Author: Margaret Evans

When we think of the holiday season, we all think of food, as we should. The Lowcountry has a distinct identity and our agricultural heritage is an integral part of that.  This holiday season, we might look more critically at what food traditions we choose to celebrate and pass on to our future generations. The small family farms that make up the Beaufort community date back hundreds of years and exemplify food traditions entirely unique to our land and culture. In contrast, the tradition that a food choice such as HoneyBaked ham represents is the contemporary history of factory farming, begun in 1960 (HoneyBaked was established in 1957).

A British filmmaker focuses his lens on Beaufort’s most famous native son.   The Beaufort Three Century Project’s final event is a special preview of British filmmaker Mike Todd’s documentary Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears on December 11. The boxing legend and Beaufort native held the heavyweight title from 1970 – 1973, defeating Muhammad Ali in the “Fight of the Century” in 1971. After retiring, he opened Joe Frazier’s Gym in a tough urban neighborhood in his adopted city of Philadelphia.  Frazier was awarded the state’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto, in September and still visits family in Laurel Bay. Todd hopes to time the official premier of the film with the 40th anniversary of “The Fight of the Century” next March.

The Beaufort Three Century Project ends with a knockout For the last three years Deborah Johnson has filled the roll of a Lowcountry Sisyphus, stubbornly pushing the mass and responsibility of the B3C project steadily uphill, oftentimes by shear force of will. It has at times been all consuming, thankless and frustrating while at others it has been a unique and rewarding journey through the heart and soul of a community and its diverse people and history. As the city prepares to celebrate it’s 300th birthday – the impetus for the project back in 2007 – Johnson prepares to pack up the donated office on Port Republic Street and move on to whatever comes next. I recently sat down with the B3C’s Project Coordinator to reflect on the last three years and discuss the legacy it leaves behind for future generations.

Friends of Hunting Island State Park (FOHI) and the Hunting Island State Park are jointly hosting the Lowcountry version of the ever-popular Polar Bear Plunges with the 3rd Annual Pelican Plunge at Hunting Island State Park Lighthouse (North) Beach on January 1st, 2011 at 1:00 pm. The scene for the 2nd plunge was wet and wild:  Ready? Set? Goooooo!” shouted park manager Jeff Atkins. And with that,  hundreds  of  Pelican  Plungers raced for the cold Atlantic on the first day of 2010. As a fabulous steel band played,  about 400 people dove into the roaring surf or cheered the brave souls on.