SiP Magazine 2019 by SiP Magazine

SiP magazine

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND ISLE OF PALMS

Volume 5 | 2019

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INSIDE SiP FEATURES

60 | THE MAGIC OF MAH JONG Sullivan’s Island’s Pat Ilderton lovingly restored a historic 52-foot yawl. By Stratton Lawrence 66 | CAPTAIN’S LOG Waring Hills reflects on a lifetime at sea and being the last shrimper on Sullivan’s. By Delores Schweitzer 72 | COMMAND PERFORMANCE The tragic story of Osceola and his love comes to life at the Battery Gadsden Cultural Center. By Carol Antman 78 | ISLAND KEEPERS How the Sottile family’s 120-year history helped shape the Isle of Palms. By Kinsey Gidick 86 | HOPE & CHANGE For Hope on Goat founders, a backyard idea turned into a philanthropic force for local charities. By Colin McCandless

FIELD GUIDE

18 | PELICAN PALOOZA Find out why brown pelicans flock to the Lowcountry. By Jennifer Tuohy 20 | SOLVING TRASH ON ISLE OF PALMS Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew is a movement to fight island pollution By Susan Hill Smith and Katrina Limbach Wood 10 | SiP

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A Trusted & Superior Level of Dental Care! HISTORY SNAPSHOT

24 | QUOTH THE LEGEND Separating truth from fiction in Edgar Allan Poe’s time on Sullivan’s Island. By Christopher Downey 30 | HONORING OUR DOUGHBOYS On the 100th anniversary of World War I, residents commemorate the sacrifice of the islands’ soldiers. By Kinsey Gidick

ISLAND LIFE

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Explore what makes our islands spectacular places to visit and special places to live 30 | THROWING A FÊTE FOR THE FOREST Dewees Island residents celebrate Independence Day in a special way. By Kinsey Gidick 36 | FOR ALL TO SEA Our coastal environment inspires learning at Sullivan’s Island Elementary. By Susan Hill Smith 40 | ISLAND LIFE A TO Z An alphabetical look at some of the best things to do on the islands. By SiP Editors

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46 | HEART OF GLASS Using an ancient Italian technique, William Austin Norvell crafts one of a kind glass sculptures. By Jessie Hazard 50 | THE “PEARL” OF WILD DUNES Gatekeeper Pearl Mazyck has greeted Wild Dunes guests and residents for over 30 years. By Colin McCandless 56 | THE COLEMAN CURIOSITY SHOP A visit with Coleman Boulevard’s quirkiest attraction. By Marci Shore

RISING STARS

The rising tides of creators and companies new on the scene 102 | SMALL WONDER Goldbug showcases owner and jeweler Ashley Reid Martin’s original pieces. By Jessie Hazard 104 | HEATING UP Sullivan’s Island’s Susie and Jerry Callahan launch a game-changing startup. By Jennifer Tuohy 106 | SOWING THE SEEDS Karen Latsbaugh teaches kids how to grow their own lunch. By Colin McCandless 108 | NAVIGATING SUCCESS When the waters get rough, TowBoatUS-Charleston comes to the rescue. By Susan Hill Smith

SIP SCENE

After you’ve soaked up the sun, explore activities islanders enjoy in their downtime 10 | MEX 1 UNPLUGGED Semi-secret jams on Sullivan’s raised funds for philanthropy, passion, and purpose. By Stratton Lawrence 116 | T.A.C.O.S A tour of the iconic tacos across our islands. By Margaret Pilarski 118 | VIBES & VOCALS Who, what, and where of live music venues – there’s more than enough to go around. By Marci Shore 124 | PEOPLE & PLACES: OYSTER ROAST EDITION A homage to the islands’ best social events. 126 | SIP CALENDAR Your essential guide to island events. 128 | LAST LOOK

C h a r l e s t o n C o a s t V aCat i o n s .C o m Nobody knows the Charleston Coast better

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Celebrating

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EDITOR’S LETTER

ou don’t know Charleston until you’ve seen it from the water. That’s a common refrain around these parts, and our barrier islands are uniquely situated to offer the best ways to access both the deep blue ocean and the tawny marsh waters. In this issue, we explore two islanders with quintessential passions for these waters. For one it’s his life’s purpose, for the other it’s the perfect playground. In Captain’s Log, Waring Hills’ life on a shrimp boat takes us through some of Sullivan’s nautical history as we celebrate the island’s last shrimper. In The Magic of Mah Jong we journey with Pat Ilderton on his road to restoring an historic 1957 yawl to sail the proverbial seven seas. The storied boat’s maiden voyage from Asia to New England was chronicled in a 1958 issue of National Geographic. Other features in this, our fifth issue of SiP, delve into the history, both tragic and triumphant, of life here. The story of Seminole warrior Osceola and his wife Morning Dew, which ended on Sullivan’s, will be dramatically recreated in a thrilling collaboration between Pure Theatre, Jonathan Green, and Battery Gadsden Cultural Center this October. We take a peek behind the creative process and explore the history of this charismatic couple. Over on Isle of Palms, we talk to Mike Sottile about his family’s 120-year history on the island, from building the first home on Long Island to running the town as city leaders. We also dive into the many and varied stories of your friends and neighbors. From Jerry and Susie Callahan’s stealth start-up on Sullivan’s to Pearl Mazyck’s three decades marshaling access to Wild Dunes, these barrier islands are bursting with fascinating people. They’re also bursting with fantastic things to do — in our new section Island Life A to Z we offer up an incomplete guide to some of the best, and in SiP Scene we explore the sounds and flavors of island life. We hope you enjoy your journey through SiP, as ever we welcome your feedback and appreciate your support of our magazine and its mission to celebrate these special barrier island communities.

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Jennifer Tuohy Editor in Chief

Lynn Pierotti Publisher Jennifer Tuohy Editor-in-Chief Alejandro Ferreyros Art Director Kinsey Gidick Deputy Editor Jason Ogden Photographer Lori McGee, Marci Shore Advertising Executives Contributors Carol Antman Sarah Mae Barker Jeni Rone Becker Rob Byko Christopher Downey Judy Drew Fairchild Nikole Grozdanov Minette Hand Jesse Hazard Stratton Lawrence Colin McCandless Hunter McRae Cat Moye Margaret Pilarski Delores Schweitzer Steve Rosamilia Marci Shore Susan Hill Smith Mic Smith Dustin Waters Mimi Wood Tim Wright About SiP SiP magazine is published annually by Lucky Dog Publishing, LLC., 2205 Middle St., Sullivan’s Island, SC. SiP is mailed to all property owners on Sullivan’s Island, Isle of Palms and Dewees Island, and distributed free at select locations. Contact SiP tel. 843.886.6397 mailing address: po box 837 sullivan’s island, sc 29482 for editorial inquiries jennifer@luckydognews.com for advertising inquiries lynn@luckydognews.com www.luckydognews.com Cover Photo by Jason Ogden Copyright 2019 www.sipmagazinesc.com WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 15

CONTRIBUTORS

Carol Antman is driven by creative curiosity. Her passion for travel has led to living on a kibbutz, hitchhiking the Pan American highway, vagabonding in Europe and Central America and camping throughout the US to discover a home on Sullivan’s Island. As a travel writer she is inspired by the idea that everyone has a story. A life-long pianist, Carol was also the founder of Creative Spark Center for the Arts.

Christopher Byrd Downey (Captain Byrd) received his degree in History from Virginia Tech in 1995 and shortly after graduating began his career in the maritime industry. He has previously authored two books on the history of local piracy - Stede Bonnet: Charleston’s Gentleman Pirate and Charleston and the Golden Age of Piracy. A native of Virginia, he now lives in Mount Pleasant with his wife, Tina and son, Sailor.

Barbara Bergwerf retired from a career as a photojournalist in Chicago, and moved to the Isle of Palms with her husband, Ben. A member of the Island Turtle Team for the past 18 years, working with the Lowcountry’s endangered sea turtles is a passion that has led to three children’s books and 15 years documenting the sea turtle program at the SC Aquarium. Barbara also volunteers with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the Sea Turtle Stranding Network for the SCDNR.

Minette Hand is a freelance photographer based in Charleston, South Carolina. She photographs interiors, still life, portraits, food, and travel, which has taught her to light a wide variety of situations. When she is not traveling for work, she can most likely still be found on the road unraveling a new adventure.

Stratton Lawrence is a freelance writer and the managing editor at content marketing firm Perficient Digital. His most recent book project, a revamp of Fodor’s InFocus: Carolinas and Georgia, will be released this summer. Although Stratton lives on Folly Beach, he’s not a stranger on Isle of Palms, where his wife grew up and her family still lives. When Stratton’s not writing, editing or hanging with his family, he’s in the ocean or playing tennis or guitar with friends. 16 | SiP

Jason Ogden is a professional photographer specializing in drone photography around Sullivan’s Island and Charleston. He loves the Lowcountry scenery and taking images that provide a new perspective on places and things that we see everyday. He is a Realtor and father to two daughters who love Lowcountry life and going to the beach. Colin McCandless was born and raised in Charleston. A freelance writer and editor who enjoys writing about interesting people and places, he has 14 years of professional writing and editing experience. In his spare time Colin loves to travel, hike, read, and play tennis and trivia.

Hunter McRae is an Isle of Palms native and a mother of two. A Charleston-based photojournalist and frequent New York Times contributor, when she’s not capturing images of diverse cultures, inspiring locals and delicious food, she manages a wedding and portrait photography business at huntermcrae.com.

Jeni Rone Becker is a Charleston photographer who has been capturing sparkling Lowcountry events, families, and businesses for over a decade. Classically trained, third generation Canon photographer, giving back is a priority for Jeni, and photographing non-profits and events that support our area organizations is a way of sharing her God-given gift to support others.

Penelope Lanigan first came to Charleston in 1970 where she found a passion for photography. In 1983, she loaded up the car with two kids and two dogs to blend her family with a new husband, four kids and many cats. She now lives with her husband Rich and their beloved Great Danes, Zazu and Tallulah, on Isle of Palms.

Susan Hill Smith has lived on Isle of Palms for a quarter century and was a parent at Sullivan’s Island Elementary School over the course of 13 consecutive years — quite possibly a record. She gladly returned to tell how the school has built the core of its learning experiences around study of our coastal environment. Marci Shore is a real estate agent for Sand Dollar Real Estate, part-time fiddler, singersongwriter, native of the NC foothills where she graduated from Wake Forest University. She’s been a resident of Sullivan’s Island for 6 years. Margaret Pilarski grew up around the country but has lived in Charleston for over a decade now. For some reason she didn’t like the beach at first, but 10 years later she’s finally changed her mind. Margaret’s editorial work frequently features artists, activists, educators, and entrepreneurs. When she’s not exploring the islands for SiP, she works as a strategist and consultant for Outline, a creative firm.

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Mic Smith is a photojournalist and longtime Isle of Palms resident. He loves when his work takes him out on the water as it did this issue when he photographed tow boat entrepreneur Steve Little. When Mic’s not working, he likes to take out his own 18-foot scout, and while he could tell some stories about adventures and mishaps, he has never had to call for a tow.

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Mimi Wood is a local writer, artist, and all around creative thinker. A native of Towson, Maryland, she lives on Isle of Palms with her husband Tom, and Jamesy, the youngest of their three children. Mimi draws inspiration from the people she’s privileged to interview, and from the beauty of The Lowcountry. She considers herself blessed beyond words, and tries to live in gratitude, one day at a time.

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FIELD GUIDE

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PELICAN PALOOZA The Lowcountry is a favorite nesting ground for the picturesque pelican. By Jennifer Tuohy Photos by Barbara Bergwerf

raceful on water, ungainly on land, and beautiful when airborne, the brown pelican’s breathtaking dives at a breakneck pace enthrall all who see him fishing along our shores. Descending head-fi rst from heights of up to 65 feet, this prehistoric-looking creature tucking, twisting, and plunging into the water, emerging triumphantly with a beak full of fish, is a special sight island residents and visitors are treated to almost daily. And we should count ourselves lucky. “We have an abundance of pelicans in the Lowcountry, especially in the late spring and summer months, because we have some pretty big nesting colonies here,” says Felicia Sanders, a wildlife biologist with the SC Department of Natural Resources in McClellanville.

as well as tens of thousands of royal tern and black skimmer nests between 2009 and 2017 alone, last year it was empty. Some birds hopped over to the nearby Castle Pinckney island, but the loss of this sliver of land is critical. “Crab Bank is not the largest nesting island, but it has some really unique qualities that make it the most important site in our state,” says Sanders. A successful fundraising effort last year raised enough to rebuild the island this summer. Among monies donated was $50,000 from the Barrier Island Friends of Crab Bank, a group headed up by Sullivan’s Island resident Rick Reed. “We’re really excited to have it back,” says Sanders. “And it will hopefully be even bigger.”

A Critical Bank

While the future of pelicans in the Lowcountry will be more secure with the restoration of Crab Bank, the birds still face challenges. “We have far more pelican nests than any other U.S. state on the Atlantic coast,” says Sanders. “All the conservation efforts really help. As a tourist you’re going to see the most here. Florida has around 1,500, Georgia a couple hundred — what you’re seeing here is not typical, we are really important for seabird survival.” Once on the brink of disappearing from North America, due to the impact of the pesticide DDT, pelicans have made a full comeback from that threat. But we must not be complacent about protecting this big, beautiful bird. Without its statuesque perch on the piling of a dock, or a handy protruding jetty, the scenery of the Lowcountry just wouldn’t be the same. SiP

These giant seabirds don’t just set up home anywhere. Ground nesters who build stick and grass constructions on sandbars surrounded by water, pelicans seek out spots where carnivorous mammals can’t reach their off spring. While the locations may shift from year to year depending on where good habitat exists, South Carolina has the most nesting sites on the Atlantic Coast. Bird Key, just off Folly, is the largest. “Last summer we had about 5,000 pelican nests in total, translating to around 10,000 pelicans,” says Sanders. Crab Bank, in the middle of Charleston Harbor, is a designated seabird sanctuary, but it recently become a no-go site for the birds due to severe erosion, likely caused by recent hurricanes and the increased wakes of ships in the harbor. Home to around 4,000 brown pelican nests,

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Pelican Q&A Which Species is Here? Brown Pelicans are most common in South Carolina, occasionally you will see white pelicans but they don’t nest in the area Do They Migrate? It was thought all pelicans migrated south, but a recent study by a Clemson student discovered a few stay here year-round Why Do They “Surf”? They’re likely making use of an updraft off the surface of the water so they can glide easier, and draft each other. They’re just being efficient. Does it Hurt When They Dive? Not too much. Special air sacs beneath their skin inflate just before they hit the water to protect internal organs, also that twist they do protects the trachea and esophagus from impact.

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FIELD GUIDE

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SOLVING TRASH ON ISLE OF PALMS Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew builds a community as they turn the tide on trash. By Susan Hill Smith and Katrina Limbach Wood Photos by Mic Smith

he two of us met for the first time in May 2018, the Tuesday after Memorial Day, as the beach season and the pollution it brings were really starting to heat up. We had little time to spare, but we clicked instantly as we shared ideas that would lead to the documented collection of more than 23,000 pieces of beach trash by summer’s end. We “didn’t do it all” ourselves. Our brainchild, Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew was always meant to be a group effort — one that included a fun, social component to help build community around the cause of saving our coast and oceans from trash. Considering the 400-plus volunteers who joined us at least once during the summer, and our weekly trash sweep turnouts of up to 125, the formula paid off and then some. But data only tells part of the story. While the friendships and connections sparked by Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew can’t truly be quantified, they played an important role in our synergy the first year out, starting with that first meeting, held over croissants at Café Paname.

Join the crew

Follow Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew on its Facebook page, where you can sign up for an e-newsletter. But all you really have to do is show up. For the summer of 2019, the crew plans to hold sweeps each Monday, 5:30-6:30 p.m., from June 10 to Sept. 2. The main sign-in is at the beach end of the access with the city restrooms/showers, in the 1100 block of Ocean Boulevard.

2018 IOP Cleanup Crew sponsors Acme Lowcountry Kitchen Isle of Palms Beach Chair Company Banana Cabana The Boathouse Café Paname Coconut Joe's The Dinghy Mic Smith Photography, LLC SC Department of Natural Resources Surfrider Foundation Charleston Chapter The Windjammer

Like Minds

Before we go further, we should fill in who we are. Katrina — known to many as Trina — is a graphic artist and an owner in Isle of Palms Beach Chair Company, based a few doors down from Café Paname in a small shopping center a block off the island’s Front Beach. Since 2010, she and her husband have been Isle of Palms residents, along with their son, Paul, a toddler who is always a bright spot at trash sweeps and a reminder that a big piece of this effort is about the legacy we leave future generations. In spring, Trina arranged training with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for her company’s employees so they would better understand the science of protecting our coast. With that, she encouraged them to pick up trash as part of their work delivering beach chairs and also saw the potential to get others involved in a larger cleanup mission.

Trina Wood and Susan Hill Smith, the duo behind the Cleanup Crew. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 21

Help Protect Beaches & Oceans Reduce Eliminate or cut back on packaging you bring to the beach and other marine outings — especially plastic and polystyrene, which pose the biggest environmental threats. Reuse Rely on reusables when you need bottles, cups, coolers, bags, etc. Pack In - Pack Out Some beaches, like Isle of Palms, provide trash and recycling bins, but they can fill up quickly on busy days. If you want to avoid the possibility that your trash will get into the ecosystem, it’s best to take it back with you. Watch your stuff Items like toys, towels, and shoes can also become trash if accidentally left behind or washed out with the tide. Pitch in Pick up trash each time you visit. Keep it doable and still make a difference with the international “Take 3 for the Sea” campaign. But feel free to grab more, and record your good deeds with the SC Aquarium’s Citizen Science App, which also allows you to share photos of your finds. 22 | SiP

Shore Thing Trina inquired about the possibilities of organized cleanups through City Hall and was put in touch with Susan, a more seasoned island mom of three teenagers, as well as a communications professional and new Isle of Palms City Council member, who was also hoping to put on trash sweeps in a way that connected people and promoted education. While separated by two decades in age, we both are “idea people” who have a love and concern for our natural world. With our collective marketing savvy, the success of Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but the momentum that grew behind our effort to turn the tide on trash surprised us, too. As it turns out, there are plenty of people who share our concern when it comes to keeping beaches beautiful and protecting marine life from the real perils of pollution.

Plan of Attack

We both agreed at the outset the highly trafficked and often trashy stretch of Front Beach would be our target zone, and we set a weekly summer schedule that kicked off Monday, June 25, 2018 and stretched to Labor Day weekend. Ahead of that, we went to the experts for help: the Charleston Chapter of Surfrider Foundation, an international organization devoted to protecting the coast, had plenty of wisdom, such as encouraging us to offer reusable bags for cleanup. We were also fortunate to be joined each week by representatives from the South Carolina Aquarium, who encouraged volunteers to record their trash haul on the Aquarium’s Citizen Science App or otherwise using an old-fashioned clipboard approach. Conservation Programs Manager Kelly Thorvalson and her team compiled invaluable trash data from our efforts, which broke down our collection of 23,000 pieces of trash into categories. Our concept was conceived with flexibility in mind. We do not require advance registration, and our only expectation has been that each volunteer spend at least 30 minutes picking up beach trash during a visit. You can come as many times as you want, we told volunteers, but if you help three times, you earn an Isle of Palms’ Cleanup Crew T-shirt. Our biggest carrot? Probably the social component. As volunteers finished and dumped their trash, they could head to the island restaurant that was hosting that week’s sweep and receive a discount as a thank-you. Coconut Joe’s was our first host, and while we staged a publicity blitz beforehand, we weren’t sure what to expect as an ominous dark sky loomed over the marsh side of the island with the start of the sweep. We understood that many people who planned to come to the kickoff wouldn’t make it with that kind of weather question mark, but we stayed dry, and when the sweep was over, we realized as we counted the names on our sign-in sheets that we had as many as 50 volunteers turn out. As we packed up our supplies, we knew we were on to something.

The past, present, and future of IOP’s ban on plastic bags. By Dustin Waters

t started with four women in a living room on Dunes Boulevard, but from there the grassroots effort to curb pollution from single-use plastic bags spread across the South Carolina coast. In the spring of 2015, Isle of Palms residents Rini Kosmos, Kathy Kent, Christy Humphries, and Jackie Kilroe were drawn together by a shared realization of the environmental threat posed by plastics. During the previous year’s Ocean Conservancy beach sweep, volunteers removed more than 1,500 plastic grocery bags from South Carolina’s coast in a single day. Determined to rally support, the four women invited thenCity Council member Barbara Bergwerf to Humphries’ home to discuss organizing a petition. Bergwerf was confident that such an effort would be met with support, suggesting the group skip the petition and draft an ordinance to present to Council.

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I am so proud that we were first, but we have to continue to be that groundbreaking community that’s not afraid to do more to protect our fragile coast. - CAROL RICE

They began approaching local businesses, canvassing door to door. The growing list of those in favor of a ban was posted online to show just how popular the effort had become. “They really did it the right way,” says Bergwerf. “They went to Harris Teeter, and they went to all the different businesses to try give them a heads-up about what they wanted to do. Harris Teeter joined in with them. They embraced it. They gave away hundreds of reusable bags. Obviously, when a big retailer in your community jumps on board, that certainly goes a long way for a positive response.” In April 2015, the four women presented their draft ordinance to City Council. By June the ban was passed unanimously. IOP had become the fi rst municipality in South Carolina to restrict singleuse plastic bags. In the coming years, neighboring communities along the coast would follow suit. Sullivan’s Island’s ban went into effect December 1, 2018. The barrier islands now stand among a dozen other South Carolina communities with similar laws in place, covering nearly 1,150 square miles of the coast. But these preservation efforts haven’t been without opposition. In 2017, state legislators introduced a bill that would prevent any additional municipalities from placing restrictions on plastic bags. Despite the bill dying in the Senate, similar efforts continues in the Statehouse. In the meantime, the growing spread of environmental awareness that began on Isle of Palms would correspond with cleaner local beaches. Since the 2014 beach sweep when almost 6,000 pounds of trash was cleared from beaches and waterways in Charleston County — 53 pounds of which came from IOP — that statewide total has dropped by more than half. “We can’t rest on our laurels. We have to keep up and keep doing better,” says Isle of Palms City Council member Carol Rice. “I am so proud that we were fi rst, but we have to continue to be that groundbreaking community that’s not afraid to do more to protect our fragile coast.” WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 23

Kristen Lesesne, director of spiritual development at IOP First United Methodist Church, is an IOP Clean Up Crew MVP. 24 | SiP

Open Invitation

Part of the magic and mystery of each week’s sweep was not knowing who or how many might show up at our main sign-in point, at the beach end of the walkover by the city restrooms and showers. Couples, families, co-workers, neighbors, and friends arrived together, while others came solo, and made connections. It wasn’t just island residents either. As we continued to get the word out in TV appearances, newspapers, and on social media, volunteers arrived from all over the Lowcountry, and tourists pitched in, too. One week, the Charleston Southern Women’s Basketball Team attended with their coach leading the charge. Other times we would welcome a church group or a scout troop. As the weeks went by, we came to look for our amazing regulars, including the Ostergaards and their labrador retriever Abu — a canine with a knack for collecting plastic water bottles — and Beach Santa, a.k.a. Howard Hogue, whose white beard and twinkling blue eyes always attracted attention. Previously featured in SiP for the countless hours he has put in picking up Isle of Palms trash on his own, Beach Santa was just as productive at our sweeps. Often aquarium volunteer Linda Rowe would catalogue his extensive haul of trash items in the moment, so he could continue uninterrupted. While they had never met before, Linda and Howard bonded as they collected cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, polystyrene pieces, plastic toys, and other whatnot left behind.

Party On

Whether we grabbed shrimp and grits at Acme, wings at The Windjammer, or Dirty Elvis Fries at The Dinghy, our “after-parties” also gave us a chance to get to know one another better as we talked about the volumes of trash, the oddities of our finds, and potential solutions. Our biggest turnout of 125 volunteers came at the end of July when we partnered with Surfrider’s Charleston Chapter and returned to Coconut Joe’s, to celebrate the beachside restaurant’s decision to stop providing plastic straws, a common pollutant, and only give paper straws upon request, a move encouraged by Surfrider’s Strawless Summer Campaign. A few weeks later in August, Trina staged another amazing event, arranging a post-sweep block party in Café Paname’s parking lot. They even had a small band. We continued making a difference through our last weekly sweep the Monday of Labor Day weekend. There was no question at that point Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew would return for the summer of 2019, but we realized we didn’t want to say goodbye until then, so we have continued to hold sweeps once a month during the off-season. Even though beach trash fades with the crowds, it never goes away entirely, not unless we do something about it. As we like to say, trash is a people problem, but people are also the solution. SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 25

HISTORY SNAPSHOT

Edgar Allan Poe. Photo of daguerreotype by W.S. Hartshorn, 1848.

Photos courtesy Chris Downey

QUOTH THE LEGEND

Edgar Allan Poe’s time on Sullivan’s Island was a mystery of the writer’s making for many years. Here, maritime historian and author of a new book on Poe, Chris Downey, unearths the truth of Poe’s island-time.

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Poe’s Sullivan’s

Miniature of Poe known as the “Traylor Miniature” showing Poe as a young man around the time of his enlistment in the army.

he army transport vessel Waltham that had delivered Edgar Allan Poe and the rest of Battery H of the First Regiment of the Artillery to their new post at Fort Moultrie on November 18, 1827, had departed Boston nearly two weeks earlier in the face of a heavy gale. The storm’s strong northeasterly winds would wreck a vessel named the Aurora on a shoal off Boston just one day after the Waltham’s departure and another vessel named the Romulus sailing in convoy with the Waltham was feared lost until her eventual arrival in Charleston Harbor three days later. So perilous was the Waltham’s passage from Boston that upon arriving in Charleston, a letter of gratitude signed by several of Poe’s commanding officers was printed in the Charleston Courier: “…in behalf of ourselves, families, and a detachment of men, tender to Captain George Webb, our most unfeigned thanks, for his kind attention to us while on board the Brig Waltham…more especially for his nautical abilities, under Divine Providence, in extricating the vessel under his command, from most imminent danger…”. But the tempest that battered the Waltham’s passage was not the only one tracking Poe to Sullivan’s Island. The author was pursued by figurative storms of his own making that were no less severe. The other seasick recruits of Battery H onboard the Waltham did not know their newly appointed company clerk as Edgar Allan Poe. They called him by the name he had signed on his five-year U.S. army enlistment paper six months earlier — Edgar A. Perry. The false name given on his enlistment paper would not be the only misrepresentation. Poe would list his age as 22 years old — he was only 18.

Arriving from Mount Pleasant, a sign at the foot of the Ben Sawyer bridge directs you to “Gold Bug Island” before you have even crossed over the Intracoastal Waterway. The marshy island, which may correspond to the location of the buried treasure in Poe’s story, is today owned by the East Cooper Outboard Motor Club who rents an event facility on the island that is especially popular for oyster roasts. Once on the island, you will find streets named to honor the master of the macabre like Raven, Goldbug and Poe Avenues. Near the intersection of Station 27 and Goldbug, is an enormous, ancient oak tree known to locals as the Goldbug tree. Fort Moultrie, where Poe served in the army for nearly 13 months beginning in November of 1827, is part of the Fort Sumter National Park and stands on the far southwest corner of the island. A brick walkway inside the fort near the gunpowder magazine marks the original location of the enlisted men’s barracks where Poe would have lived during his posting at the fort. On Middle Street, in the heart of the island, is Poe’s Tavern. Dozens of Poe images, pages of manuscript, and Poe-themed advertisements cover the walls with the focal point of the tavern being a large mural of a brooding Poe painted above the fireplace. Even the menu pays tribute to Poe, offering burgers with names inspired by Poe’s most popular tales like the “Pit and the Pendulum” and the “Tell-Tale Heart.” On I’on Avenue, you can find perhaps the most fitting tribute to Poe — the Edgar Allan Poe Library. Opened in 1977, the library is uniquely housed in a renovated former Spanish-American War four-gun battery.

The “Goldbug tree” of Sullivan’s Island. Photo by Jennifer Taylor. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 27

Edgar Allan Poe’s U.S. Army enlistment paper. Image courtesy The Poe Museum, Richmond, Virginia 28 | SiP

A Perry or a Poe?

The genesis of Poe’s fallacious persona of Edgar A. Perry can be traced to his disastrous first term at the University of Virginia two years earlier. Racking up more than $2,000 in gambling debts during his freshman year, Poe had returned home to Richmond hounded by debt collectors. With his foster father, John Allan, refusing to settle his debts or fund a second term at university, Poe went into hiding to dodge his creditors, working for nearly two months as a warehouse clerk in Boston under the alias Henri Le Rennet before joining the army as Private Edgar A. Perry on May 26, 1827 at Fort Independence. Despite his deceptions, Poe thrived and prospered under the discipline of army life. The military would prove to be the only institution to support and appreciate Poe’s talents during his lifetime. At Fort Moultrie, Poe served under the Assistant Commissary of Subsistence, responsible for the management of the garrison’s food supplies. On May 1, Poe was promoted to artificer, responsible for the delicate job of measuring gunpowder and preparing munitions, a promotion that would double his salary to $10 per month. His success as a soldier is evidenced in glowing reviews from his commanding officers at Fort Moultrie, writing of Poe: “…he has been exemplary…prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duties — and is high worthy of confidence,” and “His habits are good and entirely free from drinking.” By the time Poe managed an early discharge in April 1829, he had attained the rank of Sergeant Major — the highest non-commissioned grade in the army.

Sullivan’s Rocky Landscape Inspires

Poe spent just short of 13 months on Sullivan’s Island. To say that tracing and documenting Poe’s time in the Lowcountry is a challenge would be an understatement. In fact, there is more documentary evidence of Poe’s four month stay in Charleston as a two-year-old in the company of his mother, Eliza Poe, who was performing on the Charleston stage during the winter theatre season of 1811, than of his more than one year spent stationed at the fort. The challenge is in no small measure because throughout his life Poe deliberately tried to hide his stint in the army. He was elusive in interviews and biographical sketches about his military years and perpetuating false rumors concocted during his absence by friends and associates of adventures abroad in Greece and Russia. So complete was his cover-up that Poe’s time at Fort Moultrie went undetected until 1885 — 36 years after Poe’s death — when it was discovered by George E. Woodberry while researching a biography of Poe. But while Poe may have sought to keep his time on Sullivan’s Island a secret, he did not shy away from writing the island’s legends, lore, and landscape into several of his short stories. “The Balloon Hoax” and “The Oblong Box” both contain references to Sullivan’s Island and Charleston, but it is within the 1843 short-story “The Gold-Bug” that Poe truly showcases the influences of the island. A tale of a rare golden beetle and a pirate’s cryptogram found on the island that spark a hunt for treasure buried beneath an enormous tulip tree. “The Gold-Bug” would be Poe’s most widely-read and financially lucrative story up to that point in his career, earning him $100 in a Philadelphia newspaper’s writing contest. Only Poe’s signature poem “The Raven,” written two years later, would rival the success of “The Gold-Bug” with Poe musing, “The bird beat the bug.” Poe did take some creative liberties in “The Gold-Bug,” adding “cliffs and rocks” to the Lowcountry’s pan-flat landscape. But even 15 years removed from his time on the island when he penned “The Gold-Bug,” Poe could still recall with rich detail the starkness of his former home at Sullivan’s Island: This Island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea sand, and is about three miles long…It is separated from the main land by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime…Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted, during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston. SiP Chris Downey’s book Edgar Allan Poe’s Charleston will be published this summer by Arcadia Publishing & The History Press. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 29

HISTORY SNAPSHOT

HONORING OUR DOUGHBOYS

Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms lost two sons to The Great War, islanders Mike Walsh and Lawrence McInerny endeavor to keep their memory alive. By Kinsey Gidick Photos by Jason Ogden

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National Parks Ranger Marina Conner addresses the crowd at the Armistice Day event.

arion Joseph Keenan was deployed to France in the fall of 1917. The Sullivan’s Islander had been living at Fort Jackson in Columbia and was serving with the National Guard when his 2nd Division was called up to The Great War. Keenan saw his first day on the ground as a Mechanic for the 2nd Ammunition Train in January of 1918, according to research done by Marina Conner, a ranger at Fort Moultrie. The Mechanics repaired tunnels and roads for the Allies, but at some point in late September or early October of that year, Keenan became ill. Conner believes Keenan came down with the Spanish Flu, which was running rampant at the time, then developed pneumonia. He would die on October 23, 1918 from complications with the disease. At the same time, another island boy found himself in France. Alexander Guesnard Izlar had grown up in Orangeburg, but moved to Charleston where he went to work installing electricity to the Isle of Palms. By 1917, he’d been drafted and sent over as part of the 30th Division under command of the British. There he served as part of a Sanitary Train in the 120th Field Hospital in Europe. “These Field Hospitals took care of the wounded and ill. Izlar’s job would have been to help maintain as sanitary conditions as possible to ensure the best possible medical care for his dying allies,” says Conner. “Izlar saw the end of the war and would have celebrated with the men in his unit. Unfortunately, medical care came with a great cost.” At some point he contracted tuberculosis. He died on February 9, 1919, just two weeks before his unit boarded boats to the United States.

Remembering Their Sacrifice

The two island Doughboys would be among the U.S.’s 53,000 men and women to serve in World War I, and two of the state’s 1,900 to die. To honor Keenan and Izlar’s sacrifice, a hundred years after their death, Conner, along with Stella Maris’ Msgr. Lawrence McInerny, and Sullivan’s Island resident and history lover, Dr. Mike Walsh, planned the World War I Centennial Armistice Day event. “Somehow I became aware of the Centennial Commission,” says Dr. Walsh of the impetus for the trio’s Bells of Peace event held on Nov. 11, 2018, at Stella Maris church. “I thought to myself, what’s being done in Charleston to commemorate World War I?”

Mike Walsh stands at the monument to Marion Keenan and Alexander Izlar on Sullivan’s Island.

WWI Sites on Sullivan’s By the summer of 1918 a submarine net was placed across the entrance to Charleston Harbor in preparation for war and was controlled from Fort Moultrie. While that net was taken down after the war, there are still WWI sites you can see today including: The monument to Keenan and Izlar across the street from Stella Maris Catholic Church. A timeline of coastal defense showcasing the Island’s role in the war inside the museum at the Fort Moultrie Visitors’ Center. Battery Gadsden, a concrete battery now obscured by Sullivan’s Island Elementary School, which was decommissioned in 1917 and all of its artillery sent to France for use in WWI. Provost Marshal’s Office/Dispensary (1617 Middle Street) where troops were treated for the Spanish flu in 1918. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 31

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These three archival images depict soldiers at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, circa 1915. From the U.S. military in Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, 1900-1945 collection.

Having made several trips to France throughout the years, the amatuer historian had walked the trenches and seen the battlefields Keenan and Izlard would have known intimately. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the 100th anniversary, then just months away, deserved proper recognition on the islands. He reached out to priest and history lover, Father McInerney, whose church sits kitty-corner to both Fort Moultrie and the cement monument dedicated to the two men. “Eventually after exchanging emails, Father said ‘OK I’m in. Here’s what we ought to do,’” recalls Walsh. McInerney — who worked for the NPS as a ranger at Fort Moultrie in his younger years — immediately set about brainstorming. “He came up with the idea of boy scouts presenting the color guard and enlisted a bugler to play taps,” says Walsh. The Bells of Peace event would include the ringing of church bells across the island — one toll every 5 seconds for 21 tolls — in addition to living historians who wore WWI uniforms and spoke to the public about the time period. On the day of the Bells of Peace, a healthy crowd gathered for mass and the commemoration. “It was a good warm feeling that these guys had not been forgotten,” says Walsh. “There are streets on the island named for the two people. I’m sure people have wondered what those were all about, the individuals and the stories of their lives, and the fact that one was brought home and one was not. Th is gave me a feeling of having done something to mark an important event in our history.”

Only One Came Home

There’s a sad twist to the story. While Keenan’s family chose to have his remains returned to American soil, where he now rests at St. Lawrence Cemetery in downtown Charleston, Izlar’s father chose to have his son buried in an American Cemetery in France. In 1929, a lobbyist group petitioned Congress for funding for mothers and wives of those lost in the war to be able to fly to Europe to see the graves of their sons and husbands. “In the burial fi le of Alexander Izlar are letter after letter sent by this group, now called Gold Star Mothers, to his father asking if there was any next of kin that could go,” says Conner. “At the time, the program was only for wives and mothers, no fathers or brothers or sons could go. Time after time, Izlar’s father had to respond: ‘No, there is no wife or mother who can go,’ all the while grieving the loss of his son and likely pining to go see his son’s fi nal resting place.” While Izlar’s father would never get to see his son’s grave, for Walsh, Conner, Father McInerney, and the reenactors, there’s comfort in knowing their lives were remembered a hundred years later. SiP

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ISLAND LIFE

THROWING A FÊTE FOR THE FOREST

Dewees Island’s Fourth of July parade is watched by more birds and bobcats than people, but that’s part of its appeal. By Kinsey Gidick Photos by Judy Drew Fairchild

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Opposite page It may be small, but the population of Dewees Island knows how to celebrate Fourth of July, barrier-island style. Top A festive Fourth deserves a golf cart serenade. Middle Bernice gets a ride down the parade route. Bottom Bubber’s Beach Run begins!

“

My children are all grown and flown, but they are very unlikely to miss a Dewees 4th of July.

- JUDY FAIRCHILD

he golf cart parade usually kicks things off. Led by Dewees Island’s fire engine, nearly every resident — part time and full — hops on their red, white, and blue-bedecked rides for the annual Fourth of July parade. “There’s usually more people in the parade than spectators,” says Dewees full-time resident Judy Fairchild. One year an onlooker held a sign that simply read: “Crowd.” But that’s all part of the fun. What was once a Sewee Indian hunting ground and later Colonial boatyard under Cornelius Dewees, became a community when an investor purchased the island in 1972. The first homes went up in the 1980s, but following Hurricane Hugo’s destruction, investor John Knott decided that an “Island Preservation Partnership,” with a focus on “living in harmony with nature,” was the best path forward. Today there are 150 total lots on the tiny barrier island, only 19 are primary homes, so, naturally, residents make their own entertainment. That means in the summer, when the community swells with vacationers and visitors, they put on a Fourth of July fête that’s something to behold.

Bubber’s Beach Run

After a parade and a much deserved ice cream social — which takes place the day before Independence Day — on the fourth, nearly 80 people make their way to Dewees beach for Bubber’s Beach Event, a mile run organized by resident Bubber McAlhany. McAlhany started the race 14 years ago when he and his wife Jan built their home on the island. “We’re both runners and we decided we ought to do something exercise related for families and everybody celebrating.” WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 35

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Opposite page Young crabbers catch dinner for the 4th feast.

Summer Lovin’

Dewees is packed with Fourth of July Festivities:

July 4 11 a.m. Patriotic golf cart parade and ice cream social 8 p.m. Long distance fireworks from the decks July 5 9:30 a.m. Bubber’s Beach fun run and Jan’s brunch July 6 5 p.m. Sand Art judging on Ancient Dunes Beach But this is no ordinary foot race. It’s all based on predicted times, so each participant let’s Bubber know how long they think it will take them to run or walk a mile. Awards are divided by age, but whoever gets the closest to their prediction wins. That means the runner who logged a 12 minute mile might take the cake.

A Break for Brunch

After working up an appetite sprinting down the beach, guests make their way to the Mcalhany’s porch for their annual Fourth of July brunch where Jan lays out a breakfast spread complete with kids’ snacks and a Bloody Mary bar for the adults. The day starts to look like an all-ages summer camp when islanders then head the Dock Jump. “It’s like a Mountain Dew commercial,” Fairchild laughs. People launch themselves in the water, then float downstream to Dewees’ other community dock.” The strong, who don’t need a nap, rally for fireworks in the evening. While Dewees doesn’t allow explosives on the island, friends gather on the rooftop decks of homes where they can see rockets red glare from Mt. Pleasant, North Charleston, Sullivan’s, and Isle of Palms. With at least three generations accounted for, and a cast of characters who have become friends over years of visiting or living on the island, Fairchild says Dewees’ patriotic fete is a community highlight. “My children are all grown and flown, but they are very unlikely to miss a Dewees 4th of July.” SiP

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ISLAND LIFE

FOR ALL TO SEA Five years after re-establing itself on Sullivan’s Island, SIES is making strides as a coastal environmental magnet. By Susan Hill Smith Photos by Mic Smith

Above Class excursions like this, in which SIES third-graders use standard-issue iPads to photograph erosion and deposition, are more common than you might expect. 38 | SiP

Ocean Literacy Principles

he back gate at Sullivan’s Island Elementary School opens, and the thirdgraders bound toward the beach on the boardwalk path, class-issued iPads in hand, with directions to photograph examples of erosion and deposition. Science lab teacher Caroline Rambo stops them after a few steps to consider the thick covering of brush and trees close to the school. “How does the maritime forest help us prevent erosion?” she asks. After several answers, they continue to the sand dunes closest to the shimmering ocean where they spill into three teacher-led groups and consider how tidal pools and sandbars fit into this dynamic equation. The students use their iPads to capture images they can use later to communicate what they’ve learned in a multimedia presentation. Yet when Rambo explains how islands to the northeast have lost sand that has been carried by currents to the section of beach behind the school, she simply uses her fi ngertip to trace a map in the sand — the original SMARTBoard. For SIES, excursions like these set a grand stage for teaching, and while they are a regular thing, they never seem to get old with the kids. Teachers see the difference as they head outdoors. “Instantly everyone’s motivation is better,” reports third-grade teacher Casey Harmon.

Sullivan’s Island Elementary School follows and explores the seven Ocean Literacy Principles established through the National Marine Educators Association. Simply but elegantly stated, the principles can guide learners of all ages.

Th is school has long celebrated “Learning by the Sea,” but during the past decade has taken a much deeper dive into the coastal environment as a focal point for the curriculum, tapping into the natural wonders surrounding the school like never before. The heightened focus flowed largely from plans for the school’s rebuilding and the related decision by Charleston County School District to expand enrollment from around 300 to 500 by attracting students to the island school with a partial magnet program. By design, a magnet program offers special elements that sets it apart from neighboring schools. Principal Susan King remembers the initial discussions members of their school family had with community partners in 2010 as they decided what theme their magnet program would showcase. “At fi rst we thought about marine biology or math and science, but the coastal environment idea really encompassed everything. It’s such a rich topic that you can really do anything with, and it’s so relevant to our students,” she says, pointing out that coastal conservation issues are prominent worldwide these days.

Image courtesy National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and Kip Evans

A Rich and Relevant Focus

The Earth has one big ocean with many features The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate The ocean made the Earth habitable The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected The ocean is largely unexplored Learn more at oceanliteracyNMEA.org

WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 39

Touch tanks provide true hands-on learning In the heart of the school, the Wet Lab includes four aquarium touch tanks plus a smaller holding tank. All touch tanks were provided and continue to be supported through donations made by school parents, with the honor of sponsoring the lab auctioned off annually at the SIES fundraiser. Each time they visit the lab, students usually get a few minutes to visit the touch tanks, whether or not they were incorporated directly into the day’s lesson. The Wet Lab was designed with a separate climate control system to keep the room consistently at the right temperature, even when school is out of session. The largest tank holds 100 gallons. The other three touch tanks each holds 50 gallons. They are professionally serviced and sometimes include live discoveries caught during the school’s seining expeditions or that families bring in to share. “What’s great to me is that we can change these animals all the time, and the kids can learn new concepts,” says science lab teacher Lindsey Rhodes Here’s how the teachers have been using the tanks lately: Holding Tank New arrivals usually start here first. Tank 1 Saltwater hangout for hermit crabs, pinfish, and other species indigenous to our coast. Tank 2 Also for locals only, this saltwater tank is the school’s biggest with the most variety, including croaker, burrfish (often mistaken for pufferfish) and a shy oyster toadfish. Tank 3 Totally tropical, this is where you might find clownfish like Nemo, as well as sea cucumbers, chocolate chip sea stars, pajama cardinalfish, sea urchins, and other characters. Tank 4 The teachers hope to include more species like bass and crayfish in this local freshwater tank, which is in transition. 40 | SiP

Top Students explore the Maritime Forest along a boardwalk supplied by the Town of Sullivan’s Island and Charleston County. Middle Science lab teachers Caroline Rambo and Lindsey Rhodes incorporate the outdoors into their curriculum. Bottom Caroline Rambo quizzes the students on the beach.

It’s also an area in which she was well equipped to serve as a guide. Her father founded what’s now known as the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, and in her days as a science teacher in Virginia Beach, she ran a marine science summer camp. With the curriculum focus decided ahead of the new school’s construction, school leaders could incorporate related features as they planned the building, which opened in 2014. Some touches are aesthetic, like an occasional porthole-style window and the compass rose with true directions in the floor of the foyer. Others just made sense, like the industrial hoses that allow throngs of kids to wash off sand from beach excursions, or fragrant pluff mud after investigating the island’s marsh ecosystem, stretches of which have been replanted by classes with spartina grass.

Key Elements

It’s unusual for an elementary school to have a science lab, and this school has two, along with two science lab teachers. Rambo and Lindsey Rhodes coordinate closely with one another as they swap spaces based on their planned activities. The Wet Lab showcases four aquarium touch tanks while the Design & Discovery Lab has four large sinks. “If we have a messier lab, we’re going to want to be down there,” says Rambo. Each classroom also has a sink, supporting the school’s increasing emphasis on active learning. Often times, though, they are headed outside. Before the new building, everyone enjoyed Sandcastle Day, but most classes just went to the beach occasionally. An important feature that has made getting back and forth more doable for teachers is the raised boardwalk that the Town of Sullivan’s Island and Charleston County provided directly behind the school. Accessible from the boardwalk is the school’s sandy nature trail, which originated with a teacher in 1985, and has been rejuvenated through the years by local Boy Scouts WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 41

Photo by Steve Rosamillia

Some School History The old Sullivan’s Island Elementary School building dated back to the mid-1950s and had been creatively expanded several times – even surviving Hurricane Hugo – before earthquake safety concerns pushed Charleston County School District to approve demolition and new construction. Students and staff said goodbye to the old building and relocated to temporary quarters in Mount Pleasant in 2010. After extended debate about the size of the school that spilled into town politics, a new $28.3 million, 74,000-square-foot building opened in August 2014 at the same site on Sullivan’s Island. The public school has long served the children of the East Cooper islands including Sullivan’s, Dewees, Goat, and Isle of Palms. With its expansion and addition of a partial magnet program, it now purposefully pulls in families from Mount Pleasant and beyond so enrollment is consistently around 500 students. With the 2019-20 school year, the new building will be five years old, the same age as many of its kindergartners. 42 | SiP

who added educational markers with smart codes. The trail leads to a flat area of maritime forest with a canopy of large trees that Boy Scouts also cleared underneath. Called The Oaks, it’s a great space to get creative. Music teacher Julie Mathias has used it for drum circles, while the science lab teachers have used it for activities like bark rubbings and time for contemplation. “We will come out with big quilts and blankets and do some projects and writing under here,” Rhodes says. “It can be tricky. It depends on the time of year. It can be very buggy down here, and we’ve had to really clear out poison ivy and things like that.” All these opportunities take forethought and planning. Each student keeps a drawstring bag at school with a small towel, reusable water bottle, sunscreen, bug spray, and beach shoes. At the same time, each teacher has a backpack stocked with a first-aid kit and a copy of Nature Guide to the Carolina Coast. “They are always ready to grab and go at any time,” Rhodes says.

Earth Stewards, Problem Solvers

In many ways, SIES is creating a truly unique learning experience as it capitalizes on its position as one of a tiny number of seaside schools in the United States, and its practices continue to evolve. Teacher Holly Blair played a key role in building the school’s coastal science curriculum initially and had the advantage of past experience as an educator for organizations like South Carolina Aquarium and Barrier Island EcoTours. She helped establish features like the touch tanks and favorite activities like seining, in which classes cast large nets into the ocean to collect specimens for closer inspection. At the same time as Blair’s departure three years ago, the school got a boost in magnet resources that allowed for the addition of a second science lab teacher. Now Rambo sees grades 3-5, while Rhodes works with the younger grades, including the child development class for four-year-olds. Each class in the school gets science lab time once a week, whether that’s inside or outside, and instead of dropping their students off, classroom teachers now stick around for co-teaching. This allows the classroom teacher to carry the science back with the students and tie

it effectively to other subjects. For example, erosion can also be considered as an economic issue as older students weigh whether governments should spend money on beach renourishment projects. Rambo and Rhodes look to the Ocean Literacy Principles of the National Marine Educators Association as guideposts, as well as the Science and Engineering Practices (SEP’s) endorsed in South Carolina’s state education standards. With the blending of the two, the school intends to grow students who are both earth stewards and problem solvers.

Sharing SIES

In all of this, students should be able to collaborate with others, a goal seen in the school’s new buddy project, which pairs older and younger classes. That principle also carries over as SIES makes outward connections with other Charleston County schools. Students from Mitchell Elementary visit SIES on field trips and have been so inspired by the touch tanks that the downtown Charleston school intends to use incentive money to fund its own. In turn, SIES students have visited Mitchell Elementary to see the impressive gardens that school has created through the Green Heart Project, which SIES has also implemented. Similarly in May, SIES fi ft h-graders will lead North Charleston Elementary School fi rst-graders in a special, scaled-down version of Sandcastle Day just for them, and through technology, will plan with the younger students ahead of their arrival. Possibilities like these were actually envisioned years ago and considered when the future of a public school on Sullivan’s Island appeared to be in doubt. During that period, school supporters led by parents including Loren Ziff and Hartley Cooper rallied for its rebuilding and the adoption of a magnet program with a call to “Save & Share SIES.” King, who has served as principal through the whole process, remains thankful that they were successful in making their case, and that many of their visions for what the school could be have turned into reality. “It sounds cheesy,” she admits, “but I do think about that all the time.” And as she looks forward to the work and promise that still lies ahead, she returns back to a critical guiding question: “We have this resource. How can we leverage it to help as many students as possible, including our own 500?” SiP

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ISLAND LIFE

ISLANDS A — Z An incomplete roundup of some of the best things to see, do, and enjoy while living, staying or just day-trippin’ on IOP and Sullivan’s. Compiled by Jennifer Tuohy, Kinsey Gidick, and Margaret Pilarski.

Enjoy Art on the Beach

A unique way to see inside the houses Sullivan’s Island each November, Art on the Beach / Chefs In the Kitchen is a home tour with a twist. Featuring local artists showing their work alongside chef demonstrations inside each home that opens its doors, this event raises money for a worthy local charity — Charleston Pro Bono Legal services.

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Photo by Steve Rosamillia

B Photo by Steve Rosamillia

Photo by Steve Rosamillia

Build a Bonfire

An iconic summer gathering deserves a beach bonfire. Sullivan’s Island is the only local beach that allows for bonfires (with a few caveats — get your permit at least 24 hours in advance, provide a deposit, extinguish it by 11 p.m). So grab those s’more supplies and get cozy.

C Craft SandCastles

Building sandcastles is a beach day no-brainer, but if you want to get really crafty with your castles make time for a visit during the Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting competition on June 1 at the Isle of Palms County Park for some serious inspiration. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 45

D Spot Dolphins

Locals know the best place for dolphin viewing is from Breach Inlet. When the tides change, the beautiful porpoises appear. Nearby Thomson Park offers an easy way to see these majestic creatures, plus parking! But if you want an aerial view, do your dolphin spotting from the rooftop bar of The Boathouse restaurant, where you can enjoy a cocktail while searching the surface for their signature dorsal fin.

Explore the Maritime Forest

Forage at the Farmers Market

Both Sullivan’s and IOP boast farm fresh produce and local arts and crafts at their very own farmers markets. Catch the goodies on Sullivan’s every Thursday, April through June, 4-7 p.m. at Stith Park on Middle Street, and on IOP from September through October, Thursdays, 3-7 p.m.

Photo by Hunter McRae

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Sullivan’s Island is growing. Thanks to the completion of the Charleston jetties in 1890 the island has been accumulating sand on its southern end for over a century. During that time a lush and natural maritime forest has sprouted, offering endless opportunities for exploration, bird-spotting, or just soaking up the beauty of nature. The best access is the path at Station 16 and Atlantic Avenue.

G Gather for Gametime

Bocce ball, volleyball, spikeball, corn hole, ladders... beach games have seen a serious upgrade from just “some sandy soccer.” Bring your equipment from home or rent some from places like Beach and Games To Go and get ready to have some serious fun in the sun.

HI J Have a go at Half Rubber

If beachside games don’t get competitive enough for you, head to the IOP Recreation Center on August 17 for the 21st Annual Half Rubber Tournament. A uniquely Southern sport, this bat and ball game uses a baseball-sized rubber ball that has been cut or sawn in half. The IOP tournament is one of the largest in the sport, and is quite a spectacle, even if you’re too chicken to participate!

Photo by Steve Rosamillia

Cruise the Intracoastal

Most come for the ocean, but our barrier islands offer two wonderful waterways to explore. Grab a boat, kayak or paddleboard and set out to see the serene marshes. As you cruise, take in a different perspective of the islands from this 3,000-mile inland waterway, which runs from Boston, Massachusetts, to Brownsville, Texas.

Jump on a Golf Cart

To the uninitiated, the sight of golf carts buzzing all over the islands, often miles from a golf course, can be confusing. The unofficial official vehicle of island life, owning a golf cart marks you as a local. If you’re just visiting however, it’s worth seeking one out to rent or borrow, as these electric rides get plenty of special treatment (read: parking) in primo spots on both islands. Plus, they’re super fun!

Photo by Jason Ogden

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Round The Mound

On a flat Lowcountry island where do children go to sled when it snows? The Mound! Just behind Stith Park on Sullivan’s Middle Street, the mound is a former mortar battery decommissioned in 1942. It doesn’t get a lot of snow, but its relatively towering height makes it a great playground for all ages.

Take the Kids to Poe Library

When the little ones need a break from the heat, or just a little educational stimulation, head to the cool confines of the Edgar Allan Poe Library on Sullivan’s. This unique book haven is housed in a former Spanish-American War battery, complete with two-feet-thick walls. Named for author Edgar Allan Poe, who was stationed here while in the army, the library has a cornucopia of children's programs, including StoryTime every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Look for Lettered Olive Shells

Fun fact: The lettered olive is South Carolina’s state shell and you can find them washed ashore all along the coastline. Named for the calligraphy-like scribbles that mark its surface, the lettered olive gets its unique look from dye secretions from the predatory sea snail inside. Native Americans that first called the region home made necklaces from the shells. 48 | SiP

Photo by Lori McGee

Navigate to Other Islands

Sullivan’s and IOP are neighbors to three unique island communities: Bulls Island, Goat Island, and Dewees Island. The latter two are private, but if you can swing an invite from a resident they are well worth the boat ride. Bulls Island is a community for critters, there are no human inhabitants. Part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Bulls is the heart of this over 66,000 acre protected wilderness. Discover gators, 293 species of birds, deer, bobcats, and more in this pristine paradise. The best way to get there is the Bulls Island Ferry run by Coastal Expeditions from the IOP Marina.

Pop By the Polar Bear Plunge

Every January 1 residents and visitors line up outside Dunleavy’s Pub on Sullivan’s Island to make a costumed trek to the ocean as part of the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Part party, part fundraiser for the Special Olympics, this family-friendly event is fun to participate in but even more fun to watch — especially on those rare occasions where the temperatures actually do plunge.

Dip A Toe or More in the Ocean

It’s probably why you came here, whether to live or just to visit. The Atlantic Ocean is a powerful draw for people, its beauty, strength, and constant presence is as reassuring as it can be threatening and destructive. Our relationship with the ocean is sometimes complicated, but mostly it’s just a wonderful place to be.

Photo by Hunter McRae

Check Out the Lifesaving Quarters

The Charleston Light gets all the glory, but there are several buildings of interest worth exploring in the U.S. Coast Guard Historic District on Sullivan’s Island. First built in 1891, the Lifesaving Quarters is the oldest, along with its neighboring boathouse. Used to house keepers of the light until an automated system was installed in the ‘70s, the quarters are now primarily administrative offices of the National Park Service, which manages the property. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 49

R S Enjoy a Sunrise at Breach Inlet

Run the Beach

Make like a Baywatch babe and get going! If you like a more organized beach run, sign up for the annual IOP Beach Run/ Walk 5K/10K on July 27. Register now for the chance to get a scenic, sandy run in this summer. Looking for a warm-up race? The Floppin’ Flounder 5K takes place June 1 and supports the Sullivan’s Island Fire Department.

The beauty of a barrier island are sunsets out the back door and sunrises through the front. If you’re not lucky enough to have the perfect perch to see the sunrise, head down to Breach Inlet for the best spot on either island to catch the beauty of the morning rays lighting up the majestic ocean.

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Photo by Lori McGee

Tuck In

Dining on the islands is an experience not to be missed. Roll into any island establishment and you’re sure to be welcomed with open arms and offered a delicious meal, treat, coffee or cocktail. Some SiP favorites include James Beardnominated The Obstinate Daughter for modern Southern twists on Italian food and Home Team BBQ for the best barbecue on Sullivan’s. Over on IOP, Café Paname is a top choice for out-of-this world coffee, Acme Lowcountry Kitchen for Southernfried goodness, and The Refuge for shrimp and grits greatness.

Uncover Sharks Teeth

Entertain the children for hours by giving them a sharks tooth tally to complete while exploring the marshes and sandbars along the intracoastal waterway. Post-storm is the best time for a search, look for black, spiky objects in the sand a bit bigger than a quarter. If you turn up empty-handed, head to the local shops for some shark tooth memorabilia.

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Volunteer with the Turtle Team Want to watch baby turtles emerge from their nests? Follow “Island Turtle Team IOP & SI South Carolina” on Facebook to get insight into when and where its next “inventory” will be during hatching season (July to September). An inventory is done by the team a few days after a nest hatches naturally, to evaluate the nest and help out any late stragglers... which is when you might get a chance to see these fascinating creatures up close and personal.

Yoga at The Island Club

Get your zig-a-zig-ah on at IOP’s Recreation Center with this fun dance workout every Monday and Wednesday evening. Zumba promises to boost energy, improve strength and tone, and burn some calories. If it’s not your speed, the Rec Center offers a slew of adult fitness programs including barre, Tae Kwon Do, tennis, and line dancing. SiP

Check sun salutations off your to-do list at The Island Club, a recreational spot for Sullivan’s Islanders. Its schedule features activities for island residents of all ages, including yoga, ukulele lessons, and summer camps. So grab a neighbor or bring the kiddos for fun opportunities.

Photo by Barbara Bergwerf

Volleyball at the Windjammer

Isle of Palms’ live music venue is the premier place to catch local and touring bands, but it’s also a great spot for beach volleyball. Lounge on the massive deck overlooking the water, and catch the action in the popular summer league, or mosey on out to the beach and play yourself.

EXplore Fort Moultrie

Now a National Historic Park, Fort Moultrie is a must-see on the islands. The fort’s story represents the entire history of static seacoast defense in the United States, from the American Revolution to the end of World War II. Best known for the defeat of the British Navy on June 28, 1776, when the cannon balls famously bounced off the palmetto log walls of the fort, there’s so much history to explore. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 51

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Heart of Glass William Austin Norvell pursues ancient glass-casting technique to Italy and beyond. By Jessie Hazard Photos by Nikole Grozdanov

Opposite Page Island grandson William Austin Norvell. 52 | SiP

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quiet and reflective guy, glass artist William Austin Norvell mostly works alone in his studio, save for the company of his dog, Carlos. The native Charlestonian was raised and operates in Mt. Pleasant, but he currently can be found in Murano, Italy, where he’s on an international team of mold makers and glass casters helmed by famed Venetian glass master Adriano Berengo of Berengo Studios 1989. The group is working to create the largest and fi nest glass casting studio in the world.

Island Child

As a child, Norvell took ceramics, photography, and drawing classes at The Gibbes and at Storefront School of the Arts. According to Norvell, until recently he never thought of himself as an artist. “I was always a maker,” he says. “I just make stuff. Anything really. Ever since I first entered a hot shop (glassblowing studio), I’ve been drawn to the sounds and smells of the furnaces.” Norvell shies away from highbrow intellectual concepts in favor of creating art that looks pretty and functions well. Much of his work is inspired by where he was born and lives, as well as the history and natural resources of Charleston. Growing up, he had a set of grandparents who lived on Middle Street on Sullivan’s Island, Paul and Margie Zander, and another set, Capt. Forrest H. Norvell Jr. and Ruth Stuhr Norvell, on Palm Boulevard on Isle of Palms. Norvell was a frequent guest at both houses, spending his youth summering on IOP and accompanying his grandfather, Paul, to work at the fire station on Sullivan’s. His parents, Forrest H. Norvell III and Cassie Norvell, still own the IOP house where he stays during the winter months. “For me, I don’t draw literal inspiration from the ocean,” says Norvell. “Rather, I get peace of mind knowing the ocean will always be there. Whenever studio life gets frustrating, in a few minutes I can be on the beach where all of my worries drift away. The beach reminds me of good times from my childhood.” He runs Melt Glass Foundry, essentially a commission and production gig for glass and metalwork, taking on custom projects for homes and businesses. One of the most interesting things about Norvell’s work is that it involves glasswork with mold-making and lost wax casting. “When people typically think about glass,” he says, “they assume it’s blown or stained glass. While cast glass is an ancient technique, very few people realize the possibilities.” But contemporary artists are rediscovering cast glass as a medium for fine art.

An Ancient Process

The process begins with a model, usually a found object, hand-carved figure, or 3D printed image. Flexible rubber molds are applied to the object, and then the model is removed, leaving a negative space. Th is is filled with wax that is in turn covered with a refractory mold, which can handle the heat and volatility of the glass. The wax is steamed out of the mold, filled with glass and heated in a kiln over a series of days, sometimes weeks, depending on size and complexity. Norvell’s work has appeared in fi xtures around the city and in the TV series South of Hell. His conceptual art is available through the Vetri Gallery in Seattle and the Bender Gallery in Asheville. Through Melt Glass, Norvell offers a series of products for purchase and is particularly fond of his blue crab oyster knives. Other highlights from his career include a painstaking replica of the H.L Hunley submarine, and a series of loaded classic glass trucks that allow him to experiment with different concepts and techniques while giving a sly nod to the past. Norvell is a collector of things — he started with knick knacks inherited from his packrat grandfather. “I love looking at old tools, or any objects, and thinking about what these objects endured” he says. Nostalgia is a theme that pops up again and again throughout his portfolio. “The material is the most challenging part of creating my work,” he says. “Glass casting can be meticulous and unforgiving. You must be patient; the process is lengthy and you never truly know how the pieces will turn out until you open the kilns, sometimes weeks or months after beginning a piece.” That’s why Norvell constantly pushes himself, taking workshops across the country, expanding his palette and thus his ability to conceptualize a broad spectrum of ideas. When he returns from Italy, Norvell will focus on finishing a series of glass trophies for Sperry Charleston Race Week 2019. In the future he plans to undertake some larger scale pieces. His ultimate goal, however, is always to share in an emotional journey with the people who experience his art. “The most rewarding thing is connecting with people who feel something from the sculptures,” Norvell says. “I hope my work makes someone smile, or think and reflect. I hope it makes someone feel something.” Find Norvell’s work online at meltglassfoundry.com or austinnorvellart.com WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 55

SiP SALUTES

The ‘Pearl ’ of Wild Dunes Long-time Wild Dunes employee Pearl Mazyck reflects on three decades of service to the community at the end of Isle of Palms. By Colin McCandless Photos by Jason Ogden

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Top The Wild Dunes gatehouse that was Mazyck’s domain. Below Images of the destruction Hugo wrought on the community. Photos courtesy WDCA.

er name is Pearl Mazyck, but Wild Dunes residents know her affectionately as “Miss Pearl,” and she is a chief gatekeeper of Wild Dunes, responsible for entry to the island community. Since 1988, Mazyck has marshalled access, first as a gate guard, now as the Wild Dunes Community Association access control coordinator, where she issues property owner decals, barcodes, and courtesy passes, as well as handling contractor passes. In her early days at Wild Dunes, resort CEO Noel Thorn once told her “No matter how great the resort is, it’s nothing without the people who work here.” That statement about the importance of providing first-rate customer service resonated with her and motivated her to strive to always do her best to help people. Mazyck’s strong work-ethic and genial disposition have endeared her to co-workers and residents, contractors and landscapers who she assists on a daily basis. She refers to her Wild Dunes co-workers as her “other family” (she has four children of her own), saying the best part about the job has been meeting “so many different people from so many different walks of life.” This includes contractors from states such as New York or California, a number of whom later returned to buy a home in Wild Dunes and raise their families here. “A lot of people came down and they loved it and stayed,” says Mazyck.

Mostly Happy Memories

The only harrowing memory from her time as a gate guard was the devastation Hurricane Hugo caused just a year after she started her job. Mazyck vividly recalls seeing a rather odd spectacle near the resort’s main gate poststorm: Hugo had swept a house off its foundations and plopped it in the middle of the road. In addition to its unconventional location, the itinerant home’s dining room still remained eerily intact, with not a chair misplaced. She remembers seeing fully-stocked refrigerators floating down the street like domestic flotsam and jetsam. The original security guard house fronting Wild Dunes also succumbed to Hugo’s wrath. “It’s something you’ll never forget,” recounts Mazyck. “It was strange. It was like watching a horror movie.” The islands haven’t witnessed a hurricane the magnitude of Hugo since, so fortunately Mazyck’s subsequent Wild Dunes experiences have been largely positive. Likewise, anyone who interacts with Mazyck comes away feeling good. Whether it’s patiently directing someone to the WDCA office, making people laugh, or lending a sympathetic ear to an individual’s problems, she is committed to providing exceptional customer service. “Sometimes people come talk to me and I listen or give advice,” says Mazyck. “I always just like to have a kind word for somebody.” 58 | SiP

Her knack for customer service goes beyond her 30 years working at Wild Dunes. Prior to her installation at the resort, Mazyck spent 11 years working as a 911 dispatcher. It was a quieter time in Mt. Pleasant, and Mazyck worked as the sole dispatcher in her office and there was only one patrolman on duty. “That just shows you how times have changed,” says Mazyck. She remembers a woman calling who had been bitten by fire ants, she was suffering a severe allergic reaction. When Mazyck dialed EMS, they asked her to stay on the line with the individual until the ambulance arrived. Mazyck endeavored to distract the callers attention away from her predicament. The frantic woman expressed concern that she would lose consciousness, and Mazyck assured, “Don’t you pass out on me! I am right here with you and I will not hang up this phone until EMS comes!” The woman recovered, and later sent a heartfelt letter to the dispatcher’s office dubbing Mazyck “The pearl of 911.” “You felt like you accomplished something when you left, because you helped somebody,” says Mazyck of her 911 dispatcher experience.

Family and Faith Above All

Mazyck has lived in Mt. Pleasant her entire life and her faith has been her rock during some tough personal times. She attends the Friendship AME Church in the Old Village where she ushers and belongs to a group called “Daughters of Sarah,” who donate money to support worthy community causes. Mazyck also sings with the East Cooper Interdenominational Mass Choir. Her husband died 10 years ago, but her neighbors and church friends regularly check up on Mazyck. “There’s a lot of love in the community,” she says. Mazyck has two daughters both living in Charlotte (they married brothers), and two sons, one who she lost way too soon. Reginald, worked in security at Wild Dunes, but tragically succumbed to a brain tumor. His death shook the family, and her youngest daughter Gail, who was pursuing a nursing career at the time, considered quitting college. Mazyck exhorted her to persevere and “be the type of nurse that your brother would be proud of.” Heeding this advice, Gail became an oncology nurse in Charlotte, where for 20 years she helped people battling the disease to which her brother succumbed. Mazyck herself hopes to work at Wild Dunes at least two more years before retiring. “It’s an honor for me to be able to work,” she says. Perhaps it’s no surprise given her commitment to serving the public that Mazyck was also a South Carolina Notary Public and a certified poll manager — she did both for 30 years. She even made a brief foray into local politics, running for Mt. Pleasant Town Council in 1986, but losing in a crowded race of 14 candidates. Her political career may have never taken off, but it’s yet another example of Mazyck’s civic-minded nature. Mazyck sums up this special gift succinctly: “I just have a way with people. I like them and they like me.” SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 59

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The Coleman Curiosity Shop Cliff Simmons has transformed his mother’s nursery into one of Mount Pleasant’s quirkiest and most beloved roadside attractions. Photos and story by Marci Shore.

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enise Gelbaugh, a Columbia, Maryland native, cradles a tiny figurine of a turtle being ridden by an angel as she stands outside Nature’s Garden, a statuary shop at the corner of Rifle Range and Coleman Boulevard. Proprietor Cliff Simmons, leans back casually, wearing shades on this overcast February day. “We’ve been looking for one of these for two decades,” Denise said, obviously stunned by her find. “My brother has a large one and we’ve been looking for a smaller version of it at every roadside stand we’ve gone past for 20 years. I keep a photo of it in my phone just in case.” Both she and her husband Stan are graduates of the University of Maryland, hence the passion for the terrapin theme. They had been searching for that very statue for years. Stan, a former NFL quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks, shared in his wife’s amazement at the unlikely find. Simmons told them he had just received the turtle from his supplier the day before. He had only opened the store that day to accommodate this magazine interview, he’s normally closed on Saturday. The fates had conspired to bring the angel riding turtle home. “This isn’t that unusual,” Simmons says. “This kind of thing actually happens quite often.” Magic, whimsy, and a bit of mystery permeates the corner lot. Concrete unicorns, Bigfoot, Jesus, and Andy Griffith overlook the bustling intersection. “A potpourri of statues and metal art,” as Simmons describes it, is scattered throughout the property. “There are a lot of people on Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms who have driven past Nature’s Garden over the years, but who have never stopped,” he says. When people finally stop, sometimes they say they just wanted to find out what’s going on here. “They always knew they wanted to stop.”

A Family Affair

Simmons was born and raised on the property, he grew up in the house next to the corner market, and spent his entire life here. His mother Mildred Simmons ran Mount Pleasant Nursery in this spot for thirty years, selling mostly plants and produce. Simmons continued in that tradition until just a few years ago when he stopped selling plants and produce and focused entirely on the statuary. Nature’s Garden’s slogan is “A Flavor of Its Own.” Even though they no longer have produce, the slogan still fits, says Simmons. There is only one “Nature’s Garden,” and Simmons considers his spot an oasis in the middle of a bustling Mount Pleasant. As vestiges of the Old Village he grew up in have disappeared over the last decades, Simmons knows he could have sold the corner lot for a tidy profit. But he has no negativity to express about the changes in his hometown. Instead, he loves his place as a curiosity among the modernity. He talks of the children he sees “glued to the car windows” at the stoplight. “It’s like they think the unicorns are real, or they’ve just spotted Bigfoot and they can reach out and pet it or capture it,” he says. He doesn’t mind that people stop and take selfies with Bigfoot, which by the way, is a big seller. To him, Nature’s Garden is “a work in progress.” By spring he hopes to have a nature pathway winding back behind the store, and to have all of the statues organized into categories to make it easy to locate them. “I want it to be a place where people can stop and take a break, and maybe forget about where they were or where they just came from. They’ll go right back to the rat race but for a moment they can slow down.” SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 63

SiP SALUTES

Wheel of Fortune For artist Adele Deas Tobin, pottery isn’t just a creative outlet, it’s a way to see the world By Mimi Wood Photos by Jason Ogden

dele Deas Tobin has her fingers in a lot of pots. She’s the Vice President of the Battery Gadsden Cultural Center, she volunteers with the National Park Service, as a Friend of the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse, and she serves on the Sullivan’s Island Tree Commission. Classically trained on the piano, she plays guitar and ukulele regularly with Marcy Krawcheck and Anne Trott, performing as The Honeybees. Separately, she and her “incredibly supportive husband,” singer/songwriter Bob Tobin share the stage with friend and mandolin player, Bob Sachs. She and Gary Lyons play for residents at Alzheimer’s Respite Care, and she volunteers a couple times a month at the Charleston Music Hall. All this before she even puts her fingers in the pots. You can’t call Adele’s Pottery her passion, because Tobin is passionate about everything that touches her life. However, her thick, crooked fingers attest to a life spent pulling clay; her lean body perhaps the result of untold years manually operating her potter’s wheel. Demonstrating, she explains nonchalantly, “It’s called a kick-wheel. I added a washing machine motor to give me the option to power it electrically, but I prefer using my feet.” Is there anything this woman can’t do? A rare mash-up of left and right brain, Tobin makes her own glazes for her useable art. “I always liked chemistry, and it’s a good thing,” because there’s a lot of chemistry involved in the glaze recipes. “When I see the color of a shell, the color of the sky, or the color of the ocean, my mind immediately turns to ‘how can I make that color into a glaze?’ A lot of people buy them pre-made; I can’t imagine. I like being in control of my glazes, and I want to ensure they’re food-safe.” 64 | SiP

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Upon graduating from Ashley Hall in the 1970s, Tobin ended up at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC. As a college senior, Tobin took a couple of art courses, and “fell in love with wood sculpture.” After graduation, she found herself in Maine, where she was introduced to ceramics. “I’d never seen it before. I didn’t even know what pottery was. But I saw a guy working on a wheel, and said ‘That’s what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.’” Back in DC, working as a chef at Clyde’s, an iconic hangout for politicos, she landed an apprenticeship with Jill Hinckley, to this day a renowned potter. “We mixed clays, made glazes, loaded kilns, repaired kilns…you name it,” Tobin recalls. “We didn’t get paid, but we earned studio time.” Looking back, she marvels at how she kept such an arduous schedule. Ironic, as it doesn’t appear she’s slowed down one iota, 40-some years later. Her tales of travel throughout the middle and far east in the 1970s are astonishing. With $1,000 each in their pockets and not much else, she and current Isle of Palms resident Brandt Saunders took off to join their friend Jennet Alterman, who was serving in the Peace Corps in Kabul, Afghanistan. “We were in Iran when the Shah was overthrown, and Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded. The borders were shut with us inside,” she says. “Th is was before cell phones and Internet, so we had no contact with the outside world. Luckily, we were too young and innocent to be afraid, or to fully understand the dangers.” They spent nearly a year travelling across India, meandering through Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. “More times than not we’d sleep on a dirt floor, in the home of a local, for a rupee or two. It was a fortune to them,” she recalls. After working in Australia and New Zealand to earn enough to return stateside, Tobin resumed her former life in DC, working by day at Hinckley’s studio and by night at Clyde’s. Miraculously, she found time to open her own pottery studio. Tobin returned to her native Charleston in 1981, when her mother became ill, and immediately set up shop on Sullivan’s Island, working out of two school buses. “The Town of Sullivan’s Island was not impressed with my buses,” she grins, “despite the ‘bohemian’ feel of the island back then.” The understated “Adele’s Pottery” sign that hangs outside her charming gallery and studio today on Middle Street, built by her multi-talented husband Bob, has been a town landmark ever since. In addition to gallery sales and private commissions, Tobin has taught several generations of island children the joy of pottery. Tobin’s most recent endeavor, along with friend, Ross Mingledorff, is “building a small gas-fired kiln, to get some diversity in glaze results.” She typically fires her work in two large electric kilns. When teaching, she employs a Japanese firing technique called raku, as well as pit firing, “so that my students could experience many types of firings.” Tobin is always eager to experience, explore, and create, and not just tangible pottery. “Ross and I recently accompanied Randy Glenn on a trip to Haiti. We went to see if the clay that the Haitians were excavating, as part of Hurricane Irma reconstruction, could be used to produce pottery for sustainable income in the village of La Chapelle.” ”I’ve been given a wonderful gift to be able to be part of this community,” she says. And what a wonderful gift she is to the islands.

Selling on Sullivan’s? Contact Jimmy Dye, REALTOR® and Sullivan’s Island Resident

Jimmy Dye Founding Partner, Broker-in-Charge The Cassina Group

843.452.6482 JDye@TheCassinaGroup.com ExploreSullivans.com WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 67

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Offering the finest outdoor furniture collections DESIGN CENTER LOCATION 1717 N. Highway 17 Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Phone: 843-718-7181

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Photo by Tim Wright

THE MAGIC OF Mah Jong Sullivan’s Island resident Pat Ilderton’s historic yawl turns heads around the world. By Stratton Lawrence.

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Photo by Stratton Lawrence

Pat Ilderton sits aboard his skiff before traveling out to meet Mah Jong, waiting for him off Wadmalaw Island.

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PAT ILDERTON DIDN'T SET OUT TO OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY — HE JUST WANTED A RELIABLE BOAT TO CRUISE THE INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY OR ISLAND HOP IN THE CARIBBEAN.

Something much grander was in the cards, or rather, in the mah jong tiles, for Ilderton — a longtime resident of Sullivan’s Island. After a three-year renovation on Martha’s Vineyard, his 52-foot yawl has returned to sea. Designed by Newport, Rhode Island’s famous Sparkman & Stephens and built in Hong Kong in 1957, Mah Jong takes its name from the Cantonese tile game of chance. Fortunately, those willing to gamble on Mah Jong have reaped abundant rewards. In 1958, Mah Jong’s maiden voyage from Asia to New England included a cruise through the Greek Isles, chronicled in a lengthy feature in the December 1958 issue of National Geographic. Ilderton didn’t know that when he flew to Tortola to see the boat in 2013. He’d already decided to pass on a boat he’d gone to England to buy, but over beers after that difficult decision, his contact intrigued him with his enthusiasm about this halfcentury old Bermudan yawl. On his initial test sail of Mah Jong, the experienced crew broke the taffrail and ran the boat into a dock. “I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m just glad these guys are screwing up so I don’t have to make an excuse not to buy this boat,’” Ilderton recalls. Despite the mishaps, Mah Jong “felt so right and so strong.” The friends he’d brought along dismissed the idea. “They thought I was crazy. The boat looked pretty rough.” But Mah Jong wouldn’t go away, and once Ilderton connected with Vineyard Haven’s Gannon & Benjamin boatyard and heard their excitement, he decided to go all in, shipping the boat to New England. Ilderton’s casual, satisfied air as we board the boat just off Wadmalaw Island, on a warm late October evening belies the effort and expense he’s put into the project, but that’s his natural demeanor. Where one man sees an overwhelming task full of costly pitfalls, Ilderton sees opportunity and beauty.

BUILDING IN THE BLOOD

Photo by Sarah Mae Barker

Although he grew up in High Pont, North Carolina, Ilderton’s parents and extended family hail from Charleston, and he spent summers here as a child. After a brief stateside stint in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, he landed on the Eastern Shore, working construction and crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay. He didn’t consider himself a hippie, but he related to that mindset more than say, selling insurance or joining his father in the car dealership business. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 73

Ilderton moved to Sullivan’s Island with little more than his tools, picking up carpentry work for $2 an hour. After a year, he made a down payment on a house on the island, purchased for $32,000. “My wife Cheryl taught school, so we had enough to make the payments. My dad thought we were crazy for paying that much, but I felt right about it,” recalls Ilderton. His first employee, Neil Sawyer, was into wooden boats, and Ilderton started sailing in his free time. He bought a Sunfish, then upgraded to a Hobie Cat. Meanwhile, his reputation for quality craftsmanship quickly grew his home-building business. He purchased a lot on Middle Street and built a workshop and an office, with plenty of room to build cabinets and cut trim. That building is now Mex 1 Coastal Cantina. Ilderton continued buying adjacent property, ultimately building everything between Mex 1 and Dunleavy’s except for the Bert’s Bar building (now Home Team BBQ). “I tried to hold the vernacular of Sullivan’s Island in those buildings,” says Ilderton, whose approach to building has always been to follow his own tastes and not let preconceptions dictate the style. Despite being the boss at his job sites, he was able to hand off the boat’s restoration to Gannon & Benjamin without hesitation. Likewise, onboard, he heeds full-time captain, Alex Goldhill. Goldhill grew up in Carriacou (in the Grenadines) before sailing his boat solo from the lower Caribbean to Vineyard Haven to apprentice with Gannon & Benjamin. He’s worked on Mah Jong since it first entered the shipyard in 2014. Goldhill explains the plank-on-frame method, with seams caulked with cotton, used to restore the boat. Mah Jong was torn apart and put back together. “Once we took the deck off, it exposed more structural problems,” says Ilderton. The original designers, Sparkman & Stephens, are sometimes called the Frank Lloyd Wright of wooden boat building, necessitating a strict — and costly — adherence to traditional methods during the rebuild. Olin Stephens is regarded as the father of fast boats, and his signature design is the Mah Jong’s two-mast yawl rig, featuring a “tiny little handkerchief of a sail” behind the rudder post that balances the boat and provides a secret weapon — the ability to fly a big downwind sail across the boat. That functionality is punctuated by beauty — teak decks, original spruce booms and masts, original bronze winches and decorative bronze inlays throughout the cabin. Goldhill worked at the boatyard for four years. Near the end, Ilderton joined him and four others for a boat delivery from Martha’s Vineyard to Bermuda. “It was December and cold and rainy and howling,” Goldhill recalls. “Nobody would admit it at the time, but it was stupid to go out in that weather.” Ilderton, new to ocean sailing, assumed the experience was normal. “I figured we were supposed to be cold and miserable, and this is what I signed up for.” While half the crew became sick and confined to their bunks, Ilderton and Goldhill pulled extra shifts together. When Mah Jong was completed, Ilderton offered him a job onboard that will soon take him around the world. 74 | SiP

Photo by Sarah Mae Barker

Mah Jong in the Martha’s Vineyard boat shed where it was rebuilt by Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway.

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In its first year back at sea, Mah Jong toured Maine and the Caribbean, including a visit to the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta where the boat enjoyed celebrity status. It’s been featured on the cover of Classic Boat magazine, billed as “the magazine for the world’s most beautiful boats.” It’s not an exaggeration to put Mah Jong in the upper echelon of that category. “Every time I take the dinghy out or I’m standing ashore looking out at the harbor, it’s an unmistakable shake, you know?” Goldhill describes. “This boat has character. When people go by, they have to stop and take a look. So many people around the world have a personal relationship with this boat.” Goldhill says this moments before leaving Ilderton’s dock on Wadmalaw Island for a transit to Bermuda. Ilderton accompanies Mah Jong to Bohicket Creek to fuel up before the crew departs. On the way back to his dock in his motorboat (wooden, built by Charleston boatwright Mark Bain), a neighbor hails him to comment on Mah Jong. “That is the most beautiful sailboat I have ever seen!” she hollers across the water. It’s a “damn goodlooking boat” says Ilderton. Fortunately, he doesn’t mind having this conversation again and again. Mah Jong is a magnet, he says. “It’s a good star that guided this boat’s rebirth.” After another season around the Caribbean and New England, Ilderton hopes to sail it to Europe for four years, exploring the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the Mediterranean. Ilderton’s family will join him for segments, but he admits the self interest in his motivations. “It was definitely ego-driven — a vision or a path I wanted to walk,” he explains, citing his college experience at Belmont Abbey. “English majors are always trying to figure something out — looking for an answer in things.” In addition to helping Ilderton explore, Mah Jong is also available for charters. He donated three days on the boat at the 2018 Center for Birds of Prey fundraising gala, and launched sailmahjong.com to allow guests to charter day sails or join as crew in classic wooden boat races. Mah Jong’s story has stretched from Hong Kong to Sullivan’s Island, and its second chapter is finally under sail. It’s a boat that elicits emotion and passion and stories. To see it is to want to sail it. The ocean’s horizon is beautiful from any boat — Mah Jong simply adds to the grandeur. SiP 76 | SiP

Photo by Stratton Lawrence

A GR AND ADVENTURE

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Captain’s Log Sullivan’s last shimper, Waring Hills, looks back at an eventful life on the water. By Delores Schweitzer Photos by Minette Hand

olaroids in an album tell the story of a family tied to the tides — embracing the ebbs and flows of hardships and happiness that have come from a lifetime of working on the water. A shrimp trawler by the name of Laura Anne figures prominently in the photos, as a central provider for the Hills family, welcoming their friends in celebration of the bounty she supplied. To see how the boat came to be, we must go back further, before there were grandchildren, or children, or a wife to partake in dock parties and Blessings of the Fleet. This is a story of how a man found a calling as a shrimper, and how he has made a life on Sullivan’s Island. 78 | SiP

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Previous page Waring with his Laura Anne, now called Miss Paula. Left Waring at his home — a former Sergeants’ Quarters on Sullivan’s Island.

Born A Village Boy Herman Waring Hills was born in 1938 in the little village of Mount Pleasant, the second son of Marion Waring Hills and Wilhelmina “Mina” Rush Hills. Waring’s father hailed from Edisto Island, while Mina came from Cameron, near Orangeburg. The Depression hit Edisto hard. “They had to leave,” recalls Waring. “There was nothing but starvation.” In the early 1930s, his father Marion and much of his family relocated to the Charleston area, where he and Waring’s grandfather parlayed their carpentry skills into a home building business using reclaimed lumber. Expecting a real estate boom, Marion bought a whole block in the Old Village, bounded by Hill and Pherigo streets, where the family settled. Waring attended Mount Pleasant Academy and Moultrie Junior High, but the confines of the schoolroom were not for him. Soon he found himself working in the family business. Like his father, he was good with his hands, but he didn’t care for that line of work, so at 15, he decided to give shrimping a try. Likewise, his older brother Marion was a mechanic at the local Cadillac dealership, but he dreaded doing the same job for 20 years. “Shrimping was ideal,” says Waring “You’re outdoors your whole life. You’re a free man. All you’ve got to do is work hard.” Work, they did. While learning the trade from the Magwood family, they rebuilt a surplus experimental boat from the Army Transportation Corps. The MTL (Motor Towboat Large) was 46 feet long, too narrow, and very unstable. Still, it was built of good lumber and sturdy, and two years later, it was seaworthy and outfitted for shrimping. The brothers kept the name thinking surely they would get a better boat soon.

Embracing Island Life The MTL was one of 60 to 70 boats working out of Shem Creek back then. A traffic jam ensued at 3 o’clock each morning from late spring through winter, everyone eager to get ice in the hold so they could make it to their favorite spots by 4 or 5 o’clock. “We just went where we wanted, and that’s why I loved it,” says Waring. The MTL had no insulation, so Waring and his brother hauled 300 pound blocks of ice to their boat and covered them in gunny sacks to hold the cold. “My life was spent off Morris Island. It was pretty tough in shallow water avoiding the shoals and jetties. You didn’t want to wreck your boat and the tide would run real strong. But we were just consistent and went at it, and in a week, we had a good wage.” On average, they would bring in 200 to 300 pounds of shrimp per day. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 81

Other boats — the southern and northern draggers — took their larger insulated holds further afield. Initially the MTL wasn’t equipped for the treacherous offshore waves. Some years later, the brothers added a thousand pound scrap piece of railroad track to the keel for stabilization, enabling them to travel to places like Fernandina Beach and St. Augustine in search of brown and white shrimp. Waring continued living on the family property in Mount Pleasant, while Marion married and started a family, moving to an old Sergeants’ Quarters house with a dock on the Intracoastal Waterway on Sullivan’s Island. Feeling confident, the brothers commissioned a 68-foot vessel from builders in Holden Beach, North Carolina. But before they could take delivery, tragedy struck. Marion developed an infection of the heart, and he died at the age of 31.

Becoming Captain Jap Knowing he couldn’t manage the new boat on his own, and eager to provide for himself, his brother’s wife and their three children, Waring sold his investment in the new boat and went back to working the MTL on his own. All established shrimpers have nicknames, assigned in fun, but said with respect. Waring’s nickname came from this tumultuous time. From afar, fellow shrimpers would see Waring’s small form on his modified military boat, working with determination to bring in his daily catch, and they thought of the old World War II movies. Even today, Waring can walk around Shem Creek and some still call him Captain Jap, recalling the stereotypical industry of the Japanese. Industry defined Waring for the next three years, proving himself as he built a new future. He married his brother’s widow Bernice (known to many as Bunny), and adopted Laura, Mark, and Marion, their three children, moving to Sullivan’s and becoming a devoted father and member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. And with the savings he earned working for himself, he contracted for a new 55-foot boat from Holden Beach named for his daughter. The Laura Anne proved herself a worthy companion for several generations of the Hills family. Waring’s father Marion worked with him from the age of 59 to 67. Both sons and their friends spent weekends and summers enjoying the life that had drawn Waring and his brother to the trade. Later, a son-in-law and grandsons joined the trawler crew, all appreciating the peace, industry, and camaraderie of life on the water. Waring has a shrimp net full of stories, told with his wry, mischievous smile and light humor. Memories of the famed Mosquito Fleet — the African-American fisherman who took their sailboats 10-15 miles offshore in pursuit of blackfish and would playfully rib the shrimpers who had to wait on the tides to come back in. Or the time he got caught in 20-foot seas off Georgia and it took over 13 hours to get back to shore. His eyes crinkle when speaking of his shrimping friends and heroes — Sonny Schirmer, June and CA Magwood, Jr., Tom Chandler, the Mizzells of Sullivan’s Island, the ladies who would sit at the dock heading shrimp, and Captain Lewis Porcher, who would preach on the radio when they went out on Sundays. 82 | SiP

Waring and his longtime friend, fellow-islander Bunky Odom.

Then Came Hugo And then there was Hugo. When the Category 4 storm took aim at Charleston in 1989, Waring outfitted the Laura Anne with lots of tire bumpers and took her up to Shipyard River, a creek across the harbor above the Cooper River bridge, protected and away from a lot of the big docks. A line of boats from Shem Creek tied up together, recognizing safety in numbers. Waring tied the Laura Anne to two 72-foot boats just before the storm hit. “I had the throttle wide open and the wheel hard left to Port, just to hold it into the wind. The seas were about 6 feet up the creek. I had a long line run to the dock, and when the eye of the hurricane passed, I switched it from the bow to the stern and set the boat in reverse. Same thing, hard left, full throttle, just trying to back it into the wind. It was about two hours before, then the eye, and two hours after. We kept talking on the CBs. Some boats sank, so they would just get on the radio, say ‘Boat’s going down’ and jump on another boat. After four hours of Hades, we were all thinking we would never do this again,” Waring laughs, and adds, “Well, not until the next hurricane.” Fortunately, he never had a repeat of September 1989, and Laura Anne provided for the family another 22 years. Son Marion and son-in-law Jimmy Avinger ran her for the last 10 years with Waring helping out. In 2011, Waring sold her to the Tarvin family, who keep her at Shem Creek and have rechristened her the Miss Paula.

And So It Ebbs and Flows Like the tides with which he is so familiar, Waring knows life ebbs and flows. From the shrimp boom in the ‘50s, to the fuel crisis in the late ‘70s, to the rise of imported shrimp and decline in local commercial shrimping. From the joy of working with his brother to the loss of him at 31, and then his son Mark to cancer at 21, and his beloved Bunny after 50 years of marriage. He keeps things in perspective. “I’ve had a lot of tragedy in my life but you got to keep going. You can’t forget about it, but like my Dad said, just keep busy and get back to work.” With the Laura Anne gone, he fills his time with family and good friends like Bunky Odom. It’s a lot slower pace for a working man, one that invites deeper thoughts about navigating life’s waters with skill and hope. When asked what he misses, he is quick to answer “Everything. I spent 59 years shrimping, the majority off Morris Island, and I still dream about it. Things like avoiding the jetties when we didn’t have a radar to tell us where they were. We just had to go by what we saw and what we knew was there but couldn’t see.” SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 83

Command Performance Battery Gadsden Cultural Center, artist Jonathan Green, and PURE Theatre partner to share a nearly forgotten history with a dramatic outdoor retelling on Sullivan’s Island. By Carol Antman Photos by Minette Hand

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“Morning Dew stood on the ramparts of Fort Moultrie in a crowd of mourning Seminoles. A military salute fired overhead, an ironic tribute to her deceased husband Osceola. He lay upon the floor of the fort in his full war dress; his face, neck, wrist, and the back of his hands painted red, his knife across his chest. The great warrior, the only Indian leader to have never signed a treaty with the United States, had eluded death on the battlefield yet fallen to sickness. Upon his passing he was famous, a mythical hero who was toasted for his righteous fight: ‘To the still unconquered red man.’” Osceola’s Muse is a theatrical story about the marriage of the famous Seminole warrior Osceola to Morning Dew, the daughter of a union between an escaped slave and a Native American. Its themes of subjugation, brutality, and unlikely alliances, resonate from Fort Moultrie’s ancient walls to news headlines today. This compelling episode of history, which ended beneath the soil of Sullivan’s Island, inspired a collaboration of actors, artists, and members of the Native American and cultural communities to conceive of a unique retelling at Battery Gadsden Cultural Center this October. Celebrated painter Jonathan Green, who designed the costumes and scenery for the production says, “We here in South Carolina are beginning to tell our own truths through the arts and history.”

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Jonathan Green found ample inspiration in the story of Morning Dew to continue his mission of capturing the beauty of African Americans in his work. These sketches are of costumes for the upcoming performance of Osceola’s Muse. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 87

Asseola (sic), a Seminole leader / drawn, printed, and colored at J.T. Brown's lithographic establishment. Courtesy Library of Congress

The Tragedy of

Osceola and Morning Dew

When they met, Osceola was 22 years old and Morning Dew just 15. Their childhoods had already been shaped by brutal aggression. Thrown in prison when he was 14 years old, Osceola and his Creek mother had repeatedly fled South as militias drove them out. Morning Dew was the daughter of a Seminole brave and a runaway slave, many of whom had settled in the Florida Everglades and intermarried with the burgeoning Seminole tribe. One fateful day, as Osceola bent to drink from a creek, he spied Morning Dew in the forest. She became his first wife and the tribe’s English translator. Morning Dew was Osceola’s muse. The threat to her people enraged him — the fates of slaves and freed Blacks were continuously used as political bargaining chips. Black Seminole leaders shrewdly joined forces with the tribe under Osceola’s leadership and recruited slaves on plantations to fight with them. Osceola goaded U.S. troops by saying, “You have guns and so have we. You have powder and lead, and so have we. You have men and so have we. Your men will fight and so will ours, till the last drop of the Seminole’s blood has moistened the dust of his hunting ground.” Tom Sobol, a Fort Moultrie historian, says the U.S. government resented the coalition between the Seminoles and Blacks and created economic warfare that drove them farther and farther from their maritime lands. After years of hardship, weakened by sickness and depleted ranks, coalition leaders realized they couldn’t fight any longer and initiated treaty negotiations. Despite a white flag of surrender flying above the Seminole settlement, troops seized them. Headlines appeared worldwide telling of the Seminoles capture by deceit, causing a furor of anti-government criticism that continues today. Osceola, Morning Dew, and over 100 tribal members were imprisoned at Fort Moultrie where Osceola became something of a celebrity. Each morning he put on regalia to meet scores of curious visitors. One was the portrait artist George Caitlin who described him as, “A most extraordinary man…a cunning and restless spirit.” His influence, the artist added, extended “to the remotest parts of the United States, and amongst the Indian tribes, to the Rocky Mountains.” Osceola was buried at Fort Moultrie in 1838 under a commemorative stone inscribed (with no apparent irony): “Patriot and Warrior.” A month later Morning Dew and the remaining prisoners began the arduous journey to their new reservation near Oklahoma. Hundreds of their Black Seminole brethren accompanied them onto what came to be known as the Trail of Tears.

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The original Battery Gadsden, a part of Fort Moultrie, will be the venue for this interactive theatrical production, written by Rodney Lee Rogers from PURE Theatre, a modern theater company based in Charleston. Th ree of the Battery’s historic gun emplacements will serve as the stages where actors will enact vignettes to tell the story of Osceola and Morning Dew. To complement the production, two of the rooms inside Battery Gadsden will feature accompanying art inspired by the story. Kris Manning’s art installation will present an interpretation of what the island’s oldest trees would tell us if they could, and renowned Native American musician Delia Chariker will perform her music. Audience members will walk through each scene at their own pace, until they arrive at the fi nale. “Th is is an amazing opportunity to blend history, place, and theater together in a way that illuminates the forgotten past as well as marches toward a progressive future,” says Rogers.

Seeking Inspiration

Green, whose colorful Gullah paintings are collected worldwide, has been truly inspired by Morning Dew. Although much of her story has been lost, she remains a mysteriously captivating character and a symbol of the fierce alliance of Native Americans, freed Blacks, and slaves that ended so tragically. Cultural intersections have compelled Green throughout his career. When he infused Spoleto’s 2016 production of Porgy and Bess with African aesthetic, it was a revelatory moment in Charleston’s cultural history. He’s enthusiastic about doing that again for Osceola’s Muse. “My role is in preserving the visual imagery of our culture,” he says. “It’s my role coming from one culture and being part of another. I’m always thinking of what I can do to visually remind us of the beauty of Africans.” Historical depictions of Osceola and Morning Dew show African influences in their dress, along with colonial and Native ones. Green’s costumes combine the traditional Seminole accessories such as ostrich features with kente cloth and diamond shapes. “Every time I approach the canvas, I strive to capture the magnificent legacy my ancestors left me and my family, despite their enslavement, oppression, and horrific challenges I choose to paint my heritage not with angst but to celebrate the traditions.” "The mission of the Battery Gadsden Cultural Center is not just preservation of island history, but also of island culture,” says Michael Walsh, president of the Center. “Osceola's Muse will fulfi ll both the cultural and historical goals of our organization.” And provide an inspirational evening of provocative theater.

See Osceola’s Muse Osceola’s Muse will be presented at Battery Gadsden, 1917 I’On Ave. on Sullivan’s Island, Fridays and Saturdays October 11 and 12, 18 and 19, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. (rain dates October 25, 26). Tickets at puretheatre.org $35 general admission, $55 VIP (available this Fall) An opening reception and pop-up show of Jonathan Green’s original costume design sketches, will be at Sandpiper Gallery, 2201 Middle Street, Friday, Oct.11 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. sandpipergallery.net. batterygadsden.com - puretheatre.org WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 89

The Surf Deck opened in 1946, nearly fifty years after Nicholas Sottile built the first house on Isle of Palms. Photo courtesy City of IOP 90 | SiP

Island Keepers Mike Sottile reflectS on how hiS faMily’S 120-year hiStory haS helped Shaped the SandS of iSle of palMS. By kinSey Gidick photoS By hunter Mcr ae

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Photo courtesy City of IOP

driving down the Beach, horseBack riding aLong PaLm BouLevard, circLing aBove the intracoastaL on a ferris wheeL.

Photo courtesy Mike Sottile

The famous ferris wheel was originally built for Chicago World’s Fair in 1892. At 186 feet, the wheel dwarfed the few buildings on IOP, including this gentlemen’s clubhouse and cafe.

Photo courtesy City of IOP

This early image on IOP beach was probably taken in the 1920s when the beach was often used for automobile races.

The Playland Pavillion replaced the first pavillion that burned in the twenties. It too was destroyed by fire in 1953, but not before hosting The Drifters and James Brown. 92 | SiP

It’s hard to picture the Isle of Palms of State Representative Mike Sottile’s childhood. Before the 5.4-mile island became a sought-after address, it was a native American hunting ground, a turn of the century summer retreat, and a postWWII blue collar community. That’s the era Mike remembers, back when former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley’s siblings were his playmates, spending their summer afternoons riding horses together down the beach. Back when Mike’s father, Frank, and his uncle, Salvatore, were developing the future of this spit of land on the Atlantic Coast. “We used to ride horses every day,” says Mike of his summer afternoons. “One time a hurricane was coming, I forget which one, but we turned my Marsh Tacky loose on the island. He was safer out of the barn than in the barn when the hurricane hit.” Fortunately, Mike’s pony weathered the storm and was found shortly after his family returned to IOP, but the experience speaks to how undeveloped and semi off-the-grid the island still was during Mike’s youth. The first bridge to the island was built in 1946, two years before Mike was born. “You know, in my lifetime, I’ve seen three different bridges at Breach Inlet,” Mike says. He’s seen more than that. The 30-year public servant, who served on City Council, as Mayor of IOP, and continues as S.C. House District 112 representative, helped shape what we now know as the Isle of Palms. And it all started in 1898.

Beach Landing

It was the cusp of the 20th century, Congress declared war on Spain, the USS Maine sunk in Havana, and Nicholas and Josephina Sottile, Mike’s grandparents, built the first house on Isle of Palms. Sicilian immigrants, the Sottiles hired a ferry to transport their cargo from Charleston to the small port on Hamlin Creek, since there was no bridge to the island at that time. That same year, Dr. Joseph S. Lawrence began working to develop what was known as Long Island. Lawrence saw the barrier island as a potential holiday retreat, the future “Coney Island of the South.” As such, the name Long Island wouldn’t do. So Lawrence renamed it Isle of Palms and a holiday getaway was born. While Mike’s grandfather was getting his large Italian family settled, Dr. Lawrence was turning IOP into a vacation hub. By the early 1900s, Lawrence’s Charleston — Isle of Palms Traction Company had built the Hotel Seashore, an amusement park, and a pavilion, greeting black-bathingsuit clad revelers from as far off as New York City. Incidentally, it was James Sottile, a cousin of Mike’s grandfather, who would became the president of the Charleston — Isle of Palms Traction Company. “He had the dance hall,” says Mike of James Sottile. According to the book Images of America: Isle of Palms by Wendy Nilsen Pollitzer, in the 1900s James’ pavilion dance hall was the largest in the South at 400 feet. The pavilion would later burn down and James would make his way to Florida, where he earned his fortune creating the South Dade Farms, Inc. Investments in land, drainage ditches, and road construction made him one of the wealthiest men in America when he died in 1946. Back on IOP, the rest of the Sottile family was also experiencing success thanks to their immigrant work ethic and community-minded spirit.

Mike Sottile has followed in his family’s footsteps by becoming Mayor of Isle of Palms and shaping the community his grandfather helped found. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 93

Left to right, Police Chief Eddie Walters, August W. Anderson, councilman Salvatore Sottile, Wiley Horn, and Mayor Herb Lauden in front of the old IOP city hall, which was replaced after Hurricane Hugo.

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Photo courtesy City of IOP

Building Boom

It didn’t take long for Mike’s father Frank to see the potential of the island. In 1945, Frank went into business with attorney and entrepreneur John Charles Long, better known as JC, and formed The Beach Company. “My father partnered with JC Long and they developed the island,” Mike says. Long had purchased 1,300 acres of the island. “The Navy yard was going full guns back then and JC was blue collar himself, believe it or not, and he wanted to have a community that catered to the working class people.” Long began building small, affordable homes all over the island. Today, on streets like Cameron and 39th Avenue, you can still see some of his remaining homes — concrete 1,200 square foot slabs with concrete roofs. “He considered them fire-proof homes, they wouldn’t burn,” remembers Mike. “Back then we didn’t have a fire department, so that was a plus.” The affordable housing ushered in a new era on the island, a beachside suburban utopia for a post-war generation. One resident, Dolly Dangerfield, recalled during a 2016 City of Isle of Palms’ recreation department oral accounts evening, that Long offered her parents a home on the island for $200 down and $58 a month. According to Dangerfield, her parents told him they only had $58 and he told them to pay him back one day. “Before this island really transformed into a resort, you could take a sleeping bag and sleep on Palm Boulevard in the winter and not worry about getting run over,” resident Richard Campsen shared at the session. “It was a good, family-oriented island. We didn’t have any problems, no crime,” says Mike. In fact, during Mike’s childhood, Isle of Palms only had one police man. “His name was Eddie Walters.” Everyone knew everyone and if things went south, as it did the night of the 1953 Playland Pavilion fire — the second pavilion to burn down — the island worked together to make it right. Mike, who was five at the time, remembers the fire vividly. “My father came home, I’ll never forget it. I was in the backyard, I remember him coming home and he had a great big old Packard automobile,” says Mike. “We had two men working for us, Willy and Ozzy. Well, he came in that car and said, ‘Come on Willy, we got to go. Got a fire.’ And I jumped in the car with them.” By the time Frank, Mike, and Willy made it to the creosote timber structure, it was too late. The unincorporated community’s 1929 American LaFrance 500-gallon pumper truck could do little to stop the blaze. “The place was engulfed in fire and no way at all to put the fire out,” says Mike. “There was a carnival area with a ferris wheel and merry-go-round. The fire was so hot it blistered the paint on the merry-go-round.” But just as it had after the 1920s pavilion fire, and again with the Playland burn, the town of Isle of Palms banded together to rebuild. That stubborn determination would come to define the community, especially after 1989’s Hurricane Hugo.

i sAw how my fAmily wAs involved

in the originAl development of the islAnd And it wAs All ABout the people. i wouldn’t live Anywhere else. - mike sottile

A new erA

The Category 4 Hurricane was cataclysmic for the island and it would be the force of nature that pushed Mike Sottile into politics. The Tuesday before Hugo, the town council held a referendum to build a second bridge to connect the island to the mainland. As WUSA-TV would report on September 28, “When the flood waters receded, they’d find they’d need two new bridges.” “I was in the insurance business when Hugo hit,” recalls Mike who found himself suddenly with an island of shell-shocked customers. “People were living in these little campers in the front yard because they couldn’t live in the house and were waiting on insurance money. I’d go there and just hold their hands. They were devastated. Particularly the older folks, they didn’t know if they were going to be able to stay.” The sheer destruction made Mike all the more determined to commit himself to a life as a public servant. In 1990 he joined IOP City Council and served until 2001, before running and becoming elected as IOP Mayor in 2001. Though he’s split his time between his beloved island and the South Carolina Legislature, where he’s served as a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 112 since 2008, he says, he can’t imagine a life not on Isle of Palms. “If you were in my place and going to midlands and upstate every week, and hear what they say about the coast and how pretty it is. They ask me ‘Why would you want to come to Columbia?’” His answer: Ensuring his constituents and their home of pristine marshes and waterways, have a voice on the state level is just how he was raised. “I saw how my family was involved in the original development of the island and it was all about the people,” he says. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else.” SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 95

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HOPE & CHANGE

deas that begin on porches are often some of the best. For Hope on Goat founders, Diann and Dennis Clark, and Morgan and Shane Ziegler, their backyard epiphany has led to a 10-yearstrong event that has raised over $170,000 for local charities. By Colin McCandless Photos by Catherine Moye and Jeni Rone Becker

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Diann and Dennis Clark have lived on Goat Island for 20 years. In 2010 they collaborated with Morgan and Shane Ziegler to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake. And Hope on Goat was born.

NESTLED BETWEEN MOUNT PLEASANT AND ISLE OF PALMS, GOAT ISLAND IS A TINY SEA ISLAND, ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY BOAT AND SURROUNDED BY MILES OF PRISTINE SALT MARSH. ON THIS SMALL SLIVER OF LAND LIES GOAT ISLAND GATHERINGS, WHICH HOSTS ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE FUNDRAISING EVENTS IN THE LOWCOUNTRY.

Photo by Catherine Moye

Every winter, this picturesque Goat Island property, owned by Diann and Dennis Clark is the site for the annual Hope on Goat charity oyster roast. For the Clarks’, Goat Island isn’t just a distinctive place to host a fundraiser; it’s their home for the last 20 years and the tight-knit community where they raised their family. Previously, they lived in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. In the 1980s, they purchased a lot on Goat Island where they spent summers camping with friends and family. By the early 90s, they decided to sell everything and leave the frigid north behind to settle in the Lowcountry. They moved, rented a house, and enrolled their kids (8, 10 and 16-years old at the time) in Sullivan’s Island Elementary and Wando High School. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 99

The Hope on Goat dream team: Shane and Morgan Ziegler and Diann and Dennis Clark, with their daughter Colleen Deihl.

Hope on Goat at a glance Origins Started in 2010 by Diann and Dennis Clark, and Morgan and Shane Ziegler as a benefit to raise money for the Red Cross in its relief efforts for victims of the Haiti earthquake. In 2011, the focus shifted to supporting local nonprofit organizations. Charities South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center, Sewee Association, Yo Art, Callen-Lacey Center for Children, Louie’s Kids, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Fresh Future Farms, Tricounty Family Ministries, Magdalene House of Charleston. Total funds raised $171,000 has been raised since 2009. In the first few years amounts ranged between $5,000 and $8,000, but recently that figure has increased to $15,000 and $20,000. Portion that goes to nonprofits One hundred percent of Hope on Goat ticket sales and silent auction proceeds go to support the charity recipient. Community support Morgan describes Hope on Goat as truly a “grassroots effort relying on their community connections.” Guy Mead, “The Sound Guy” who totes and sets up the PA system for the bands, is a lifelong friend of the Clark’s. IOP Marina manager Brian Berrigan organizes the parking, offers discounted parking rates, and donates boat rentals and gift certificates for the silent auction. Harris Teeter Isle of Palms and Belle Hall, Publix, Limehouse Produce, Awendaw Green and Snyder Event Rentals have all donated items over the years. “It’s really not about the four of us,” asserts Diann. “It’s about a community helping out a community.”

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“We had a brand new start,” says Diann. They initially considered buying a home on Isle of Palms, but instead built on the lot they owned on Goat Island. It took three years to finish construction. “We met Shane [Ziegler] in 1996, while he was starting his new business chartering nature tours. He helped us float our belongings over to Goat and move into our home. A few years later we met Morgan, when she came to work with Shane.” “That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” says Morgan. Bringing Hope to Goat That friendship spawned a decade long effort to help local charities. Each year, the two couples select a nonprofit to fundraise for with an oyster roast and concert. For 2019, the 10th iteration, they chose Magdalene House of Charleston, a recovery home for women facing addiction that provides job counseling and an array of other support services. The idea came to them when the foursome were sitting outside the Clark’s home mulling ways they could help victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Shane mentioned doing a fundraiser, and the group decided to throw a fun party, proceeds of which would benefit the Red Cross’ disaster relief aid to the Haitians. Diann recalls Morgan yelling out “Hope on Goat!” and the name stuck. They began approaching the community for assistance. “Everyone we asked was eager to help,” says Diann. “They were very generous with their donations.” Other than switching to supporting local charities in 2011, Diann says they run the event “pretty much the same way as we did the first year.” Each year one of them picks a nonprofit cause and that becomes the event beneficiary. There’s no real system. It’s all about heartstrings and urgent need. Last year’s recipient, Tricounty Family Ministries, a nondenominational nonprofit that provides homeless with food, clothing, job training, and counseling, was important because of the winter storm, says Diann. “People were struggling with loss of income, rent, and utilities.” Shane, who runs the Isle of Palms-based nature guide company Barrier Island Eco Tours, rallies together his fellow fishermen to harvest the event’s oysters and fresh catch for the fish stew. His approach to cleaning and cooking the oysters sets these bivalves apart. He pressure washes all the oysters so they are impeccably clean, and cooks them with half sheet and half open grate so they are partsteamed and part-smoked. Shane uses a fire pit stacked with cedar that gives the oysters a special flavor. There is always a silent auction featuring local art, jewelry, trips, and other items donated by individuals in the community. One hundred percent of ticket sales and silent auction proceeds from the event went to support Magdalene House of Charleston, to help keep the house operating and rehabilitate more women struggling with addiction. Several local bands performed live, including Southern Flavor, who returned to play their ‘toetappin’ bluegrass for the 10th straight year.

Joining the line-up this year were Half Measures and solo female vocalist Haley Hood. The family-friendly event includes kids’ activities such as face painting, hula hooping, Play-Doh, and bubbles. Barrier Island Eco Tours provides complimentary boat rides ferrying patrons between the IOP Marina and Goat Island Gatherings. A Glimpse of Goat Living on Goat has been an adventure that the Clark’s have thoroughly enjoyed, says Dennis, but “It’s also a lot of work,” chimes Diann. The Intracoastal Waterway separates the island’s inhabitants from Isle of Palms, so there are no quick trips to the grocery store for impulse buys or replenishing essentials. But nature and the serenity that generally

accompanies it abound, and you get to witness spectacular sunsets. Those lucky enough to buy tickets for Hope on Goat get to experience its unspoiled beauty, if only for an afternoon. After 10 years of managing the event one could understand if the Clarks and Zieglers want a break, but for now they plan on continuing it. “We thought about taking a hiatus last year, but there’s so much need,” says Diann. And there is no denying Hope on Goat’s public appeal. As the only time the public is allowed on the island, it’s no surprise the 175 tickets allotted for the 2019 event sold out in just 18 days. Diann recommends getting your tickets early for the next installment, slated for February 29, 2020. SiP

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RISING STARS

Photo by Penny Lanigan 102 | SiP

RISING STARS Catch a glimpse of islanders following their dreams into the stratosphere.

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SMALL WONDER ASHLEY REID MARTIN

Photo by Minette Hand

shley Reid Martin was thinking big when she started small. The fashion designer and jeweler wanted a dreamy shop on Sullivan’s Island — a place she considers to be a paragon of picturesqueness — but the busy Mount Pleasant-based mother of two young children couldn’t fi nd a spot on the island she could afford. In 2016, when Martin and her husband noticed that the tiny space below Mex 1 Cantina seemed vacant, she felt a stirring of hope. Martin and her husband begged owner Pat Ilderton to let her rent the space. Ilderton was doubtful, after all, who would want the dingy, 80-square-foot equivalent of a stairway closet for a commercial property? But he eventually relented and Martin rolled up her sleeves and got to work renovating the shop (which she named Goldbug in homage to the island’s ties to Edgar Allan Poe). Her fi rst dilemma was how to best make use of the tiny space. “I decided that focusing on jewelry would be a way to fit in more without cramming too much in,” she says. Martin holds a BA in anthropology and an MFA in fashion design, and both inform her work. “I spent a semester in Kenya and another in Western Samoa. I would basically choose the furthest and most and exotic places I could think of and just went there,” she says. “I think it directly led me into what I do now.” Her jewelry is a delicate balance of clean lines undercut with bold masterstrokes, an interplay between carefully polished design and a nearprimitive earthiness. A native of North Carolina, Martin has lived and held fashion jobs in London and New York, but it was an offer to become a clothing designer for the now-defunct Putumayo Clothing in 2004 that led her to Charleston. She was no stranger to the area however, having grown up vacationing with her family on Sullivan’s and IOP. As a jeweler, she focuses on metalwork but includes stones and other fi ndings that are a nod to her local surroundings. These days Martin does a booming business — so much so that in the spring of 2018, she expanded her store by renting the space next door, doubling Goldbug’s size. In addition to her own jewelry, she now offers a hand-curated selection of clothing and craft accessories. She’s working on expanding her online presence and hopes to open another shop. Perhaps Martin’s success can be attributed to her pluckiness: she dreamt of owning that little shop on Sullivan’s Island, and it never occurred to her that she might fail. - Jessie Hazard

I spent a semester in Kenya and another in Western Samoa. I chose the furthest and most and exotic places I could think of and just went there.

COMPANY Goldbug ENTREPRENEUR Ashley Reid Martin FOUNDED 2016 LOCATION 2205-E Middle St, Sullivan's Island PRODUCTS Jewelry, Clothing, Craft Accessories WEBSITE shopgoldbug.com WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 103

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HEATING UP SUSIE

AND

JERRY CALLAHAN

erry and Susie Callahan don’t fit the mold of tech entrepreneurs. They’re not in their twenties, they don’t live in Silicon Valley, and there’s not a hint of ironic facial hair between them. But they are the founders of the hottest tech startup at this year’s CES, a consumer electronics show where the latest and greatest technology companies show their wares. In fact, the newest product from the Sullivan’s Island couples’ fledgling company Heatworks was a CES 2019 Best Of Innovation Award Honoree — competing against giants in the space such as LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool. That product is the Tetra Countertop Dishwasher — a tiny dishwasher that doesn’t require plumbing and works anywhere you can plug it in. From the counter to the backyard, the R.V. to the tiny Manhattan apartment, pour in a gallon of water, power it up, and watch it wash your dishes in fi fteen minutes. The wow-factor behind the Tetra is Ohmic Array Technology. A completely new method of heating liquids, it uses the natural conductivity of water and electricity to heat water instantly. Th is 99 percent energyefficient technology was dreamt up right here on Sullivan’s Island. Twelve years ago, Jerry wanted to do what many islanders often attempt — build an outdoor shower. Their Middle Street home is just two blocks from the ocean, and a good rinse off after an afternoon spent swimming or a walk on the beach with Stewie, the springer spaniel, is an essential luxury. Jerry wanted a hot water shower, but the tank was on the other side of the house, so he decided to buy a tankless electric water heater. “The fella behind the counter said, ‘I'm not going to sell you one. You'll just bring it back,’” Jerry recalls. “He said the heating elements will fail, the temperature controls aren't good, and it won't be reliable.’” Instead, Jerry walked out with a couple models that had been gathering dust on the shelves and decided to figure out what their problem was. “I got them on my workbench and took them apart,” he says. He quickly realized that the technology was outdated, in fact it hadn't really changed since 1851. “There had to be a better way,” he told himself, sitting down with a sketchpad and the disassembled water heaters to tackle the problem. His Eureka! moment came right there underneath the home he and Susie, a native Charlestonian, had raised their children in since 1992. “Minerals in water, well that should conduct electricity, right? If you can conduct electricity, then you could use it as a resistor. And if you could use it as a resistor you could heat water with it.” Jerry wasn’t a stranger to starting new businesses to solve old problems. His last company was Blue Rhino, which he co-founded after realizing how hard it was to get empty propane cylinders fi lled up or exchanged. His studies in naval architecture at MIT and an MBA from the University of Chicago also helped this Cape Cod native turn his basement brilliance into a viable business opportunity. He fi led a bunch of patents, reached out to investors, and even went on Kickstarter — raising $125,000 in under a week for a smart water heater. By 2015, Heatworks was shipping its MODEL 1, partnering with Lowes and earning over $1 million in revenue. The MODEL 3 was released in 2017 and won TIME Magazine’s 2018 Best Invention award, followed by the Tetra countertop dishwasher. In 2019, they debuted the DUO at CES. Th is small carafe is an excellent way to show off the technology, which can be tricky for people to grasp. A battery-powered water jug, you put cold water in the DUO and when you’re ready for hot water you simply pour it out. “It’s the perfect bedside pour-over coffee device,” says Susie, who has taken the lead in helping explain the technology. Her work as a clinical counselor on Sullivan’s Island has given her the perfect tools for this. “The hardest part is educating people about how different this is, and that it's still changing,” she says. Heating water is just one part of the technology, the process can be applied to any liquid. “We can heat baby formula, we can heat antifreeze formulae in your car, we can heat saline solution to the precise temperature needed for medical applications,” says Jerry. “I think the medical possibilities are most exciting. Saving water and energy is great but saving lives is a whole other realm.” - Jennifer Tuohy

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It sounds very simple and it is very simple, but it's also very complex and it's never been done before.

COMPANY Heatworks ENTREPRENEUR Jerry Callahan FOUNDED 2015 LOCATION Mount Pleasant PRODUCTS MODEL 3 Smart Water Heater, Tetra Countertop Dishwasher, DUO Carafe WEBSITE myheatworks.com TAGLINE We've reinvented the way the world heats and uses water. WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 105

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NAVIGATING

SUCCESS

round the islands, Steve Little is known both for saving souls, and saving boats. In January, he left his role as pastor of Sullivan’s Island Baptist Church to allow more time for family as he continues to grow his business, TowBoatUS-Charleston, which he began with his wife, Marisa. After more than a decade, the Isle of Palms couple is fi nally enjoying the fruits of their labor as entrepreneurs — not that either has truly decelerated. She stays busy with her home design business, A Little Staging Sells, while he has expanded his boat towing and assistance service to include marine salvage and crew boats that support large vessels by transporting smaller groups to and from shore. “I’m actually looking for tremendous growth over the next two to three years,” says Little, who folded all his operations into Maritime Services of Charleston, Inc. “It’s a great time to be in the industry.” He’s also optimistic about the outlook for the church, where he was originally called to fi ll-in during 2012 as Pastor Stan Stone, a spiritual mentor, underwent chemotherapy. Another pastor stepped in after Stone’s death, but it wasn’t a good fit, and the church reached out to Little again for leadership. He returned to the pastor position in 2015, and sought to reestablish the church’s purpose and role. That included energizing Bible study groups, community outreach, nurturing a “phenomenal” worship team, and tackling overdue renovations to church buildings, including the gym. To continue to move forward, he says, the church needs a pastor who can focus more on its people and mission without the pull of another vocation. For Little, stepping down from his church post means more moments with his 9-year-old daughter. “She’s only going to be 9 once. Ten years from now, she’s going to be at college.” Affi liated with the national organization TowBoatUS and its easily recognizable fleet of bright red rescue boats, the original business has always been a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year operation, whether needed for towing services, fuel-delivery or jump-starts. When a call comes in, it’s often a matter of urgency, if not an emergency. “We’ve just been working so hard. We’ve missed birthdays, weddings, funerals, family gatherings,” he says. “Business will always be challenging, but it’s a different playing field now, and we can actually look back and go, ‘Man, look at how much we’ve improved. Look where we’ve come from.’ When we started, we were in a single-wide, like 30-year-old construction trailer, and now, we’re in a waterfront office with our our own docks, our own ramp, hurricane protection windows. We’re basically in a bunker.” While demand takes them throughout Lowcountry waters and often pulls them to Isle of Palms Marina, the office is located in the old Navy base in North Charleston. Depending on time of year, Maritime Services might have a fleet of seven to 10 boats, with five to six in the water ready to to meet a range of possible needs, from helping a jon boat stuck in a creek to a much larger vessel miles off shore. The on-call nature is similar to fi refighting. “It can get dangerous,” Little says. “Unfortunately, there are towing captains … far too many have died, especially in the past couple of years.” An Isle of Palms native, Little moved with his family to the creeks of Cooper Estates in Mount Pleasant. Before taking over TowBoatUSCharleston, he worked with Tidal Wave Water Sports for several years. These days, though, he’s more land-based. “I’m the owner. So I’m the floor sweeper, the oil changer, the paperwork guy. I do everything. As any small business owner knows, there’s nothing that we don’t do.” - Susan Hill Smith

STEVE LITTLE

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We’ve just been working so hard. We’ve missed birthdays, weddings, funerals, family gatherings.

COMPANY TowBoatUS-Charleston ENTREPRENEUR Steve Little PURCHASED BUSINESS 2007 LOCATION North Charleston on the Cooper River with a range of service beyond Charleston Harbor of up to 100 miles SERVICES Boat towing and assistance SLOGAN Year-round service, 24 hours a day WEBSITE towboatcharleston.com WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 107

RISING STARS

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SOWING

THE SEEDS

KAREN LATSBAUGH

ot everyone fi nds a job they love, but for Master Gardener and teacher Karen Latsbaugh of Cities & Shovels, she totally digs her gig. When Latsbaugh, who has worked in various teaching positions including at East Cooper Montessori, realized she “didn’t want to be in the classroom of the indoor variety” she had already been working with the Charleston Area Children’s Garden Project, which plants gardens in low-income neighborhoods and provides kids with a community-based outdoor learning experience. That project gave Latsbaugh the courage to embark on her own venture in 2016, launching Cities & Shovels, a business aimed at getting children outside and engaged in learning about where their food originates and how it’s cultivated. That same year, she became the gardening specialist teacher at Sundrops Montessori School, where she works as an independent contractor. Latsbaugh also began teaching after school gardening programs — including at East Cooper Montessori — and summer camps. As a gardening specialist teacher, her week is spent outdoors at Sundrops Adolescent Farm School in Huger, where this year she has been teaching 13 middle school-aged students how to grow, harvest, and prepare their own food while explaining the science behind the process. What’s truly unique is the children make all the decisions: they choose where the garden grows and conduct the soil and water testing and surveying. “We let them experiment. We let them fail. We let them learn from their failures,” says Latsbaugh, who has lived with her family on Isle of Palms, although is now based in Mount Pleasant. “Th is is all about solving your own problems. Being responsible for yourself.” Latsbaugh also helps manage family and student volunteers for Fresh Future Farms, a community farm in North Charleston’s low-income Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood offering volunteer farm workdays on the third Saturday of the month. She met Fresh Future Farms cofounder Germaine Jenkins when Jenkins volunteered a few times with the CACGP, teaching children how to prepare the food that they were growing. Latsbaugh’s workdays involve instructing the students how crops grow, while incorporating fun activities to keep them entertained. When the annual Hope on Goat fundraiser selected Fresh Future Farms as its 2017 charity recipient, Latsbaugh helped coordinate with the event’s co-founder Diann Clark. For aspiring gardeners living on the barrier islands Latsbaugh advises using raised beds or container gardening, where you bring in your own healthy soil. “You can grow something here anytime of year,” encourages Latsbaugh. Her long-term vision for growing Cities & Shovels is to have students sell their produce to local restaurants and participate in area Farmers’ Markets, like the ones on Sullivan’s and IOP. Offering more after school programs and hiring employees are other expansion goals. One of her proudest successes thus far is getting children excited about eating vegetables. “If they grow it, they’ll eat it,” beams Latsbaugh. “Because they take ownership.” - Colin McCandless

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If they grow it, they’ll eat it. Because they take ownership.

COMPANY Cities & Shovels ENTREPRENEUR Karen Latsbaugh FOUNDED 2016 MAIN PRODUCT Engaging kids to get outside, explore, grow and learn about where their food originated and how it is grown WEBSITE citiesandshovels.com TAGLINE Dig-Plant-Learn WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 109

SiP SCENE

Mex 1 Unplugged A Sullivan’s Island concert series helps children achieve their musical dreams. By Stratton Lawrence Photos by Hunter McRae

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A small crowd enjoys an intimate evening with Jupiter Coyote at Mex 1 on Sullivan’s.

osting a benefit concert series isn’t all about giving back for Mex 1 co-owner Dave Lorenz and Carolina Studios board member Chris Kolb. They’re the first to admit the relationship is completely symbiotic. “We selfishly wanted Drivin’ N Cryin’ to play here,” concedes Kolb. But getting his favorite band to a tiny stage at a favorite bar certainly had altruistic repercussions. What began as an idea to have well-known bands perform intimate shows on Sullivan’s Island has already raised $10,000 in just the first four events. Known as the Mex 1 Sessions, it’s all for a worthy cause. Carolina Studios has grown from an afterschool program at downtown’s Mary Street into a mobile recording studio in a bus, where students learn math and English skills as they create beats on Apple’s Logic recording software. That task requires figuring out musical bars and progressions and manipulating those on the computer. Then the students head to the back of the bus, where a vocal studio lets them record vocals, raps, and rhymes over their original music. Spearheaded by local musician Mark Bryan (of Hootie and the Blowfish), the program recorded 1,250 students’ original songs in 2017. “We’re in a different age of the music business,” says Kolb, emphasizing that a career in sound production is a legitimate and attainable goal. What began as a “keep kids off the street kind of thing,” he explains, is now getting students excited about the decision to attend college and influencing them to pursue degrees in engineering or computer science. Most of all, writing and learning to record original songs is about having fun. That’s the spirit behind Mex 1 Sessions, now in its second year. Drivin’ N Cryin’s February 2018 kickoff was a success (“unplugged but still rocking,” recalls Kolb), as were follow-ups by local stalwarts Sol Driven Train and fast-rising upstarts, Stop Light Observations. This year kicked off with Jupiter Coyote in January, the Blue Dogs in February, and Jump Castle Riot in March, who used the show as an opportunity to release a new single and music video.

PARED DOWN PURPOSE Bands don’t bring their full rigs to the Mex 1 Sessions, instead opting for a pared down, sit-downif-you-like, dance-if-you’re-moved environment. “I was always a huge fan of MTV Unplugged,” says Lorenz, citing inspiration for the casual approach. “That concept — a smaller venue with an organic feel to the music — elevates bands and creates awesome vibes.” Mex 1 Sessions shows are limited to 120 audience members. “The cap exists so that everybody has a great experience,” says Rob Lamble, who books the bands through his agency, Ear for Music. “The smaller audience makes it a cool boutique thing that gives people a real listening experience.” WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 113

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Opposite page Jupiter Coyote’s Matthew Mayes and the Blue Dogs’ Bobby Houck.

At a typical Sessions show, there’s ample room on the dance floor and seats for those who’d rather listen from the terraced dining room. “Sometimes it’s nice to just sit and relax. You can sit up in a booth or stand in front of the band,” says Lorenz, adding that the small venue’s natural band/fan interaction adds to the appeal. “It’s a unique event.” When choosing bands, Lamble looks for acts with local ties that will be passionate about the Carolina Studios tie-in. Because the Sessions are on Sundays, he’s able to bring in bigger bands that might not be able to play a smaller venue on a Friday or Saturday. NEEDTOBREATHE, Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), and Uncle Mingo are among his dream list that he’d like to bring to the series. Chatting on a January evening before Jupiter Coyote’s Matt Mayes and John Felty take the stage, Kolb and Lorenz get visibly stoked discussing the Sessions’ origins. Kolb, a rep for Breakthru Beverages, connected with Lorenz through Mex 1’s account with the drink distributor. They bonded over surfi ng and live music, leading to the collaboration that launched the series. “For me, it’s a way to showcase a good band in a small venue and spread the local music that I love,” says Lorenz. “I love the camaraderie everyone gets when the audience feels connected to the band.” A SERIES FOR THE SEASON Kolb gushes about Mex 1, crediting the restaurant for its sponsorship of beach sweeps and donations of jerseys and food for Eastern Surfi ng Association events in Charleston, including the Gromfest kids’ surfi ng contest. “Th is restaurant is not just a place to eat,” says Kolb. “It’s a business that’s invested in the community.” When Jupiter Coyote — a band that packs the Windjammer on a Saturday night — takes the tiny corner stage, Mayes and Felty seem relaxed, like they’re jamming in a friend’s living room. They dot original staples like “Tumbleweed” with crowd-pleasing covers like Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and Widespread Panic’s “Driving Song.” When they reach their best-known originals, they call up Bobby Houck of the Blue Dogs to play along on “Real Th ing,” while Lamble handles guest guitar duties on “Crazy Women.” Couples spin on the dance floor while groups of friends sing along at the bar. Local celebrity Shep Rose, of Southern Charm, blends in to the crowd, grabbing a front row seat and sharing videos of the band from his phone. If there’s a downside to the Mex 1 Sessions, it’s that it’s only possible during winter, when the crowds thin out on Sullivan’s Island. But the seasonal nature of the series also keeps it unique. “If we did it all the time, it might lose some of what makes it so special,” says Lorenz. For fans with a ticket, the Mex 1 Sessions are a chance to see a favorite band in a rare up-close setting. Add margaritas and a couple of tacos to that mix, plus the opportunity to give back and inspire the next generation of musicians to emerge from Charleston, and you’ve got a great feel-good evening. SiP WWW.SiPMAGAZINESC.COM | 115

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Tasty, Artful Creations On the Seashores The iconic taco. Great food or greatest food? Who’s to say? Margaret Pilarski arms herself with hot sauce, plenty of napkins, and visits the islands’ best taco purveyors to discover the answer. Photos by Minette Hand

Home Team’s Carnitas Canvas “The tortilla is simply a canvas,” says Aaron Siegel, chef and owner at Home Team BBQ on Sullivan’s Island. The versatility and artistry of taco-creation in the Home Team kitchen is driven by its meat-centric menu, but the tacos never skew too far away from an authentic, balanced take on flavor. “The carnitas taco is my go-to,” says Siegel. “We take our smoked pork shoulder and get it really crispy on the flat-top. The pork shoulder is very heavy so it needs acid to create balance in the taco. The salsa verde and onion do that job perfectly.” Need more convincing? The char on the tomatillos and the subtle smoke of the red oak on the pork shoulder add extra depth of flavor. Siegel’s other favorite is the chopped brisket taco, topped with esquites — off-thecob street corn — plus charred poblano chilis, and pickled carrots and jalapeños. Siegel’s secret to that masterpiece? “We add a little smoked beef jus to our chopped brisket to add to its richness.” 116 | SiP

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High Thyme’s Taco Twofer The beer-braised beef brisket taco at High Thyme is more than a tongue-twister, it’s a menu staple by popular demand. “Most of our guests are locals and regulars; we see them a couple times a week so we always try and do something different,” says Chef Taylor Still. “When they like something, they let us know. That was one of those things.” The taco twofer is simple but thoughtful: grilled red onions, beer-braised beef brisket, cracked pepper parmesan aioli and arugula on a grilled flour tortilla. Chef Still says it’s all about complementary elements. “Sticky, succulent brisket and the crisp, bitter arugula. It doesn’t feel too heavy — it lightens it up so you’re getting a lot of flavor with it. What’s not to love about a taco, you know?” The High Thyme beverage offerings always have another way to balance your bites — seasonal wine lists and specialty cocktails offer new ways to play with flavors across the rest of your meal.

Mex 1’s Baja Beauties For Ryan Jones, Culinary Director of Mex 1 on Sullivan’s, the taco’s beauty is in its simplicity. “Too many components confuse what a taco is all about,” he says. While his Baja-inspired menu lists over 10 tacos, Jones says there are textural and flavor-driven elements at play in all of them, and the same rules of balanced bites apply to new creations. “We start with a great base. Build on that with acidity, usually a salsa or chow chow, then something fatty like a crema, and fi nish with a crunch.” The menu features specials that use local or seasonal ingredients like coastal shrimp or veggies — but Jones recommends a seasonless, south-of-the-border favorite to pair with your choice of taco: tequila, a reposado, to be specific. If tequila isn’t your primero pick, Jones says a Mexican lager always goes perfectly. 118 | SiP

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Papi’s Panopoly With the arrival of Papi’s Taqueria on Isle of Palms last year, the glories of the taco were fully realized across the islands. The new space, opened by a team including Chef Rusty Hamlin, marks a new stake in the culinary ground for IOP’s small-but-mighty Ocean Boulevard. The spot has opened to rave reviews by residents, for its flavors as well as the space’s playful mood and ocean-viewing rooftop deck. Papi’s marks the northernmost outpost for tacos on the two islands. The restaurant opened in a former souvenir shop on Ocean Boulevard, with the aim of creating a “cool, relaxing, beachy taqueria” says Hamlin. Hamlin, who has restaurants in Atlanta and is Zac Brown Band’s executive chef, had two priorities: break bread with the local community fi rst and “come out guns blazing.” Check and check. The menu at Papi’s is almost entirely tacos, plus Hamlin’s takes on hot tamales and churros. “I decided to make the menu exactly like I like to eat, and how I like to cook, which means taco recipes are not only Southern-influenced and Louisiana-based, but also world cuisine,” he says. That’s why you’ll fi nd collard green kimchi aside Korean fried chicken on the Seoul Searcher taco, and chorizo meatballs on the Sucio Italiano taco. One constant? Charleston’s own Mitla tortillas serve as the base for nearly all of Hamlin’s tacos. “They’re amazing,” he says. “They worked with us on exactly what we wanted and the quality is unbelievable. I knew we had to use them — the flour, corn, and the blue corn for our chips. People rave over them; we couldn’t substitute anything else.” Parting advice for the Papi’s experience doesn’t make narrowing your order choices any easier. Hamlin has two favorite drinks to pair with his tacos: “Our margarita — I am very biased — it took us about two weeks to get the recipe down exactly how we wanted it. It’s killer. One of my favorites though? I’m a huge Michelada fan [a traditional Mexican drink made with beer, tomato juice, and spices]. That was one of my babies on the drink menu, so I recommend them both.” SiP

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VIBES &

VOCALS

Megan Robbins jamming at local guitar instructor Scottie Frier’s student showcase at The Windjammer.

Local musician Marci Shore takes a tour through Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island live music hotspots to bring you the lowdown on the vibes and vocals found on the sea islands this season. Photo by Mandy Hostetler

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COCONUT JOE’S

coconutjoes.biz, 1120 Ocean Blvd., Isle of Palms, SC 29451, 843.886.0046

Vibe Beachfront on Isle of Palms, serving up breakfast, lunch, and dinner with panoramic views of the surf and creekside sunsets from its rooftop tiki bar. Under the same ownership, Island Joe’s, in front of Coconut Joe’s, serves up “funfair” foods, including ice cream, coffee drinks, funnel cakes, and hot dogs. Vocals For its 17th season, Mystic Vibrations reggae band will be on the rooftop bar every Sunday for “Reggae on The Roof ” from 1–5 p.m. A variety of other groups are showcased on the rooftop on other evenings throughout the week. THE DINGHY TAPROOM AND KITCHEN

dinghyiop.com, 8 J C Long Blvd., Isle of Palms, SC 29451, 843.242.8310

Vibe Key West meets the Isle of Palms. Sharing the same owners as The Windjammer, The Dinghy is a proud dive bar, that has come into its own in its first few years of operation. The kitchen slings out a tasty variety of seafood, appetizers, salads, and sandwiches. Vocals Live, acoustic folk/country classic covers. Wednesday through Saturdays 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and some Sundays, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Musicians Donnie Polk, Dave Landeo, Josh Hughett, rotate throughout the season. MORGAN CREEK GRILL

morgancreekgrill.com, 80 41st Ave., Isle of Palms, SC 29451, 843.886.8980

Vibe The most ‘nautical feeling’ spot to dine on the islands. Located beside the IOP Marina, and overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, sunsets and sailboats are a staple along with a menu that ranges from upscale seafood to pub-type cuisine at the bar. Vocals Some of the best local musical talent perform at Morgan Creek. Showtime is 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Every Friday and Saturday; Sundays 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on an outdoor amphitheater stage overlooking the marina. PAPI’S TAQUERIA

papisiop.com, 1012 Ocean Blvd, Isle of Palms, 843.926.7274

Vibe Relaxed and casual, offering the selfproclaimed “best tacos on IOP,’ Papi’s is the new kid on the block. Its location is beachfront with ocean views from the back deck. Vocals The restaurant features a “Pop Up” Songwriters Series announced 48 hours before shows. Follow Papi’s social media to get the latest announcements so you can grab tickets before they sell out. Most performers are Nashville songwriters who have already had some commercial success. THE REFUGE

therefugeiop.com, 1517 Palm Bvld. Isle of Palms, South Carolina, 843.242.8934

Vibe Gourmet fare at reasonable prices in an elegant setting. New menu unveiled this Spring features new Happy Hour specials. A coffee bar and breakfast pastries round out this IOP hotspot, a great place to meet a date for espresso and free wireless.

Vocals Music by Rotie & Jeff on Wednesday nights, Jazz with Todd Beals on Thursdays, and Acoustic Sunday Brunch. THE WINDJAMMER

the-windjammer.com, 1008 Ocean Blvd, Isle of Palms, SC 29451, 843.886.8596

Vibes No frills for 46 years. Come as you are. Drink on the deck and watch the ocean or beach volleyball. Known for a good basic burger, chili, fish n’ chips, and wings. A tried and true local institution also known for the hot bands that play on the stage. Vocals Acts scheduled for this summer include Sister Hazel, Drivin’ N Cryin’, The Spazmatics, Dan’s Tramp Stamp, and the Money Bags, Rock the 90s, an outdoor sunset concert with Jupiter Coyote, Ocean Alley, Cowboy Mouth, and local favorites The Distinguished Gentlemen. DUNLEAVY’S IRISH PUB

dunleavysonsullivans.com 2213 Middle St, Sullivan's Island, SC 29482, 843.883.9646

Vibe Family-owned Irish pub on the corner of Middle Street when you first land on Sullivan’s Island. Famous for its grilled wings, acclaimed cheeseburgers, and help yourself popcorn machine. Vegetarian options as well. It’s the locals’ favorite watering hole. Vocals Music is hit or miss, but at the height of the summer season you’ll find some cover artists Saturday and Sunday evenings. Once a month on Tuesdays there is vintage country, typically on the first Tuesday. HOME TEAM BBQ

hometeambbq.com, 2209 Middle St., Sullivan's Island, SC 29482, 843.883.3131

Vibes A favorite among locals and tourists alike for following your favorite sports events, meeting friends, or enjoying late night music. Award-winning barbecue and the ‘in demand’ and very-strong, don’t-drink-toomany-too-fast, high octane, Game Changer slushy round out the festive atmosphere. Vocals Music starts late, 10 p.m. most Friday and Saturday nights. Check the online schedule. First Friday Funk, the first weekend of each month. Bands scheduled for this season include: Chris Stalcup and the Grange, The Train Wrecks, Graham Worley, Haley Mae Campbell, Kozelski, Guilt Ridden Troubadour, Junco Partner, Well Charged, and The Kenny George Band. MEX 1 COASTAL CANTINA

mex1coastalcantina.com/sullivans-island, 2205 Middle St, Sullivan's Island, SC 29482 843.882.8172

Vibe A fun, young, beachy surf vibe, this BajaMex style establishment has found a magic formula. The brown rice bowl with bangin’ shrimp is hard to beat and margaritas infused with house-made concoctions are a treat. Vocals Music will go from reggae rock vibe to party-band style this season, every Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. In the winter season, keep an eye out for Mex 1’s Sessions.

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Photos by Rob Byko and Jason Ogden

PEOPLE & PLACES: OYSTER ROAST EDITION

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT OYSTER ROAST

The community gets shuckin’ at the annual party to raise funds for SIFD. A must-do roast on the seasonal calendar, friends, neighbors, and tourists mingle shoulder to shoulder under the Old Tin Shack every February.

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Photos by Jeni Rone Becker

HOPE ON GOAT OYSTER ROAST

Photos by Jason Ogden

Bivalves and beer benefited Magdalene House of Charleston for the 10th annual Hope on Goat Charity Oyster Roast, which is the public’s only chance to sneak a peek at this tiny barrier island.

THE IOP EXCHANGE CLUB OYSTER ROAST

Clear skies and hot oysters made a perfect pairing at the Isle of Palms Exchange Club’s Bud and Cecily Stack Memorial Oyster Roast. Featuring “single selects,” this is the roast those in the know make sure to attend.

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CALENDAR ONGOING EVENTS

Spoleto Festival

Isle of Palms County Park is lifeguarded on weekends beginning in May 4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Beginning May 27 weekend, the lifeguards are on duty every day through mid-August and weekends August 17 through the last weekend in September.

Avian Moms and Chicks

Lifeguarded Beaches

Sullivan’s Island and IOP Farmers Market

Enjoy local produce and arts and crafts, every Thursday, 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 4 through June 27, 2050 Middle Street, Sullivan’s Island, then on IOP from September through October, Thursdays, 3-7 p.m. location TBD. facebook. com/sifarmersmarket and iop.net

For 17 days and nights the arts takes over Charleston. Plays, operas, dance and music of all types fill the streets, churches and outdoor spaces. Runs from May 24 through June 9. Spoletousa.org, 843.579.3100 On May 11, The Center for Birds of Prey hosts a special Mother’s Day even focused on birds and their mothers from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. $18 adults, $12 ages 6-17; free for ages six and under. Tickets at fareharbor.com.

JUNE 2019

Summer Reading Performance

Read great books and meet fellow bibliophiles each third Saturday of every month at 10:30 a.m. Poe Branch Library, 1921 I’on Ave. ccpl.org

Each Friday morning throughout the summer, children are invited to enjoy free performance at the Poe Library from 10:30 a.m. Poe Branch Library, 1921 I’on Ave, Fridays June 7 to August 9. ccpl.org

Toddler StoryTime

Floppin’ Flounder 5K Run/Walk

Beach Lover’s Book Club

Bring the little ones to the library for stories, songs, crafts, and playtime to enhance early literacy and social skills on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. Poe Branch Library, 1921 I’on Ave. ccpl.org /edgar-allan-poe-sullivans-islandmonthly-calendar

Oyster Roasts

Two IOP establishments, Morgan Creek Grill, 80 41st Ave., and The Dinghy, 8 JC Long Blvd., host oyster roasts throughout the fall. morgancreekgrill.com, dinghyiop.com

MAY 2019

Semi-Annual Men’s Club Barbecue

The First United Methodist Church’s Men’s Club on IOP offers a great meal—dine in or carry-out—of pulled pork, baked beans, slaw, pickles, and drink, in addition to homemade desserts, for $10 a ticket. Funds benefit local charities. First United Methodist Church, Saturday, May 4. iopmethodist.com

Music in the Park

Saturday, May 4, Isle of Palms Recreation Department hosts this family-friendly, live music extravaganza. Open to the public. iop. net/recreation, 843.886.8294

SC Aquarium Conservation Gala

This festive black-tie evening brings together more than 400 of the Aquarium’s supporters to celebrate environmental education and conservation in our community. Held Saturday, May 4, 6 to 11 p.m., the program includes a cocktail hour, three-course seated dinner and the presentation of the annual Environmental Stewardship Award. one.bidpal. net/conservationgala2019

Wild Dunes Memorial Day Family Fun Run/Walk

Join in on the Resort’s annual Beach Fun Run, Saturday, May 25, 8 a.m. Pre-registration required by calling 866.320.5102. The cost is $25 per person, including t-shirt.

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This community-wide group run hosted by the Charleston Running Club and Sullivan’s Island Fire and Rescue Department has had a faithful following for 25 years. It takes place Saturday, June 1 at 8 a.m. and starts in front of the Sullivan’s Island Fish Fry Shack, 1459 Hennessy St. April 1-June 2: registration is $30; registration the day of is $35.

Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Contest

June 1 at 9 a.m. head to the beach at IOP County Park for a stunning display of sandsculpting prowess. The event is part of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, which runs May 24 through June 9. piccolospoleto.com

Vacation Bible School

Children Kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to learn Bible stories, do crafts, and play during First United Methodists’ Vacation Bible School beginning Monday June 10 through June 14, 9 a.m. to noon. 12 21st Ave, IOP. 843.886.6610.

Sullivan’s Island Fire and Rescue Fish Fry

Enjoy freshly fried fish served with a smile. One of the three major fundraisers to support the volunteer rescue operations on Sullivan’s. Held at the Sullivan’s Island Fish Fry Shack, 1459 Hennessy St., Saturday, June 30, 5 to 8 p.m. sullivansisland-sc.com

JULY 2019

4th of July Golf Cart/Bicycle Parade

Deck out your golf cart or bicycle for this annual parade celebrating America’s independence. Start at the Sullivan’s Island Elementary School, end at Stith Park. Meet at SI Elementary, parade begins at 9 and proceed to the Fish Fry Shack.

4th of July Fireworks on Sullivan’s

Fireworks and music in Stith Park on Middle Street 4:30 to 5 p.m., celebrations begin, including live music. Fireworks at dusk.

4th of July Fireworks on IOP

The Isle of Palms hosts a 4th of July fireworks display over the ocean near 14th Avenue beginning at 9 p.m. Open to the public. iop. net/recreation, 843.886.8294

Wild Dunes Family Fun Run/Walk

July 4 at 8 a.m. $25 per person, including t-shirt. Pre-registration required: 843.886.7008

Isle of Palms Beach Run

On July 27 choose from a Youth Fun Run, 5K or 10K run on the beach. Start at The Windjammer, 1008 Ocean Blvd. IOP, at 8 a.m. Registration is $30 before June 15. Race day registration & packet pick-up begin at 7 a.m; race starts at 8 a.m. iop.net/recreation, 843.886.8294

AUGUST 2019

US Coast Guard Lighthouse Day

The grounds and boathouse at the historic US Coast Guard District on Sullivan’s Island will be open to the public with family friendly activities on August 7 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (lighthouse interior will not be open). The event is free. The historic US Coast Guard District is located at 1815 I’On Avenue, Sullivan’s Island. nps.gov/fosu

Half Rubber Tournament

This annual tournament takes place at IOP Recreation Center in mid-August. Three and 4 person teams, $25 per person. Check In/ Captain’s Meeting at 7:30 a.m., games begin at 8 a.m. halfrubber.com

Charleston Green Drinks

On August 20, environmental advocates meet up for a presentation and networking with Charleston Green Drinks. Location TBD. greendrinks.org/SC/Charleston

SEPTEMBER 2019

Vultures, Nature’s Nicest Scavengers

On September 7, the Center for Birds of Prey offers flight demos and information on scavengers. 10:30 a.m. $18 for adults; $12 for child. 4719 Highway 17 North. thecenterforbirdsofprey.org

IOP Community Wellness Fair

Held in late-September, the IOP Recreation Department teams up with the East Cooper Medical Center to offer flu shots and blood work for local residents including cholesterol screenings and lipid profiles at the Recreation Center, 24 28th Ave. iop.net/recreation, 843.884.7031

OCTOBER 2019

Isle of Palms Connector Run & Walk

Fundraising event for the Isle of Palms’ Exchange Club’s programs for the healing and prevention of child abuse takes place October 5, IOP Connector, 8 a.m. Registration is $35 or $40 on the day of the race. ioprun.com

Osceola’s Muse

This collaborative art show telling the story of Seminole warrior Osceola and his wife Morning Dew and their time on Sullivan’s Island. Osceola’s

Muse will be presented at Battery Gadsden, 1917 I’On Ave. on Sullivan’s Island, Fridays and Saturdays, October 11 and 12, 18 and 19, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. (rain dates October 25, 26). Tickets at puretheatre.org $35 general admission, $55 VIP. batterygadsden.com

Jonathan Green Pop Up Art Show

An opening reception and pop-up show of Jonathan Green’s original costume design sketches for Osceola’s Muse at Sandpiper Gallery, 2201 Middle Street, Friday, Oct.11 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. sandpipergallery.net

Fire Prevention Celebration

Look for a SI/IOP parade of engines in October at Sullivan’s Island Fire House, 2050 Middle St., Sullivan’s Island.

Ghostly Tide Tales

Bring a blanket, flashlight, chairs, and friends for spooky stories by bonfire light on the beach at Isle of Palms, 28th Ave. Free. MidOctober, 6:30 p.m., check iop.net/recreation or call 843.884.7031 for exact date.

IOP Halloween Carnival

Enjoy games for all ages at the annual carnival on October 31, IOP Recreation Department, 24 28th Avenue, from 5 to 7 p.m. Costume contest at 5:30 p.m. This event is free. iop. net/recreation, 843.886.8294

DECEMBER 2019

IOP Holiday Street Festival

Head down to Front Beach on Isle of Palms on Saturday, December 5 for this free event, which features live music, carnival rides, food and craft vendors, plus a visit from Santa Claus! At approximately 5:30 p.m. the City officially lights the 24’ tree on Front Beach. .iop.net/holiday-street-festival

Sullivan’s Island Tree Lighting

Light up the night at the Sullivan’s Island Fire Station, 2050 Middle St. December 1, 5:30 p.m. Enjoy carols, hot cocoa and visits with Santa. sullivansisland-sc.com

Gingerbread Making

The Town of Sullivan’s Island hosts a gingerbread house party around Dec. 15 at the Fire Station. Check website for exact date. sullivansisland-sc.com

JANUARY 2020

Dunleavy’s Polar Bear Plunge

“We’re freezin’ for a reason.” Jump into the chilly waters of the Atlantic on January 1. Meet at 2213 Middle St. Sullivan’s Island at 2 p.m. dunleaveyspubpolarplunge.com, 843.795.5316

Charlie Post Classic 15K/5K

The Charleston Running Club hosts the 35th annual Charlie Post Classic 15K & 5K January 26. The race starts at 8:30 a.m. in front of the Sullivan’s Island Fire Department, 2050 Middle St. charlestonrunningclub.com

FEBRUARY 2020 Doggie Days

Bring your pooch to the IOP Rec Center for some pampering and petting at the City’s hugely successful annual Doggie Days event. Get your pup vaccinated and show him/her off at the Dog Show for a yappy-fun day out. Early-February, check iop. net/doggie-days-at-the-rec for exact date.

SI Fire & Rescue Oyster Roast

Enjoy all you can eat oysters, hot dogs, and fish stew and support local firefighters usually on the 2nd Saturday of February. Held at the Fish Fry Shack, 1459 Hennessy St. from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets $30 in advance, $35 day of. sullivans-sc.com

Southeastern Wildlife Expo

SEWE is a three-day showcase of everything we love about wildlife and nature. Various locations, downtown Charleston, February 14 through 16. sewe.com

Hope on Goat

An annual fundraiser held on Goat Island. Held on February 22, it’s the only opportunity for the public to visit this secluded island. Admission is $55, tickets go on sale in January, visit facebook.com/Goat-Island-Gatherings.

MARCH 2020

Front Beach Fest

Look for this annual party on IOP’s Front Beach celebrating the start of the season with local musicians, food vendors, jump castles, and other entertainment. Free admission. iop.net, 843.886.8294

St. Patrick’s Day Party in the Park

The Town of Sullivan’s Island hosts a familyfriendly event starting at 10 a.m. till 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at Stith Park on Middle Street. sullivansisland-sc.com

Isle of Palms Annual Yard Sale

Residents of Isle of Palms sell their old and gently used items in an island-wide yard sale just outside the IOP Recreation Center. Saturday, March 29, visit iop.net or call 843.886.8294.

APRIL 2020

Isle of Palms Easter Egg Hunt

April 12, come hunt eggs and get your photo with the Easter Bunny at 10 a.m. sharp! Jump castles, face painting and balloon artists round out the fun at the Isle of Palms Recreation Center, 24 28th Ave. This is a free event. iop. net/recreation.

Isle of Palms Exchange Club Easter Sunrise Breakfast

Enjoy homemade pancakes, sausages, eggs, grits, coffee and beverages courtesy of the Exchange Club members who serve up this hearty breakfast for free April 12 from 6:50 a.m. to 10 a.m. Easter morning at the Exchange Club, 201 Palm Blvd.

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LAST LOOK

NuNs

with

GuNs

This historic gem was unearthed by Isle of Palms’ Fire Chief Ann Graham in her mother, Anne Graham’s, belongings. The Graham family has lived on Sullivan’s since the late 1800s. Anne’s parents — Genevieve Limoges (nee Connor) and Francis Regis (Richard) Limoges — were the first to settle on Ion Avenue. She grew up to marry the boy next door, Robert F. Graham Jr. who lived at 2118 Ion. Robert’s sister was Joan Graham, the nun on the gun.

A snapshot from an outing for the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy to Fort Sumter in 1951. Bottom left, left to right: Sister Mary Andrew (Clutterbuck), Sr. Eugenia (DuFrehn), Sr. Marianna (Kehoe), and Sr. Marcella (Zwingmann). Bottom far right Sr. Maureen (Tzinieris). Above the cannon, Sr. M. Ernest (Ferro), Sr. Caroline (Elizabeth Wright) and Sr. Francesca (Joan Graham). 128 | SiP

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designing your dream is our passion ARCHITECTURE + INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE + INTERIOR DESIGN 843.883.9190 | 2214 Middle Street, Sullivan’s Island | info@herlongarchitects.com