My Town

As I walk down the streets of this 300 year old city, I notice the buildings of this small second oldest city of South Carolina are not over 4 stories high. Yes the small town of the Low Country has no sky scrapers; big modern cements built parking lots. Instead you find large planation style homes built in the pre-civil war ear; large angel oaks spreading their large long like arm limbs close over the ground covered below before it swings back into the sea breeze air. The Spanish moss that hangs from some of those limbs in this coastal marsh air across the bay from the Marine Corps’ training depot, Parris Island. Of course this is denoting off in the distant by a large water tower marked “1-800-MARINES”.

As described about this City of Beaufort, the main street in downtown is lined with pre-1800 buildings. These building are the store fronts of this small town of about 12,000 people living in the city limits of Beaufort. Before I forget, we call it BEW-fərt, unlike our friends in North Carolina that call their little town BOH-fərt. Of course with all of the surrounding Sea Islands the count goes up to about 67,000, as you look across the Beaufort River toward the sea island, you’ll notice there is an old turn table bridge, one of just a few still in service for the state transportations here in the low county. On the city side of the bridge there are two old civil war canons guarding this area of Beaufort. As the City has ties to the pre-civil war, the Secession House located just a throw from the Beaufort River, is the first meeting to draft the Ordinance of Secession (by which South Carolina led the withdrawal of the Southern states from the Union). As a result, Beaufort was an early target of the Federal forces, but never was burned like the city to the north of us in Charleston SC. After the war (civil) those that once owned plantations, slaves, and those antebellum style homes returned. Some of Beaufort's most prominent families...