will Balk Jr., Tommy Baysden, Vivian Bikulege, Katherine Tandy Brown, Debbi Covington, Sandra Educate, Laura Lee Rose, Jack Sparacino, Sutty Suddeth, and Susan Trogdon
What’s Happening Calendar: Staff – Editor@LCWeekly.com
Letters to the Editor, comments or suggestions can be addressed to: Lowcountry Weekly
106 West Street Extension, Beaufort, SC 29902
Call: 843-986-9059 or Email: editor@lcweekly.com
Lowcountry Weekly is published every other Wednesday and distributed throughout Beaufort County at various restaurants, retail locations, hotels and visitor’s centers. The entire contents of Lowcountry Weekly is copyrighted 2020 by P. Podd Press, LLC. No part may be reproduced without permission from the publisher. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. A stamped, selfaddressed envelope must accompany all submissions expected to be returned.
Oyster Cay Collection
Love at The Office RANTS & RAVES
Ibarely have the energy to write this column, much less the inspiration. I am in a rut to end all ruts.
August is my traditional rut season anyway, but the rut seems so much deeper this year. Last issue, I wrote about the ‘double dog days’ of summer. Since then, those double dog days have doubled down.
The pandemic grinds on, confounding us every step of the way . . .
Parents struggle to choose an educational “option” for their kids – online, in person, or some hybrid of the two . . .
Rising college freshmen – including my beloved daughter – contend with one disappointment after another, wondering if they’ll ever actually matriculate on campus . . .
An article in Forbes asks, “When will life return to normal?” and answers, “Never,” elaborating on all the many ways our economy – and our very culture – will be permanently transformed by this pandemic . . .
On the nightly news, most of what we hear about – besides Covid-19 – is our current Black Lives Matter moment, which consists of inspiring peaceful protests where brave, committed activists are not spreading the virus (if you’re watching MSNBC) or violent, destructive riots where lawless thugs are spreading the virus (if you’re watching Fox News).
On social media – which is basically the only thing “social” happening for most of us – the mask wars rage on, the hydroxychoroquine question lingers, Obama’s eulogy of John Lewis was either “shameful and disgusting” or “masterful and inspiring,” depending on whose page you’re reading, and,
in short, Americans continue to behave like two warring tribes with no shared DNA.
Meanwhile, in my neck of woods: The F-35 pilots from MCAS – bless their hearts – have a new practice schedule, so the sound of freedom now roars over our neighborhood earlier and more often. (It is a sad truth that gratitude for our patriotic flyboys and girls does not protect one’s ears or nerves. Alas.)
As I write, there’s a tropical storm with an unpronounceable name (I’m told it’s not like the biblical prophet) headed for our general vicinity, which might have blown through as a hurricane by the time you read this.
And it’s too dadgum hot outside.
All things considered, though – for one must always consider all things – life could be so much worse. And I am a wretched ingrate for complaining. I should be counting my blessings instead: My healthy family. The roof over my head. The food in my pantry. The remarkable usefulness of Zoom.
And, of course, The Office.
I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but The Office has become our cultural comfort food during this pandemic. My family and I tend to watch two or three episodes on Netflix every night, over dinner. (Yes, we’re a TV tray family. I’m not proud.) I’d like to blame our daughter, who became obsessed with the show when she was about 15 and has been bugging us to watch ever since, but I’ve grown to love The Office just as much as she does. And I’m not remotely sure why.
The show is patently absurd. Is it even funny? It must be, ‘cause I’m laughing, but I’m not sure why. The characters can be ter-
ribly unlikable. So unlikable you can’t help loving them. Does that even make sense? Does anything about adoring The Office make sense?
For the uninitiated, the show is set in the office of Dunder Mifflin, a fictional paper company in Scranton, PA, and its characters are the people who work there. The office is drab and mundane, the work of selling paper is drab and mundane, the lives of the Dunder Mifflin employees are drab and mundane.
And the show is simply fabulous.
Apparently, it’s not just my family who are addicted to The Office. A little Googling revealed that the show, while a cult hit during its original run, has become a bona fide sensation in its second life on Netflix, and not just with adults. Teens and tweens can’t get enough of The Office. They chat about it online, make Tik Tok videos about it, name their pets after its characters, and buy tons of Office merchandise. My daughter and I were recently shopping for clothes at Urban Outfitters in Savannah and she couldn’t resist purchasing a Dwight Schrute bobble head strategically placed at the checkout counter.
With its bone-dry humor and all-adult cast, it’s hard to understand this youthful enthusiasm for The Office, unless you consider – as I often have – that Generation Z is strangely nostalgic for periods they don’t actually remember. And even though it’s not very old – it first aired fifteen years ago and ended six years ago – there is something warmly old-fashioned about The Office. It’s reminiscent of a simpler time, a slightly less automated time, before social media consumed our lives and lots of us started working from home. A time of handwritten call sheets, cheesy bulletin boards, water cooler gossip, lame office parties, boring HR retreats, and bad coffee.
Also, despite its stodgy, whitebread setting, the show feels mildly – deliciously –transgressive, reminding us of a time not so long ago when we actually liked transgressive. When ‘transgressive’ was fun and cool. Before ‘transgressive’ could bring a Twitter mob to your door, and get you canceled.
Frankly, I’m not sure you could even make this show today. That’s how quickly things have changed. What felt edgy, hip and progressive even six years ago, when the show ended, would now be judged offen-
Margaret Evans
sive, over the line, I think, by our cultural powers-that-be.
There are race jokes on The Office. Gay jokes. Jokes about women. Typically, the butt of the joke is not the black person or the gay person or the woman, but the dunderheaded white guy fumbling his words. In fact, much of the humor in The Office comes at the expense of sincere, but deeply flawed and often ridiculous human beings trying hard to navigate the rising, roiling waters of political correctness, and failing miserably.
The minority employees at the office are typically in on the joke, and usually come off looking smarter and better than everybody else.
But I don’t think people make distinctions like that anymore. Not in our current moment, anyway. In our current moment, nuance and subtext mean very little, good intentions are worthless, and mercy is scarce.
But it’s not like that at The Office . At Dunder Mifflin, people wear their various levels of awfulness on their sleeves, and we love them for it. We watch them preen and strut and strive, only to see them fall and fail and utterly embarrass themselves. We watch them irritate, offend, and repel each other, but we also see them console, forgive, and redeem each other. The show is restorative, I think, not just because a good laugh almost always is, but because under all its layers of silliness, obscenity, and wrong think, there is a foundation of love. The show loves its dreadful characters, and those dreadful characters love each other. If they can do it – even Dwight Schrute! –surely we can, too.
Wow. I had no idea where this column was going when I started. Did I really just try to spin serious social commentary – with a quasi-religious angle – from ? Oy. It’s rut season, and I’m grasping at straws. I promise to do better once the weather cools off, the pandemic ends, and life gets back to normal.
Oh, wait . . .
The Return of Hunting Island
Despite flooding, hurricanes, unpredictable weather, the rugged but always beautiful barrier island remains South Carolina’s shining jewel
It’s a weekday morning at Hunting Island State Park. Just past the fee station a line of cars and trucks has slowed to a crawl.
A recent downpour has caused widespread flooding, forcing the park to close for several weeks. It has now re-opened, though standing water covers the road making it nearly impossible to tell where the paved path begins and where the endless jungle of palms and ferns on either side ends.
Fortunately, park staff have planted markers along the shoulder, and a handwritten sign encourages drivers to keep moving.
“It’s only 3 inches. You can make it,” the sign reads.
While not as damaging or unnerving as a hurricane, the flooding still serves as a subtle reminder that here, in this place most Beaufort County residents think of as their own veritable paradise, the forces of nature are always at work.
They may go largely unnoticed to the more than million visitors who pour in to her 5,000-acres each year, marveling at her lush, maritime forests, majestic lighthouse, and unspoiled beaches, but make no mistake about it, they are definitely here.
As Park Manager J.W. Weatherford says, it’s a wild, rugged barrier island.
“And sometimes it wants to go back to that wild, rugged barrier island and does not want to be the beautiful, peaceful state park.”
No one knows that better than Weatherford who stepped in to the head post in the fall of 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Matthew.
While very different storms in terms of their makeup, both left their calling cards in the form of flooding and destruction – Matthew causing the most damage.
The Category 1 hurricane, which only glanced the Lowcountry in 2016, uprooted a number of the island’s trees and vegetation, destroyed bathroom facilities and washed away roads and entire dune systems.
When it was all said and done, Hunting Island had sustained an estimated $5.5 million dollars in physical and debris damage, according to a 2018 report presented to South Carolina’s House Legislative Oversight Committee.
To add insult to injury, Irma came through less than a year later.
The Hunting Island lighthouse, the only lighthouse with public access in South Carolina, is set to undergo repair work in 2021.
While it had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it neared the Palmetto state, Irma went on to leave more widespread standing water on the island than Matthew, park officials said at the time.
“I was pretty much the cleanup guy for Irma,” Weatherford says, good naturedly.
The Gaffney native who has nearly 15 years of park service experience, moved into the manager’s house in October of 2017, while the park was still closed from flooding.
Unlike other state parks which see very little in terms of the dramatic, sometimes volatile changes a place like Hunting Island can see, the park is known for the special challenges staff and volunteers who work there sometimes face.
“Hunting Island is a difficult park to manage and park managers know that,” Weatherford said. “When you apply for Hunting Island, you know you are signing up for some challenges.”
This most recent in fact, caused by an unnamed storm, had the park closed for a large part of July. The downpour started just after the Fourth of July weekend and did not quit until it had dumped 17 inches of water on the island.
It was more rain than what the island had gotten during the 1,000-year flood of 2015, Weatherford said, making it something of an unusual rain event.
By
Mindy Lucas
“Seventeen inches is not what you get in a normal afternoon storm,” he said.
Tent campers woke to water-filled tents and parking lots began filling like bathtubs.
About 50 campsites were soon flooded, and four of the six miles of the island’s road system were covered with water – some over a foot deep.
In places in the park where the land is below sea level, water simply had no place to go, Weatherford said.
To get water out of the parking lots and off the roads, the park rented three pumps for about $10,000 for a two-week period.
It’s an effort that may seem like a lot just so visitors can to take a stroll on the beach or climb the lighthouse steps, but as one of the top revenue generating parks in South Carolina’s park system, revenue from Hunting Island helps to support the entire state parks system. The park had previously been the top revenue generating property for the state until it lost about 100 camp sites from Matthew, but it remains in the top five, Weatherford said.
And when the park is closed, the loss of revenue can be felt. An estimated $2 million was lost in visitation revenue after Matthew ground operations to a halt. (Continued on next page.)
(From previous page.) Often touted as the jewel of the South Carolina Lowcountry or state park system, the park is such a prized resource that the state committed $17 million to a beach restoration project, recently completed in June.
driftwood from a two-mile stretch on the park’s north end near the lighthouse. However, the removal of the “boneyard” was not without controversy.
Visitors and residents alike took to social media to sound their outrage at the trees’ removal, while conservation organizations voiced concerns over threats the work presented to nesting sea turtles. At least one coastal geologist called it “beach destruction.”
This tree, one of the most photographed and which recently appeared in National Geographic, was saved during the removal of the boneyard. Photo by Mindy Lucas
The project, which had been in the works before Hurricane Matthew, added 1.2 million cubic yards of sand to the beach in an area that runs from the campground almost down to the southernmost groin.
In addition, 9,000 feet of sand fencing was added, 3,000 feet of rope fencing was installed to protect dunes and mark beach entrances, 100,000 plants – a variety of dune vegetation – was planted along rebuilt dune systems, and a number of groins were repaired and capped.
The renourishment project was the largest of its kind since a similar effort in the 1980s. It’s something the park tries to do about every ten years, Weatherford said.
Prior to restoring the beach, the park launched a massive effort to remove trees and
For More Information
Admission to Hunting Island State Park is $8 for adults, $5 for S.C. seniors, $4 for children ages 6-15, free for children age 5 and younger. Park passes are also available. Lighthouse admission is $2 per person though must be reserved. Reservations can be made on the same day at the park, if space is available or by calling (843) 838-4868. For more information visit www.southcarolinaparks.com/hunting-island.
Day trips to St. Phillips Island are available 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The cost is $45 for adults, $25 for children 12 and younger. For information visit www.coastalexpeditions. com/product/st-phillips-island-ferry.
and we’re OK with that as long as we’re not losing this property,” he said, referring to the land behind the dunes where the lighthouse sits.
While the idea of beach renourishment has been controversial in itself at times, it’s not only part of Hunting Island’s management plan, it’s part of just about every municipalities’ planning where a beach is the tourist draw, Weatherford said.
“It’s a preventative measure,” he said, adding that the restored dunes also act as another protective element.
An assessment conducted by a Charleston engineering firm found that while the lighthouse is in “extraordinarily good shape” for a structure that is open to the public, it is in need of repairs and restoration to its brick masonry and cast iron work.
That project is expected to run between $2 million to $3 million, Weatherford said.
While the clearing of the boneyard set the stage for the restoration project to begin, the primary reason for its removal was out of concerns for visitor safety, Weatherford said.
From minor scrapes and cuts from run-ins with submerged, barnacle-covered tree trunks, to more serious injuries involving piercings or puncture wounds, accidents were so frequent that park staff were completing accident reports every weekend, he said.
Many times, visitors from other parts of the country or the world, unfamiliar with the unique aspects of a boneyard beach, would suddenly find themselves pushed or slammed into the underwater forest by incoming tides.
“Especially here,” Weatherford said, referring to the north end, which receives the largest percentage of visitors to the park.
“So one of the most dangerous things on the beach was also at our most crowded beach access,” he said. “We had to stop people from getting hurt.”
The boneyard at the south end of the island, which typically receives fewer visitors or families with small children, was left intact, Weatherford emphasized.
Since the completion of the restoration project, visitors have returned to the beach in droves. In addition there have been no accidents from encounters with trees on the beach since the boneyard was removed, Weatherford stated.
Asked if he was concerned that another storm would damage the island or take away all that recently added sand now that the 2020 hurricane season is here, Weatherford said the answer involved a bit of math.
While the island may lose a portion of sand, or so many feet from its beaches each year, project planners are fine with losing some ground to storms and erosion – as long as the rest of the island is protected.
“That’s sacrificial sand,” he said, pointing out toward the beach.
“When we put that sand there, we know most of that is going to be eroded over time,
While it’s hard to say what the damage would be to the island, or Beaufort County for that matter, if it were to endure a direct hit from a major hurricane, the dunes go a long way in protecting the rest of the island from lower grade storms or other weather events.
“Having those dunes there gives me all the peace of mind possible,” he said.
It’s also important to remember that barrier islands, like Hunting Island and others along the South Carolina coast, protect the mainland, he said.
In addition, the park would eventually like to add back about five to 10 rental cabins, though that project is considered long-term, or something that would take place in the next three to five years.
The park lost the last of its beachfront cabins after Matthew with only one, behind the lighthouse, still intact. The cabins will be inland, however, instead of on the beach, to avoid erosion or damage from storms again.
And last, but certainly not least, is arguably the most exciting addition to the park system – the much talked about St. Phillips Island.
Now part of Hunting Island State Park, the 4,680-acre barrier island, has been open to visitors since June.
“That’s what it does and it does a great job of that,” he said. “It has done its job very well since 2016.”
A BRIGHT FUTURE
Visitors to the park may soon notice some additional improvements as long overdue maintenance begins in three critical areas.
First, the park’s roads will be raised and paved – a project expected to begin around Labor Day. In some places the road will be raised two feet to help protect it from flooding and erosion, Weatherford said.
Then, after the road paving, construction to repair the fishing pier, which sustained heavy damage from Matthew, will begin. Depending on the weather and scope of work, the park hopes to have the pier finished sometime between New Year’s Day and spring of 2021.
Finally, the lighthouse will get some attention with repair work on the 160-year-old historic structure also set to begin in 2021.
Purchased by the state in 2017 from media mogul Ted Turner, a proponent of conservation, the island is accessible only by boat.
Hunting Island has contracted with Charleston-based tour company Coastal Expeditions, which offers day trips to the island. The trip includes a naturalist-led tour along the Story River to the island’s dock.
Once on the island, visitors board a tram that carries them down a canopy covered forest road to the beach where they can spend time fishing or walking or can opt to hike the island’s interior trails.
“It’s obviously Beaufort’s newest ecotourism, and I would venture to say it’s probably the best day adventure that Beaufort has now,” Weatherford said.
As he finishes ticking off the list of repair projects and new amenities in store for the park, Weatherford said by the end of 2021, it will be like having a brand new park.
“New beach, new roads, new fishing pier and new lighthouse,” he said. “The future of Hunting Island is extremely bright.”
is a staff writer for Lowcountry Weekly and reporter for The Island News.
Mindy Lucas
Beachgoers enjoying the newly restored beach at Hunting Island State Park.
Art League Offers Online Instruction
Art League Academy now offers online classes, workshops and demos to students at all skill levels, including true beginners.
This August, Art League Academy is offering two virtual 4-week classes via Zoom taught by long-time Academy instructors Art Cornell and Alexandra Sharma.
Non-Objective
Abstract Painting by Art Cornell is a mid-level class focusing on composition, texture and points of focus in abstract painting. Cornell, a fixture in the Lowcountry art scene, describes his own work as “raw emotion expressed in color, line and texture.” The classes will be held every Wednesday in August (5, 12, 19 & 26), 9:30am-12:30pm.
Academy favorite Alexandra Sharma is teaching The Watercolor Method for Landscape & Still Life on Thursdays in August (6, 13, 20 & 27), 9:30am12:30pm. Classes will focus on painting intuitively, simplifying a landscape, and examining the qualities of light, perspective and volume. Sharma is a Sorbonne- and Oxford-trained artist who exhibits regularly in local galleries.
Both classes have limited registration to ensure individual attention for each student. The cost for each class is $144 for Art League of Hilton Head members/$160 for non-members. Supply lists will be sent upon registration.
Additional offerings via Zoom include weekly 90-minute mini workshops and demos. Every Monday, 12:30-2pm, Academy instructor
Debi West holds a virtual mini workshop. Sample topics include still life painting, collage, grid art techniques, and mixed media. Students are encouraged to share their work and will receive valuable critique from their peers as well as the instructor. The cost is $18 for members/$20 for non-members.
Virtual demos by Alex Sharma are held every Friday, 1011:30am. Students are encouraged to paint along in the medium of their choice. Upcoming topics include the use of value in painting and color theory for shadows and change of seasons. The cost is $7 for members/$9 for non-members.
“We are still serving our members and our community,” says Academy manager Amy Wehrman. “We just moved many of our offerings online. Whether it’s through multi-week
classes or weekly demos and mini workshops, our new and returning students continue to experiment and improve. And for those who’ve never taken an art class, a low-cost $9 demo is a great place to start.”
New programming by Art League Academy is continually being added. For an up-todate listing of classes, mini workshops and demos, please visit artleaguehhi.org. Students of all levels are welcome.
Defining Moments By Art Cornell
Hope Floats
Iadmit it. I’ve shamelessly plagiarized this column’s title from that of a Sandra Bullock movie I’ve watched numerous times.
In case you haven’t seen this gem, it’s a beautifully-cast film about the redemptive quality and staying power of love. Until I saw it, I wasn’t a fan of the word “hope.” I supposed the concept of hope to be a sort of weak, last-ditch effort to keep on keeping on despite the odds, more of a wishing in a whiney voice that things will work out . . . please, please, pleeze. Am I conceding that a movie changed my perspective on a word that has offered untold generations of mankind a ray of sunshine in the darkness, a reason to get out of bed in the morning, or a last ravel of rope to hang on to? I don’t think so, but watching it may certainly have initiated my acceptance process.
Hope plus courage allowed Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel – and many other Holocaust concentration camp survivors – the fortitude to stay alive amid horrendous conditions, and go on to inspire millions of people with his story.
“Hope,” says Wiesel, “is the memory of the future.”
Initially, I found that concept a bit tough to wrap my mind around. What he meant by “the memory of the future” is knowing that something is coming, something that is better than you’ve ever experienced, something
that will make everything right. We must have that trust in knowledge in order to embrace hope. So during tough times, we have to remember and think about – and help friends in the same boat remember and think about – those times we and they have come through hardships by our own resilience. In this way we can regain our power, strength and peace . . . through belief in past experience, and through hope in future experience. These times have evolved into a fascinating stew, roiling seemingly unchecked with a global pandemic, racial unrest, political divisiveness, environmental fragility, and global warming. Indigestion can easily arise from this stew in the form of freeform fear.
I’ve stopped counting the numbers of individuals I’ve talked to who admit to dealing with fear on a daily basis that originates outside their own families and day-to-days. I say “fascinating” when looking at the world, not from the viewpoint of man enmeshed in the planet’s troubles, but from a higher perspective. Because I’m human, I definitely get snagged in those freaky issues from time to time. But these days, I find that hope can be a great addition to a spiritual tool belt and can bring a measure of comfort in trying times.
Among the many reasons I’m grateful for having journeyed the earth for a number of years – besides the AARP Bulletin, of course – are: that aforementioned higher perspec-
tive and the enlightened individuals who impart their wisdom for all to hear about seeking the higher good in every-day situations.
One of those, whose book I stumbled across years ago, is Dr. Bernie Siegal, now-retired pediatric surgeon and author of the bestseller, Love, Medicine and Miracles. The much-embraced book promotes patient empowerment, and the choice to live fully and die in peace.
In the early 1980s an out-of-town boyfriend who was visiting me had to have an emergency appendectomy. His appendix had burst, and things were nip-and-tuck there for a few days. I was, of course, distraught. Oddly enough, much more so than he. Turns out that his incentive to pull through was not my loving care and concern, but that of a new girlfriend in his New York stomping grounds. But that’s another story.
The positive that came from the incident for me was that a kind ER nurse put a copy of Bernie’s book in my hands, and I read it in a day, cover to cover. What I gleaned from his theories was that a patient’s – and thusly, a person’s – positive attitude and a strong support system of loving friends and family can contribute big-time to his or her healing and/ or acceptance of dying. It’s all about love . . . and about hope. In the midst of a pandemic seems a good time to revisit his wisdom, which holds true to this day.
A brilliant, caring physician, my stepfather said that one of the most difficult parts of his practice was trying to convince the family of an aged, ailing grandparent to let them go and die in peace, instead of begging them to “hang on” for the family, despite the odds. “It’s such a selfish request from loved ones,” he said, “because when a body is completely worn out, the gift to the dying person is to assure them it’s okay to go ahead and cross over, to put an end to their suffering here on earth.”
I only wish that I had an answer for the multitude of grieving folks who’ve lost loved ones to Covid without being with them to give them that assurance and to at least say good-bye. How awfully sad to not even have had the comfort of a funeral for closure or loving embraces from friends and family.
All I can offer is hope, in its strongest sense. And what I know from experience is that it’s nigh impossible to dredge up a ray of hope if you’re soul-deep sad, if you’re freak-
WHOLLY HOLISTICS
by Katherine Tandy Brown
ing out about an issue over which you have no control, or if you’re filled head-to-toe with anger and/or fear. So if any of those emotions are standing between you and hope, I have a suggestion borrowed from Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist’s Way, the goto book on inspiring your own creativity, which to date has sold nearly four million copies.
One of the exercises she recommends is called Morning Pages, three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. You can’t do this exercise wrong, as long as you write by hand and in the morning. Evening pages don’t work, as they become reflective on a day you’ve already experienced and you have no power to change. Write about anything and everything. Whatever’s on your mind. And don’t share these missives with anyone. Period. They’re yours and only yours.
“Morning Pages empower us and give us clarity, helping us to find choice points in the day,” says Cameron.
During this time of enforced solitude, many of us have become more introspective, and these pages can help channel those inward thoughts. Maybe you feel trapped, isolated and alone. Maybe your beliefs about yourself, the world and your place in it are changing. Write all those thoughts in Morning Pages.
As an instructor, I love assigning home work. Yours is to find a notebook or journal that makes you smile. Gather an array of pens, perhaps with colored inks. Then write Morning Pages for two weeks every single morning. Develop the habit. First thing when you roll out of bed. Yes, caffeine in hand is fine. But write no matter what. I guarantee your perspective will rise, as will your attitude, as will your outlook on life.
And see if hope doesn’t emerge. After all, you know, hope never sinks. It floats.
Beaufort Inn Announces 1st of 6 Carolina Healthcare Heroes
The Beaufort Inn, a 48-room Boutique Hotel in Historic Downtown Beaufort, SC has teamed up with area businesses to award a total of six (6) Carolina Healthcare Heroes with a relaxing retreat in Beaufort, SC, where Southern Living has deemed “The Best Small Town In the South”.
Included in each vacation giveaway is a 2-Night stay at The Beaufort Inn, a $50 Gift Certificate to Bang’s Salon & Spa, a $25 Gift Certificate for Breakfast or Lunch at Blackstone’s, a $100 Gift Certificate to Saltus River Grill for Dinner, and a Carriage Tour for two provided by Southern Rose Buggy Tours.
The Beaufort Inn announces Michelle Green as the first winner of the Carolina Healthcare Hero Contest. Michelle works at Beaufort Memorial Hospital as a Nursing Assistant and has worked there for 11 years. She has been a Nursing Assistant for over 20 years. Michelle also works as a hospice home health provider for Tide -
water Hospice. She started working for Tidewater after her mom passed because they took great care of her mother.
The Beaufort Inn will be randomly choosing one winner each week for the next 5 weeks (ending August 21). Submissions are being accepted up to August 11th. Once the recipients confirm their nomination, The Beaufort Inn will be announcing the winner’s on social media.
Any Healthcare worker in North Carolina or South Carolina can be eligible to win. Nominations are to be submitted on The Beaufort Inn’s website on or before August 11th and 6 random winners will be chosen by The Beaufort Inn. The website to submit nominations or for additional information please visit www.beaufortinn. com/Carolina-healthcare-heroes Winners will be able to redeem their vacation within 1-year from the time the winner is announced. Certain terms and conditions apply.
Coffee & Cooking 101
On July 22nd, I taught my very first virtual cooking class for the University of South Carolina Beaufort's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Hosted by USCB on Zoom from my kitchen on Lady's Island, the class of 92 students was very well socially distanced while still being able to interact with the hosts and the presenter. My dear friend, local photographer Susan DeLoach, helped me pull off the presentation. Susan was able to rig my iPad on a rolling stand to follow me around the kitchen so that I could demonstrate the recipes and show the final delicious results. We had such a good time! Evidently, the participants did too. Susan and I have been invited to teach another virtual cooking class on September 30th. Please join us! For more information, call Erica Martin at OLLI. The recipes this week are the three offerings that were shared during our recent presentation. Happy Cooking!
MUSHROOM FRENCH BREAD PIZZA WITH WHITE TRUFFLE OIL
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound sliced mushrooms (baby bella, button or canned)
Dash ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 (14-ounce) loaf French Bread
½ cup jarred Alfredo sauce
1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
White truffle oil, to drizzle
Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Drain on paper towels, if needed. Preheat
oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Split French bread loaf lengthwise and place on prepared baking sheet. Spread ¼ cup Alfredo sauce on each piece of bread. Add cooked mushrooms to bread. Top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Remove French bread pizzas from oven and place on a large cutting board. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley and drizzle with white truffle oil. Cut each pizza into 8 slices, 16 slices total. Serves 8 people.
KALE AND ARUGULA SALAD WITH APPLES AND BLUEBERRIES
For the vinaigrette:
¼
2
For the salad:
4 cups kale
3 cups arugula
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
½ fennel bulb, thinly sliced
½ cup fresh blueberries
By Debbi Covington
½ red delicious apple, thinly sliced 1/3 cup fresh bocconcini (baby mozzarella cheese balls)
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted Place the vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar
with a tight fitting lid. Shake to mix well. Remove tough stems from kale, roughly chop and place in a large bowl. Add arugula and toss to mix. Add red onion, sliced fennel, blueberries, sliced apple and bocconcini. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to mix. Garnish with toasted pine nuts. Serves 4 to 6.
PINEAPPLE-COCONUT MARTINI
½ cup coconut vodka
6 ounces pineapple juice
Juice of ½ lime
Thinly sliced lime, to garnish Fill a martini shaker with ice. Add coconut vodka, pineapple juice and juice of ½ lime. Shake to mix well. Pour into martini glasses. Garnish with a slice of lime. Serves 2.
A Willow Point Story
Chapter 33: Spring Island
“This is a work of fiction, However, with a single exception (and as outrageous as some of them may sound) all the incidents described here really happened” . . . Thus begins the Author’s Note introducing The Chronicles of Willow Point, a new novel by Beaufort’s E.T. “Tommy” Baysden. The following is an excerpt from that novel.
Mack returned from the Palmetto Bluff adventure strangely revitalized. It was his first time away from Willow Point since their trip to Bell Hall and he had been fascinated by the hog hunt, if a little unnerved. There had always been feral pigs on Willow Point, but Bee Taylor kept them under control by trapping. And he’d certainly never seen anything like those dogs!
The Pinckneys’ lives now flowed like the
Tulifinny – dazzling, unhurried days cooled by the early fall breezes that left the land fragrant from the autumn high tides. They hosted dove shoots on fields of mowed corn and sunflowers, the little grey rockets assaulting the food plots like Kamikazes on a death flight. Birds so small you ate only the breast, but what an epicurean delight they were!
Mack and Liz spent quality time with the kids, Rob’s symptoms now melting away as if from some sort of alchemy, the other two growing like weeds, exploring woods and waters, Liz occasionally taking them to the Breeze Theater, Beaufort’s only, for the Saturday matinee. Speckled Trout were biting in the river and even little Fran got into the fun of catching the delicious “specks.”
On one such bucolic, unscripted fall day, Mack decided to take the boat over to Spring
LIfting Thought Above the Storm
Island and have lunch with Gordon Mobley.
“We’re doin ‘Smoke in the Hole!’” Gordon had announced when he called to invite Mack. That was something to get excited about.
Both the island itself and Gordon, who served as its manager for many years, were fixtures of unsurpassed uniqueness, not only in the Lowcountry, but anywhere you’d care to look.
The island, named for the numerous freshwater springs that dotted its perimeter, was
Paid Advertorial by The Christian Science Society of Beaufort
Here in California we often have to contend with bouts of drought, intense El Nino conditions, unwanted flooding, mudslides, fires, earthquakes, and Pacific hurricanes.
I know many places in the world suffer from a similar imbalance in nature. When I become aware of extreme weather events, I want to do more than worry or feel sorry for those caught up in these conditions. I want to help, and the most immediate help I can give is prayer, whether I am in a position to offer any other form of help or not. I often pray for the safety and harmony of all those that might be affected by weather. I’ve learned to trust that those prayers are providing safety for those affected by the weather, and in addition, they often do lead to some type of action on my part.
When there was a large fire threatening the city I was living in, I was praying for our safety and wondering how I might alleviate the threat. As soon as I asked this question in my prayers, I received a phone call from a friend who asked me to join with several others in helping to build a firebreak on a hillside. In another instance when my city was threatened with flooding, I prayed much in the same way, and my dad and I were directed to fill sandbags for a friend whose home would have otherwise been taken by water.
In both those cases, I started by acknowledging God and His creation as good. In this description of creation: “God saw
every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good”, (Genesis 1:31). “Very good” certainly can’t become out of balance by too little sustenance or too few resources. That “good” includes the safety of all He has created. I pray to know that the power of God is here to save, not destroy. Prayer helps me lift my thought above the destructive, material sense of things to the spiritual truth of perfect being that Jesus came to demonstrate.
3,000 acres of lush Lowcountry jungle surrounding massive parallel fields farmed by the colonial cotton planter George Edwards in 1801. Before that, the Indian trader John Cochran had built a mercantile on the banks of the Little Checheesee with a franchise from the Crown, in 1706. It is said he was killed by the Yemassee and the island fell to his brother James. As late as the 1920s, Colonel William Copp raised cattle on the Colleton River at the island’s south end.
The springs were a result of the island’s almost freakish elevation, due somehow to its formation in the Pleistocene Epoch, eons before all the surrounding land. It resulted in an honest-to-God waterfall near the island’s eastern shore, and the largest forest of dwarf live oaks known anywhere north of Louisiana. (Continued on next page.)
A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE
sciousness” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 332). I pray to hear that Christ message and find those prayers help me to lift my thought above the storm or discord and feel the presence of God. I think of the answers that come as a result of those prayers as evidence of the operation of the Christ power in my life.
Jesus’ understanding of God and the power of the Christ is what enabled him to provide security and safety for others. He was able to overcome the sense of “too much” or “too little” throughout his earthly career. In one instance when there was too little food for the multitudes on the hill, Jesus was able to feed them with just a few fishes and some bread (Matthew 15:32-39). Jesus knew the power of his Father and knew that power could bring balance and harmony to our human situations that claim we’re at the mercy of “too much” or “too little.” Jesus saved and uplifted those that needed saving by teaching and demonstrating God’s saving power.
In following Jesus’ teachings today, I strive to recognize the same power of the Christ that is always present, providing us with whatever we need for our safety and supply, even today. The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy describes the Christ as “the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human con-
There’s a hymn I sometimes pray with that assures me of God’s protecting power. It helps me to trust that my prayers have the power to protect and support all those who are threatened by or are suffering from the effects of serious weather conditions and to see God’s loving presence:
In heavenly Love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?
Anna L. Waring Christian Science Hymnal, No.
148 – By Timothy Myers
Author E.T. “Tommy” Baysden
(From previous page.)
When Spring Island was purchased by Elisa Walker, Jr. and his wife Lucile in 1964, it had been transformed into a hunter’s paradise. Walker, a Wall Street financier and passionate sportsman, turned this jewel of nature into a magnificent outdoor cathedral, complete with a twelve foot statue of St. Frances of Assisi, created by a Brooklyn sculptor. Walker preserved the ruins of George Edward’s tabby mansion overlooking the Checheesee and created from the planter’s demised cotton fields one of the finest quail hunting venues in the South – an area already home to some of the world’s best hunting.
To turn Spring Island into a classic shooting plantation, Walker turned to Gordon Mobley, a young Georgian from a family of horse breeders and traders, bird dog trainers and fieldtrial champions. And what a family they were! With 13 kids, including a solitary girl, the Mobley’s were legendary throughout the region for their outsize personalities and wild and woolly ways. But they were, to a person, extremely bright and hard working – in a class by themselves. Some were outrageously witty and all had been bred, from years of managing dogs and horses for the wealthy, to be consummate hosts. All of them could cook, all were great storytellers, all could fix anything.
They were part of a vanishing breed of outdoor generalists who helped to shape the country – the strong men and women who tamed the wilderness and opened the American West. They had a God-given gift for living off the land. They were part of the backbone of America.
Gordon’s “Smoke in the Hole” was a totally illogical method of cooking meat, but the result, which nobody could understand, was heavenly. It was typical of the off-the wall creativity often found among the Mobley’s. Into a four-foot hole in the loamy soil, about thirty inches in diameter, a hardwood fire was built and allowed to burn down to the hottest possible coals. Into the hole was lowered an entire top sirloin, a whole turkey, a leg of lamb, and three racks of pork ribs – all wrapped in several layers of tin foil and bound by ropes. The hole was then covered with a piece of flat plywood, covered in turn by a foot of sand. No smoke would escape out the top!
With no air getting out, it stood to reason that neither was any getting in to sustain the fire. But Gordon had taken that into account. Into a one inch diameter plastic pipe, inserted into the hole on the diagonal from about three feet away, James Mitchell blew a hair dryer at high volume, keeping the coals burning to maximum effect.
During the cooking, Gordon led a ceremonial dance around the hole with the diners holding hands and whooping like Indians. Finally, based on some internal clock known only to him, the plywood was removed and the foil-wrapped bundles were lifted into the open air. There they were fallen upon by black and white alike, accompanied only by grocery store loaf bread and a big pot of Lowcountry Red Rice somebody had prepared, all fueled by the “pony” bottles of Miller Beer that became the island’s unofficial symbol. Nobody ever understood the alchemy that created such succulent food from “Smoke in the Hole.” The moisture in the rich soil? The high pressure of the trapped
smoke, fueled by the hair dryer? Nobody ever knew. But all agreed that Gordon Mobley had created culinary history, albeit goofy, right there on Spring Island, cooking beneath the ground!
E.T. Baysden has spent most of the last half century in the SC Lowcountry, where he served as chief marketing officer for Sea Pines Resort, Callawassie Island, Spring Island, Oldfield Club, and Palmetto Bluff. He is also the author of The Rock Jaw Ladies Club: A Memoir of the Other Vietnam. He is a fly fisherman, an Episcopalian, and an avid Tar Heels fan. To learn more about his latest novel, visit www.baysdenbooks.com
Beaufort Art Association Gallery Mon-Sat 10am to 5pm ~ Sunday 12:30-4:30pm
The World Through My Brush
by Wyn Foland
thru August 29th
War of the Weeds
White flag. I surrender. I have expended my last vestige of energy on those cruel invaders. How disheartening it is to finish weeding a bed, only to find that where I started is already under siege. I’m not alone. All of my gardening friends are similarly afflicted. Our gardening conversations (by phone, of course) consist mostly of griping about weeds. The answer to “Did I tell you about_xxx_weed” is almost always “Yes,” because we’ve nattered the subject to death. We’re all weary of weeds.
Can anything be done about them?
Well, probably not. The soil seed bank is the only bank around that still pays more than minimal interest and dividends. Your savings account may languish, almost inactive, while the soil seed bank expands exponentially. Many weed seeds are viable for 40 years or more, and since you get a new crop every year, those 40 years stretch into eternity. Depressing, isn’t it?
Have you ever heard the phrase “Money makes money and the money money makes makes money”? Add a few commas and it makes sense. Now, just replace the word ‘money’ with ‘weed seeds.’ Didya’ get it?
Most horticultural advisers encourage IPM “Integrated Pest Management,” so why can’t they come up with an IWM “Integrated Weed Management” program? Well, guess what! They have. But it’s designed for crops, not for our treasured flower beds.
We all know what to do; remove weeds before they set seeds, and use mulch to inhibit germination. Hah! Some weeds, like Chamberbitter, can set seeds when they’re only and inch or two
high, and they can get that high in a day. Mulch is always good, but if there is a weed in the neighborhood, the seeds will be blown into the mulch and go to town. I’ve even transferred all the plants I want to keep to a ‘nursery’, while I laid down two layers of cardboard on the bare bed. I soaked the cardboard and added about 3 inches of new soil, and carefully dug through the cardboard and replanted the plants and added mulch. It took less than a week for weeds to homestead there.
A weed is just a plant in the wrong place. Right? Margot Rochester, the late gardening writer said something like, “If you can’t change the garden, change the gardener.” So I am going to try to change my gardening attitude and look at weeds as wonderful additions to my garden.
Just look at those sweet little leaves of Chamberbitter. They make a tasty and tangy addition to salads. A delightful filler for bouquets. If you don’t mind all the seeds that drop on your tablecloth.
All parts of Florida Betony are useful. You can make tea from the dried leaves, and the roots are edible tubers. Some call it the Florida Radish. If you’re looking for a pretty pink pickle, add some beet juice to the brine you use for the roots. I can guarantee that no one will know what they are when you serve them.
Enter Purslane. The darling of French chefs. This spreading succulent is kin to the common Moss Rose, whose seeds are edible, but in this case, we use the leaves. Tastes a little sour, kinda’ like sorrel. Can be used like spinach; raw or cooked. It actually has more Omega 3 fatty acids than any other plant source in the world, and it’s absolutely loaded with vitamins. Who knew?
Oxalis stricta. Wood Sorrel. This is the one with the tiny yellow flowers. The leaves have a lemony taste, so prepare to pucker up. These seem to be inordinately fond of the soil in my potted plants.
Chickweed is a cool season plant, found everywhere in spring. It’s quite popular in green ‘smoothies.’ I guess that depends on your definition of popular, though. It grows in clumps, and the entire clump is harvested. Also good as a salad green.
That #%#& Smilax. This chameleon-like vine can take lots of forms, and it’s almost impossible to eradicate once it gets a foothold. However, it does have a few redeeming qualities. Really?? The green shoots are sometimes called Florida Green Beans,
and are said to taste like asparagus. I’ve actually seen Laura Lee pop a few in her mouth. They can be eaten raw or cooked. The roots can be used like almost any edible tuber; boiled, roasted or baked.
Sweet Vi-o-lets . . . sweeter than the roses. I look forward every spring to the profusion of Johnny Jump Ups and wild violas that pop up everywhere in my gardens and lawn. Of all the so-called weeds, this is the only one I welcome into my garden. The little flowers make very pretty decorations on any iced pastry. A cupcake with a few violets on the icing is sooo pretty for teas and little girls’ parties. Dandelions. Everybody has dandelions. What kid hasn’t plucked a dandelion and blown the seed pod away? Between the kids and the wind, no wonder they’re so profuse. If it didn’t have such a bad rep, it could even be considered pretty. Dandelion wine, popular with the Victorians, is actually a fermented tea;
By Sandra Educate
more of a cordial than a wine,– usually associated with little old ladies sitting on antimacassar covered chairs, sipping it from tiny glasses. Dollar-weed would be a great garden plant if it weren’t so enthusiastic. It looks like a miniature Farfugium. It has even been suggested to use it in place of turf for shady and moist areas. No mowing. You can use the leaves for salad, but avoid the stems; they’re bitter and stringy.
Now here is the big caveat. Don’t ever eat, or even taste, anything you find growing in your garden or in the wild without knowing exactly what it is. Remember the mystery writers’ favorite, the Angel of Death mushroom?? One bite and you’re a goner. So . . . have I convinced you that weeds are wonderful? No? Me, either. It would take a lot more than this article change my mind. Still, it’s good to know that in these troubled times, if our food supply chain is interrupted, we could, without any care or tending, have a bountiful crop of weeds.
Lucky us.
Sandra Educate is active in the local Master Gardeners Association and the Beaufort Garden Club, and she produces the annual Lunch and Learn series at the Port Royal Farmers Market. She loves strange and unusual plants and hates weeds. Sandra won’t give away her age, but takes her inspiration from Thomas Jefferson, who said, "though an old man, I am but a young gardener."
Florida Betony Root
Dandelion
Classifieds Classifieds
TO RENT or OWN
IN THE HEART OF BEAUFORT. Whether you're vacationing, moving to Beaufort, or working for an extended period, the suites at Magnolia Court are your ideal home away from home. Choose from our 1- and 2- BR apartments in our Tabby Townhome or our 3-BR Craftsman Cottage next-door. Weekly & Monthly rates. https:// MagnoliaCourtSuites.com. Call 843-812-5175
FRANCE OR ITALY IN 2020? Locally-owned vacation rentals in villages near Bordeaux, France and Montalcino, Italy. Romantic, historic places, close to vineyards, walk to restaurants and shops. Visit www.cozyholidayrentals.com for photos and pricing or call 401-862-2377.
FURNISHED LUXURY APT Heart of downtown Beaufort. 2BR, 2BA, W/D, Housewares. $600/ wk. $2200/mo. 522-9003.
CLASSES & SEMINARS
SCREENWRITERS CALL FOR MEMBERS Lowcountry Screenwriters is a new group in Beaufort looking for committed individuals with either screenwriting experience, prior film or prose experience, or have an interest in film writing. Not a class, but a workshop to critique and provide feedback to the group. For interest in attending email a little about yourself. emilydfj@gmail.com bakerjef@hotmail.com
FRIDAY SOCIAL DANCES The Hilton Head Carolina Shag Club hosts Friday dances from 6-9:30 pm at Dolphin Head Golf Club, 59 High Bluff Rd, Hilton Head Plantation. Open to the public. Shag, ballroom, swing, country, or line. Singles welcome. Cash bar and light dinners available. $5 floor fee. HHICSC also teaches beginner Shag lessons Tuesday nights. www.hiltonheadshagclub.com, or www.facebook.com/HHICSC
STAINED GLASS CLASSES IN BEAUFORT Pinto Bean Studio forming morning, afternoon and evening classes for adults 18 or older. Beginning & advanced classes. Marty Nash at 614-260-6668 or pintobeanstudio@hotmail.com
ART LEAGUE OF HH ACADEMY KIDS CLASSES Tuesdays, 9/12-9/26. Ages 5-10, 4:30-6pm; Ages 11+, 6:30-8pm. $40 per child/session. Debi West has 24 years teaching art to children and has national leadership advocating for art education.
POTTERY CLASSES IN BEAUFORT McSweeney Clay Studio is offering morning, afternoon and evening classes for children and adults. Pottery dates and parties available as well. Classes are on going. Beginner or advanced welcome. mcsweeneyclaystudio.com or call 843-694-2049.
LOWCOUNTRY SHAGGERS Mondays at the Moose Lodge, 350 Broad River Blvd. 6-9pm. Carolina Shag
Lessons with Tommy & Sheri O'Brien and others. Occasional Ballroom Dance and once a month a Line Dance is taught. Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced lessons. Open dancing after lessons. Visit www.lowcountryshaggers.com or lowcountryshaggers@aol.com
BEAUFORT ART ASSOCIATION offers classes for artists at all levels. For info visit www.beaufortartassociation.com. or 913 Bay St.
WEDNESDAYS, BEAUFORT SHAG CLUB founded '02, meets Wed evenings at AMVETS on Ribaut Rd., Port Royal. Free lessons to members. The club is an ACSC, SOS, and the National Fastdance Association member. For info visit www.beaufortshagclub.com
COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for HELP of Beaufort, 1810 Ribaut Road. Looking for committed volunteers for clothes sorting, pantry help, front desk help and Mobile Meals drivers. We are open M-F from 9:30-12:30, Mobile Meals delivers to home bound seniors 5 days/ week, routes takes about 30-45 mins. Email Lori at helpbeaufort@gmail.com, or call 843-524-1223, or stop in and fill out an application.
SNOWBIRDS! Wondering what to do with unopened, non-perishable food items at the end of your stay? Drop them off at the YMCA and we’ll deliver them to a local food bank on your behalf. Conveniently located in Port Royal at; 1801 Richmond Ave., 843-522-9622, beaufort-jasperymca.org
PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP - First Thursday of the month at Beaufort Memorial LifeFit Wellness Center, from 1:30-2:45pm, 900 Ribaut Rd. Beaufort. We are individuals with Parkinson’s care partners of those with Parkinson’s, and individuals or companies providing products or services for Parkinson’s patients. For more info: Rick Ostrander at pdawaresc@gmail.com or Facebook at Parkinson’s Support Group Of Beaufort SC Port Royal & Lady’s Island.
US COAST GUARD AUXILIARY, Flotilla 07-10-01, Port Royal Sound, a uniformed, all volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard. We conduct safety patrols, assist search & rescue, teach boat safety, conduct free vessel safety checks and other boating activities. Monthly meetings are open to all and held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Port Royal Sound Foundation classroom at 7pm. For info call Flotilla Commander Pattie McGowan (706-6336192) and visit us on Facebook - USCGA Beaufort.
PASTEL ART CLASSES IN BEAUFORT now forming by artist Randall Messina. Beginner to advanced. Max class size 5 students. At Atelier on Bay, 203 West Street. Supplies provided. Classes fill quickly so call or email to reserve. One on one classes also available. 843-321-3281 or e-mail: randallmessina@gmail.com
PORT ROYAL MUSEUM now open to the public by The Historic Port Royal Foundation every Saturday at 1634 Paris Ave., from 10 - 2 or upon request. New exhibits added weekly; historian on hand 10 - 12. Free admission! Call 843-524-4333 or email unionchurch1004@gmail.com to request a special opening.
or email:
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for a few hours each week at St. Francis Thrift Shop. Open Tuesday thru Saturday. Call 843-689-6563 or come in to speak with Mr. Hal. Definitely shop.
COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE Safe & effective centuries old healing system treats and prevents a wide range of health-related conditions. Experience individualized treatment in a peaceful group setting. Sliding scale fee. Beaufort Acupuncture, 12 Fairfield Rd, 5B, Lady’s Island. For info and to schedule: (843) 694-0050 or www.BeaufortAcupuncture.com
SECOND HELPINGS seeking Day Captains and other volunteers to crew our trucks distributing food to local charities. Flexible schedule at your convenience. Email officeadmin@secondhelpingslc.org
AGAPE HOSPICE seeks volunteers to spend time bringing joy to our patients and families during a difficult time. Activities include playing music, baking, arts and crafts, pet therapy, manicures, listening to stories, holding hands, etc. Provide companionship to the elderly who often feel lonely and unappreciated. Contact Ashlee Powers at 843592-8453 or apowers@agapehospice.com
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for HELP of Beaufort. Come join the team providing food, mobile meals, clothing and emergency financial assistance to those in need in our community. Open Mon-Fri 9:30-12:30. 2 Ice House Rd., Beaufort. Call or email Jennifer 843-524-1223 or info@helpofbeaufort.org
TIDEWATER HOSPICE SUPPORT GROUP: Last Wed. and Thurs. of the month. Weds. 10-11am at Sun City; Thurs. 12-1pm Brookdale Hilton Head Ct., Hilton Head; for those who provide physical, emotional or practical support to a family member or friend. Jodi Johnson, LMSW. Bereavement Group: 5-6 pm., Thursdays, 10 Buckingham Plantation Drive, Suite A, Bluffton; for those who have experienced a loss and would like support and info associated with grief and bereavement. Corrie VanDyke, LMSW or Marie James, MA. 843-757-9388
THE SANTA ELENA HISTORY CENTER in downtown Beaufort hosts regular lectures, presentations, exhibits and programs about history, culture, science and archaeology. For more info visit www. Santa-Elena.org or 843-379-1550.
INTERESTED IN HEALTHY EATING? Second
Helpings, of Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties, seeks committee members and chairperson for Healthy Food Program. Funding available to procure fresh produce and protein for the 60 food pantries and soup kitchens served by Second Helpings. Contact Exec. Dir. Lili Coleman, 843-6893616 or execdirector@secondhelpingslc.org
BORN TO READ working for early childhood literacy, needs volunteers to deliver books and materials to new mothers at Coastal Community Hosp., HH Hosp., and BMH. Visits are from 10am – noon. More info at borntoread.org. Interested volunteers call 843-379-3350.
ALZHEIMER’S FAMILY SERVICES OF GREATER BEAUFORT, Support groups and Respite Pro-
grams: Caregiver - Weds., 12:30pm, Helena Place Assisted Living, 1624 Paris Ave., Port Royal; Living with Alzheimer's - for those diagnosed and still in early stages - Mondays 1pm, Parsons Parlor, Carteret Street Methodist Church, 408 Carteret, Beaufort; Social Day Program- 10am-1:45pm $40 Day Fee, Mon. & Wed., Port Royal United Methodist, 1602 Columbia Ave., Port Royal, Weds. at Cornerstone Christian Church, 2301 First Blvd., Beaufort; In Home - Respite Aides available for 2 hr. minimum, $12-$24 sliding scale; Maintain Your Brain2nd & 4th Thursday, 10-11:30am, $10/person, $15 couple, Port Royal United Methodist, 1602 Columbia Ave., Port Royal; Free Memory Screenings available. (843) 521-9190 or (843) 263-2062.
THRESHOLD SINGERS OF THE LOWCOUNTRY
A choir to ease and comfort people at bedside by offering gentle voices and sacred songs, with sincere kindness. Two to four singers go to bedside when asked and sing a cappella and in harmony. Practice at St. John's Lutheran Church the 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month from 2:304:00 pm. Our songs are our gift of service for no charge. Call Pat Keown at 843-476-6073 to either join or ask us to sing for a loved one.
THE LITERACY CENTER is seeking volunteers to tutor adults in reading, writing, math and ESL. Students hope to acquire skills to pursue life goals, support families, and contribute to our community. Daytime and evenings in Bluffton and HHI. Call 843-815-6616 (Bluffton); 843-681-6655 (HHI). No teaching, tutoring or other language knowledge necessary. www.theliteracycenter.org
THE SANDALWOOD COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY. Volunteer-based, non-profit provides groceries, clothing and basic needs items to ANYONE in need. Open Tues & Fri 11:30am-1pm. Located at 114 Beach City Rd., Hilton Head. Donations of food and funds are needed. For info contact Rev. Dr. Nannette Pierson at 843-715-3583 or email sandalwoodpantry@gmail.com
PARRIS ISLAND MUSEUM. The legacy of the Marine Corps and the history of the Port Royal region. Thousands of artifacts, images, and other materials illustrate the stories in exhibit galleries from Native American to modern Marines. FREE admission. Mon-Sat 10am4:30pm and 8am on Family Graduation Days. Closed New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Info at parrisislandmuseum.com or 843-228-2166.
MEDICAL SERVICES OF AMERICA SEEKS VOLUNTEERS - Volunteers needed to provide companionship or skills like yard work, music, and crafts to patients and their families or assist in the office with admin tasks. Volunteers needed in Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties. For info contact 843-322-0063
CHRIST CENTERED RECOVERY MEETINGS Join Shell Point Baptist Church Saturdays for “Celebrate Recovery”, addressing life’s problems and looking to scripture for solutions. Meal at 6pm; Praise and Worship at 6:30pm followed by Small Groups at 7:15pm. 871 Parris Island Gateway, Beaufort. Info at 843-592-1046.
Annual Sea Island Spirit Writers Short Story Contest
Writers, Far and Wide – Here’s a chance to get paid for writing! Sea Island Spirit Writers’ critique group is again sponsoring a short story contest open to all writers 18 years old and up. The phrase “torn scraps of paper . . . ” must appear in your story of 750 words or less. Your story could net you $100 for first place, $50 for second place, or $25 for third, and publication in Lowcountry Weekly.
THE RULES ARE SIMPLE:
• Entry fee is $10 per story. Only one entry per person please.
• All entries must include your name, address, email address and phone contact.
• Entries must be received by Friday, September 25th.
• Entries cannot have been previously published. We want new, fresh fiction.
• Digital entries only please. Submit editor@ lcweekly.com by email with “Short Story Contest” in the subject line.
Short Story Contest
HILTON HEAD FORECLOSURES & VACATION VILLAS with Onsite Beach Access. Starting at $165,000! Hilton Head Island Realty. Cheryl Morgan. 843-298-5264 or www.homesonhhi.com HILTON HEAD ISLAND
PALMETTO SHORES PROPERTY
Practical & Professional Management Services For Your Home or Community. Many Rentals Available! 843-525-1677 • 2201 Boundary St. Ste. 101, Beaufort www.PalmettoShores.com
• Payment may be made either by check or credit card. To pay by credit card, call Lowcountry Weekly at 843-522-0418. To pay by check, make checks out to “Lowcountry Weekly”, with “Short Story Contest” in the memo line. Mail to Lowcountry Weekly, 106 West Street Extension, Beaufort SC 29902.
• Winners will be published in the October 14th issue of Lowcountry Weekly.
Garrison Keillor once said, “Nothing bad ever happens to a writer. It’s all material.” So, whether you choose to embellish an actual event or to make up a whole new story, get those creative juices flowing and send us your best!
Charles Street Gallery & frame shop presents
914 Charles Street in downtown Beaufort • 521-9054 www.thecharlesstreetgallery.com
Phone: (843) 524-4000 • Fax: (843) 524-4006 Over Fifteen Years Experience
2 Professional Village Circle, Beaufort, SC 29907
Derek C. Gilbert - derek@dcgilbert.com
Melissa R. Wicker - melissa@dcgilbert.com
Alisha Doud - alisha@dcgilbert.com
Bonnie Hart - bonnie@dcgilbert.com
• Bobbi Tealey - bobbi@dcgilbert.com
• Daun Schouten - daun@dcgilbert.com
Dawn Shipsey - dawn@dcgilbert.com • Emily Dixon - emily@dcgilbert.com
Joy McConnell - joy@dcgilbert.com • Kathy Crowley - kathy@dcgilbert.com
BEAUFORT/PORT ROYAL
Foolish Frog, 846 Sea Island Pkwy, St. Helena Island. (843) 838-9300. thefoolishfrog.com
Luther’s Rare & Well Done, 910 Bay Street. (843) 521-1888 or www.luthersrareandwelldone.com
Q on Bay, 822 Bay St, Beaufort. (843) 524-7771 or www.qonbay.com
Rosie O’Gradys Irish Pub, in Beaufort Town center adjacent K-Mart. Karaoke Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays with Eric and the Girls9pm. Open daily for Rock N Roll Lunch 11:30am. Best Reubens, Phillys, Fish & Chips and Now a Great Shrimp Burger. (843) 379-7676 or Rosie O'Grady's on Facebook.
Saltus River Grill, 802 Bay St, Beaufort. (843) 379-3474 or www.saltusrivergrill.com
BLUFFTON/HILTON HEAD
Big Bamboo, Coligny Plaza. (843) 686-3443 or www.bigbamboocafe.com
Captain Woody’s, 6 Target Rd., Hilton Head or 17 State of Mind St., Bluffton. www. captainwoodys.com
The Jazz Corner, Village at Wexf1ord, Hilton Head. Saturdays - Closed. 8/5 Quiana Parler with the Lavon Stevens Trio, 8/7 Reggie Deas & Deas Guys honor Sam Cooke, Brook Benton, Otis Redding, and more, 8/12 Bobby Ryder, 8/14 John Brackett Quartet, 8/19 Quiana Parler with the Lavon Stevens Trio, 8/21 Edwin G. Hamilton Quartet. (843) 842-8620 or www. TheJazzCorner.com
Omni Hilton Head Ocean Front in Palmetto Dunes. Buoy Bar - HH Prime(843) 842-8000 or www.omnihotels.com
OUT OF TOWN
The Music Farm, 32 Ann Street, Charleston. 8/19 KT Tunstall, 8/25 Black Label Society; Obituary; Lord Dying. 843-577-6969 or www.musicfarm.com.
The Pour House, 1977 Maybank Hwy, Charleston. Performances on the Deck Stage until further notice. Sundays - David Grimm, Stuart White & Jonathan Lovett; Mondays - Slim S.O.U.L. and Friends; Tuesdays - Nightshades - Instrumental Improvised Jamtronica; WednesdaysGrateful Dead Wednesday with Reckoning; Thursdays - Blacknoyze. 8/7 Gino Castillo & the Cuban Cowboys, 8/8 Interstellar Echoes - Pink Floyd tribute, 8/9 WOMZ, 8/13 Fusion Jonez, 8/14 & 8/15 Zach Deputy, 8/18 Sweet Baby, 8/21 Shady Recruits. (843) 571-4343 or www.charlestonpourhouse.com
Windjammer, 1008 Ocean Blvd, Isle of Palms. Thursdays - Karaoke. . (843) 8868596 or www.the-windjammer.com
Editors Note:
Events listed here may be subject to postponement or cancellation. Please check for further information.
GALLERIES/ART
Now - 8/29, The World Through My Brush, works by Wyn Foland at the Beaufort Art Association Gallery, 913 Bay St. in downtown Beaufort. Reception on Fri 7/3 from 5 to 8 pm, light refreshments will be served. Also on display will be works by other local artists who are members of the Gallery. www.beaufortartassociation.com
Now - 8/29, Jan Ross Watercolors at Art League Gallery on Hilton Head. Please check Art League's Facebook page (@ArtLeagueHiltonHead) for live events with the artist. Located mid-island inside Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head Island, 843-681-5060.
Thur 8/6, 'Art Speaks' Submission Deadline. 'Art Speaks' will be a special kickoff event at USCB Center for the Arts this fall. Artists 18 and over should submit art reflecting their creative response to the Covid 19 pandemic, through any 2D, 3D or photographic medium. Images should be submitted to bhargrove@uscb.edu by 5 pm. For more info, visit www.uscbcenterforthearts.com
9/3 - 11/2, 'Art Speaks' Exhibit at USCB Center for the Arts. www.uscbcenterforthearts.com
Wednesdays in August, Non-Objective Abstract
Painting, an online course taught by Art Cornell focusing on composition, texture and points of focus in abstract painting. 9:30am-12:30pm. Sponsored by Art League of Hilton Head. www. artleaguehhi.org
Thursdays in August, The Watercolor Method for Landscape & Still Life, an online course taught by Alexandra Sharma focused on painting intuitively, simplifying a landscape, and examining the qualities of light, perspective and volume. 9:30am12:30pm. Sponsored by Art League of Hilton Head. www.artleaguehhi.org
WRITERS & BOOK EVENTS
Now - August 2020, "Live from the Pat Conroy Literary Center" podcast on the Air Global Radio Network. Hosted by executive director Jonathan Haupt. Summer guest authors on the interview program include a pair of novelists: two-time Lillian Smith Book Award winner and finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, Anthony Grooms, author of The Vain Conversation (July 22, 7:00 pm), and Haupt’s high school classmate Laura Trentham, author of the military family-themed Heart of
a Hero series and more than 20 historical and contemporary romance novels (August 19, 7:00 pm). The podcast interviews will also be shared through the Conroy Center’s social media and email newsletter.
Now – 8/4, Pat Conroy Literary Center Online Workshops: Anthony Grooms, 'Point-Of-View: Considering Fiction’s Most Important Element' (7/28, 6-8pm); Brooke McKinney, 'Finding Structure for a Messy Life: Shaping Stories from Memory' (8/1, 6-8pm); Johnnie Bernhard, 'Fiction and the Editing Process' (8/4, 6-8pm). Each workshop is limited to 15 people. Register at https://patconroyliterarycenter.eventbrite.com
OTHER EVENTS
Saturdays, 8/8 & 8/22, Summer Night Market, an open-air shopping event with live music that features local artisans and makers from 5-9 pm, in the Southern Barrel parking lot in Buckwalter Plaza in Bluffton. The event is sponsored by Lowcountry Made, an online community and marketing organization that encourages everyone to shop local.
Saturdays, 8/22, 9/12, 10/24 and 11/21, CPR Classes at The Wardle Family YMCA, located at 1801 Richmond Ave in Port Royal. 8am-12:00 pm. Cost is $35 for this YMCA certified course and those interested need to register at the Y as space is limited and filled on a first come, first serve basis. Questions? Contact Lou Bergen, Aquatics Director to register for this class. Call the Y: 843-522-9622 or visit: beaufort-jasperymca.org
First & Third Tuesday, Beaufort Toastmasters Club meets from 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm in the Beaufort College Building, Rm. 103 (USC-Beaufort Campus), 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort. To learn more visit www.beauforttoastmastersclub.toastmastersclubs.org
First & Third Wednesday, FREE Acupuncture for Veterans – Veterans, Active Duty, Transition, Their Families and First Responders are Eligible) 46pm. Walk In Clinic. No Need to Pre-Register or Call. Nourishing Health Acupuncture and Herbs Clinic. 1214 Prince Street, Downtown Beaufort
Thursdays and some Tuesdays, Tours of the Historic Hunting Island Lighthouse sponsored by the Friends of Hunting Island. Keeper Ted and his team will tell you all about the history of the Lighthouse which was built in 1875 and is the only Lighthouse in South Carolina open to visitors. If you are at least 44 inches tall you may also climb the 167 steps to the top of the Lighthouse for a 360 degree view. Reservations are recommended by calling the Nature Center at 843-838-7437. Tours are $2 a person and park entry fees apply.
Third Thursday, TECHconnect is a monthly networking event for professionals working in and around technology. Come and join on the for the conversation at BASEcamp 500 Carteret 5:307:30pm. 843-470-3506. www.beaufortdigital.com
Thursdays, History Tours of Fort Mitchel by the Heritage Library, 10am. $12/Adult $7/Child. 843-686-6560.
1st Saturday of Every Month, Maye River Quilters meeting at Palmetto Electric Cooperative, 1 Cooperative Way, Hardeeville. Members meet at 9:30am for social exchange. The meeting starts at 10 am. We welcome new members. Please call 843-707-6034.
4th Saturday of Every Month, While Fort Fremont is closed during the construction of an Interpretive Center, the Friends of Fort Fremont is presenting historical lectures at 10am at the St. Helena Library. The first lecture will be “Bringing History to Life, Fort Fremont Dioramas" by Dennis Cannady, Master Modeler. For more information call the Library at 843-255-6487.
