Palmetto Magazine Fall Winter 2018

HOLY SMOKE A TOUR OF THE STATE’S BEST BARBECUE JOINTS

LOWCOUNTRY ARTIST WEST FRASER, IMPACT OF THE JENKINS ORPHANAGE BAND CITY SCOUT: SUMMERVILLE, A MODERN FARMHOUSE, UPSTATE ARTISANS, CHATTOOGA BELLE CLASSIC BANANA PUDDING, SODA CITY MARKET, THE STATE’S FOUR BARBECUE SAUCES

EXPERIENCE OUR STORY.

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PALMETTO MAGAZINE

F E AT U R E S FALL / WINTER 2018

34 HOLY SM O K E

Across South Carolina, the tendrils of flavor that waft through the air with a hint of hickory and a whisper of tangy vinegar are the essence of a barbecue birthright.

44 THE L I GH T OF A SO U T H ERN SO N West Fraser’s brush captures the light and unique colors that illuminate his beloved Lowcountry home.

50 AN D T H E BAN DS PLAYS ON Over a century ago, an unlikely group of musicians influenced music and dance around the world. These days, a group of dedicated individuals work tirelessly to ensure their legacy is known.

Linked In Smoking sausage at Lewis Barbecue in Charleston

56 THE Q U I ET CH A RMER A quintessential small Southern town, Summerville offers more than meets the eye.

Photo by Andrew Cebulka

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CONT E N T S

Fall / Winter 2018

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29 16 06 Contributors 07 Editor’s Letter 09 FIELD NOTES A brief look into South Carolina culture -South Carolina’s four barbecue sauces 10 Etiquette A Guide To Re-Gifting: Tips for Passing it On

OUR SOUTH 13 Southern Narrative Bright Idea 16 Southern Narrative Classic Banana Pudding 19 Southern Narrative The Belle of Oconee

COLUMN 27 Out Of My Mind Confessions of a Helicopter Kid

by Susan Frampton

COLUMN 64 Southern Theology Daddy’s Little Girl

by Rachelle Cobb

O N T H E C O V E R : Barbecue and sides at Sweatman’s Bar-b-que in Holly Hill, SC / Photograph by Dottie Rizzo palmettomagazine.com

23 Southern Narrative Soda City Market

29 THE STATE HOUSE The Modern Farmhouse

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We have hundreds of farms for you to explore in South Carolina.

2019 SOUTH CAROLINA

AGRITOURISM PASSPORT Pick up your passport to SC Farm Fun at participating farms across the state and start collecting stamps today to win Certified SC prizes!

View the list of participating farms at scagritourism.org.

Find your next farm experience • SCFarmFun.org •

CONTRIBUTORS

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JANA RILEY Writer /Editor

JASON WAGENER Illustrator

SUSAN FRAMPTON Writer/Editor

Jana Riley alternates her working time between interviewing people about their passions, writing inspiring stories as quickly as her fingers can type, and editing some of the most interesting magazines she has ever read. The rest of the time, you can find her immersed in love for her family while exploring places near and far.

Jason began his illustrious art career when he won a coloring contest in third grade, subsequently entitling him the proud owner of a Mickey Mouse dry erase board. He moved to the Lowcountry in 1990 and save an education at the Savannah College of Art and Design, has remained a faithful transplant ever since.

Never dreaming that anyone would read her ramblings, Susan Frampton scribbled her way through two wildly different careers before accidently becoming a writer. These days, when away from the keyboard, she follows the antics of her accident-prone husband, nurses pine-cone-swallowing wiener dogs, contemplates cooking dinner, reads late into the night, laughs every chance she gets, and counts her many blessings.

DOTTIE RIZZO Photographer

TARA BAILEY Writer

RACHELLE COBB Editor/ Writer

When she’s not behind the lens or running a taxi service for her two children, Paris and Davison, she’s plotting an overthrow of Martha Stewart to become The New Queen of Crafting.

Tara Bailey lives in Summerville with her husband and three daughters, assuming the one in college comes home to visit. She has worked as a naturalist, a teacher, a writer, and an editor, balancing her love of the outdoors with her compulsion to alter sentences. She enjoys natural history, horror movies, and reads anything in print. She can usually be found on her bike or behind a coffee mug.

Rachelle Rea Cobb has history with words.

Born and raised in Summerville, SC, she is the author of three novels, one nonfiction writing guide, and one blog (RachelleReaCobb.com). She also enjoys working with writers as a freelance editor. When she met a man with the same first name as the fictional hero of her novels, she married him.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Teaming Up Rizzo with Chris Zoeller, Chief Marketing Officer with The Post and Courier

A Perfect Pairing Four years ago, with a tremendous sense of pride we launched the very first issue of Palmetto Magazine. We promised you a publication celebrating the heart and soul of South Carolina, an honest commitment to give voice to the sense of place that South Carolinians share­—a deep respect for a history, and for the sights, sounds, and flavors of this special place that we call home.

That’s why we’re so excited to share with you the next mile marker in our journey across the Palmetto State— from the Upstate’s Blue Ridge Mountains to the Coastal Plains of the Lowcountry, through the Sandhills of the Midlands, and over the Foothills of the Piedmont.

Starting with this issue, Azalea Media, the parent company of Palmetto Magazine, is pleased to announce our affiliation with The Post and Courier, the South’s oldest daily publication, and one of the nation’s most trusted newspapers.

Assuming publishing, promotion, and distribution responsibilities, The Post and Courier brings its full complement of resources to Palmetto Magazine, including social media, online content, special events, gatherings and promotions, and special behind-the-scenes videos will offer readers an insider look at the stories we share.

You have come to depend on our publication for stories of authentic South Carolina people and places, music and literature, fare, faith and family. We pledge to you the continued integrity of our editorial content, and promise to remain true to the unique culture of this amazing state and what it stands for.

Will Rizzo

Editor In Chief

Will Rizzo

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Dottie Rizzo

MANAGING EDITOR

Contributors

Santee Cooper is home to South Carolina’s “Great Lakes”, Marion and Moultrie

Tara Bailey Andrew Cebulka Rachelle Rea Cobb Elizabeth Donehue Susan Frampton Jana Riley Jason Wagener Paul Zoeller

Pamela J. Browning P UB L I S H E R

171,000 acres with world-class fishing year -round birding hiking

biking

Chris Zoeller

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Caylan Sinclair

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

boating

lakeside camping 12 championship golf courses fascinating museums

Convieniently located 1 hour from Columbia and Historic Charleston order your 2018 visitors’ guidE

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s c 1788

LIGHT TOMATO This sauce is essentially a vinegar and pepper sauce with ketchup added for a little sweetness.

It’s most popular in the Pee Dee Region (the northeast corner of South Carolina) and in the upper middle part of the state.

MUSTARD Sometimes sweet, sometimes spicy, sometimes both, mustard sauce is most popular in the middle of the state where German families settled in the 1700s. Those German immigrants brought their love of mustard to the region and it soon combined with a love of pork for a bold finish.

Taste Buds

VINEGAR & PEPPER The most popular style along the coast, this sauce is perfect for those who love a bit of heat. It’s also the oldest type of barbeque sauce, perhaps the oldest in the nation, and its usage can be traced back hundreds of years.

HEAVY TOMATO Found in the western and northwestern regions of South Carolina, this sauce is so sweet that some call it “tomato and sugar sauce.” It’s the kind you’re most likely to find on grocery store shelves and in many parts of the United States. discoversouthcarolina.com

South Carolina is home to four barbecue sauces: mustard, vinegar and pepper, light tomato, and heavy tomato. You have to try all four before choosing sides.

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F IE L D

N OTES

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SEASONAL

OBSERVATIONS

OF

CAROLINA

CU LT URE

ELIZABETH DONEHUE Arbiter of social graces, with a heart for simple hospitality and a tendency for adventure, Elizabeth lives in Summerville, SC with her husband, Wesley, sons, Harlowe and Tennyson and yorkie, Gucci.

" We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

"

Winston Churchill

ETIQUETTE

Pass It On

Putting Thought Into Recycling Gifts For years, considered a clear social no-no, regifting is shedding its stigma. It’s a quiet truth: people do regift. According to consumer reports 83 percent of people, consider regifting an acceptable practice. If you chose to regift unwanted gifts, keep in mind these simple Do’s and Dont’s: Do: Carefully consider the gift and recipient A successful regift starts with thoughtfully considering your recipient and determining if eligible items are appropriate. Make sure that the item that you are giving away is something the recipient will truly enjoy.

Don’t: Regift anything that has been used You should only regift items that are brand new and still in their original packaging. If the item does not appear new, consider donating it rather than regifting

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Do: Remember who originally gave you the gift Keep track of who gave you what. You don’t want to take a chance and give something back to the original giver.

Don’t: Regift personalized items Monogrammed or other handmade items should not be regifted.

Do: Wrap it like it is new Presentation is everything. The wrapping and gift tag should be freshly replaced and personalized.

If we follow the etiquette of regifting, it is a practice that doesn’t need to be entirely avoided. It just needs to be handled with caution, thoughtfulness, and with the best intentions towards the other person at the top of our hearts and minds.

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A celebration of the spirit of South Carolina, PALMETTO is the authority on our distinctive style of Southern life—documenting her beauty and charm and giving our readers a novel look into the Palmetto State's history and culture, as well as stirring narratives of the places and personalities that make South Carolina so captivating.

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Shine On The Nova Pendant Light by Lonely Mountain Metalworks

SOUTHERN NARRATIVE

SOUTHERN NARRATIVE Lonely Mountain Metalworks

Bright Idea

Combining their talents as thoughtful artisans, an upstate couple lights up the world.

by Jana Riley

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mily and Joe Clark sit on a couch in a hipster coffee shop in the Village of West Greenville, smiling at their baby daughter, Penelope June. Tattooed, effortlessly stylish, and impossibly cool, the couple exudes creative energy, and their smartly dressed little one reflects a similar, pint-sized curiosity for the world around her. In a world of mass-produced everything, Emily and Joe represent an uprising: hardworking, passionate individuals who use their creative talents to bring handmade, high-quality goods into the artisan space. Constantly striving to connect with their target market both in person and online, they offer potential customers the opportunity to buy from people who they can get to know, not faceless corporations. As they pursue their dream together, one thing is for sure: the Clark family is just getting started.

Originally from Ohio, Emily and Joe met each other while Emily was working at Circuit City. The pair hit it off, and began dating shortly after.

Emily graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and later went back to school to learn to be a dental hygienist. Joe became a welder out of high school, dreaming that one day, he would build motorcycles or something similarly rugged. Both artistic, the two bonded over their creative inspirations, and when they began watching the hit AMC show “Mad Men” together, which is set in the 1960s, they realized they were both enamored with the clean lines of mid-century modern design. They bought a fixer-upper house together, and honed their style there, decorat-

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ing it with scandinavian art and mid-century modern furnishings. When Joe’s welding career brought the pair to Greenville, South Carolina, they brought their creativity with them, and the city hasn’t been the same since.

One day, while looking at Himmeli-style wreaths online, inspired by a traditional Finnish technique of threading straw together into geometric shapes, Emily was struck with an idea. Wanting something similar but more durable, she asked her husband if he could weld a wreath in the same style. Joe obliged, and his first wreath was exactly what Emily had envisioned. He began trying his hand at the style, and before long, their home was filled with art pieces featuring sharp lines and modern vibes.

Then, Joe decided to try to make lighting, teaching himself the electrical side of things while creating unique silhouettes. The result was brilliant, and before long, friends began commenting on the work, encouraging the pair to begin selling it at local markets and on Etsy. Armed with Emily’s marketing background and Joe’s willingness to consistently perfect his designs, they jumped in with both feet, opening up their Etsy shop, Lonely Mountain Metalworks, in 2016.

To get a feel for their audience, Emily and Joe set up a table at The Indie Craft Parade in Greenville, an artisan market hosted by the Makers Collective. There, they met other local artists who inspired them to follow their craft. They attended more markets, connecting with the ever-

growing community of makers in the Greenville area. They hauled their beautiful wares all over the region, setting up tables and hauling their original minimalistic art out each time. Visitors were impressed, but Emily and Joe soon noticed that the lighting was what generated the most interest. They turned their attentions to Etsy, creating a line of lighting named after celestial objects and marketing to customers all over the globe. It was a solid move; soon, they were creating fixtures for people in all corners of the United States and into Europe. Restaurants and businesses across the country began contacting them, putting in large orders for custom lighting that fit the aesthetic of their locations. Queries came in from far-flung international destinations, and Emily found herself researching the best ways to ship fragile, often oversized items across the globe without breaking the bank. After a while, they found their groove, and now sell beautiful, modern light fixtures and art to everyone from individuals renovating a bathroom to establishments seeking to visually solidify their brand.

Though they have officially been in business for a little over two years, Joe and Emily still have their day jobs. Joe is a main prototype welder for General Electric, and Emily works as a dental hygienist a couple days a Seeing the Light Left to right: A double light brass wall sconce from the Draper Collection; the Clark family; the Lykta Pendant light; a single bulb wall sconce from the Luna Collection.

week. They also pour their hearts and souls into raising their beautiful daughter together, and yet still, their creative energy propels them to their one-car garage every day, where they design, build, package, and ship out incredible works of usable art. And somehow, despite the long hours and sleepless nights and unending to-do lists, Joe and Emily Clark are happy. Really happy. They are pursuing dreams, adding beauty into the world, and, most importantly, working together to support their household. They are the picture of the new American Dream: a family who works hard to put food on their table while staying true to their passions and never sacrificing an opportunity for adventure. Joe and Emily can see a future where they run a small lighting and furniture shop in a walkable, art-focused community, where Joe could teach welding to local youths and adults and Emily could focus on her passions. For now, they work toward the goal, toiling gratefully over every order, happy to live in a place like Greenville.

“Greenville is a fantastic location for artisans,” says Emily. “The Makers Collective, a local group focused solely on artisans and makers, fosters an environment of support and entrepreneurial spirit within the area. Coming from another state, we never experienced the celebration of local artisans there like we do in Greenville. I don’t think our business would have successfully launched had we not moved down South. We are truly in the most perfect place for us right now.”

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The Proof is in the Pudding

A quintessential Southern dessert, banana pudding holds a special place in our memories and in our hearts.

by Susan Frampton

W

hirling peaks of creamy white over smooth, rich vanilla custard, layer after layer of chilled sliced bananas and the perfect number of vanilla wafers; in a chilled dish on a Sunday dinner table, banana pudding shows unconditional love, at a potluck dinner, it is dessert royalty. When delivered at a time of grief it comforts, and at family reunions, it can spark fierce competition between grandmothers, mothers-in-law, aunts, and cousins. The proof is always in the pudding. Though there are variations of the classic Southern dessert, no matter the recipe, it’s often the memories and emotions it evokes that forever leave us with its taste on our tongue. Here is our favorite­—we hope it will be yours, too.

Classic Banana Pudding Yield: 10 Servings Ingredients • 5 or 6 bananas • 1 large box instant vanilla pudding • 1 can condensed milk • 2 cartons Cool Whip • 1 bag vanilla wafer cookies Preparation In a large mixing bowl, mix pudding with milk according to package directions. Add condensed milk and one carton of Cool Whip. Mix with electric mixer. Cut bananas into bite size slices.

Crush enough cookies to cover bottom of bowl. Add alternating layers of pudding, bananas, Cool Whip, and whole cookies. Top off with a layer of Cool Whip and crushed cookies. It is best if ref rigerated overnight or at least 4 or 5 hours for pudding to set.

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Welcome to historic Summerville, located in the heart of the Lowcountry and surrounded by the unique culture of South Carolina’s coastal communities. Enjoy our famous sweet tea and small town charm, fine dining and shopping, only minutes away from sun-drenched beaches, cobblestone streets, arts and architecture. See it all from Summerville—the center of your Lowcountry experience.visitsummerville.com

LOCATION IS EVERYTHING

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AT THE HEART of it ALL ®

Field of Dreams The orchards at Chattooga Belle Farm offer breathtaking views

SOUTHERN NARRATIVE Chattooga Belle Farm

The Belle of Oconee

Harvesting a dream in the South Carolina mountains

by Tara Bailey

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O C O N E E

C O U N T Y,

S C

•

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson

W

hen Ed and Kitty Land bought an apple farm tucked away in the hills of Oconee County, they thought they were reaping the harvest of their hard work—Kitty had built a career as a nurse anesthetist, and Ed ran his own construction business. In fact, there was little Ed had not done during a life spent in the South Carolina mountains. The Eagle Scout graduated from school early and lent his talents where they were needed, working as everything from bus driver to butcher while continuing his love for scouting as a Boy Scout leader. He served the country as a United States Army Ranger and founded and managed a brick masonry construction business, which he ran for 27 years. Fruits of this particular labor can be seen on campuses such as Clemson University

and The Citadel and in area movie theaters and grocery stores. Despite his years of building both a business and a family, Ed yearned for something more. Maybe it was in his name, but according to Kitty, “He never lost his passion for loving the land.” So when Ed and Kitty Land bought the property in Long Creek they would later call Chattooga Belle for its proximity to the “wild and scenic” Chattooga River, they weren’t

harvesting their yield so much as planting seeds.

During the 1950s, the upper western corner of South Carolina was the highest apple-producing region east of the Mississippi River, and Long Creek became the epicenter of the area’s apple bounty. Chattooga Belle Farm was originally a “u-pick” apple orchard called Horse Shoe Lake Farm, which gained attention when Groucho palmettomagazine.com

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Marx bought an interest in it in 1960. By 1962, apple production was so high in Oconee County that locals created the South Carolina Apple Festival in neighboring Westminster, an event that continues to draw crowds from across the region annually. However, when Ed and Kitty purchased the 138-acre property in 2005, the orchard had been unattended for two decades.

Not one to shy away from hard work, Ed wasted no time rehabilitating the farm. Lines of apple trees that had reached the end of their lifespans had to be cleared to make room for new ones. He spent the next four years “pushing, shoving, and burning” over 22,000 apple trees, leaving just a few original trees that were still in production. The Lands then planted more than 20 different kinds of fruit on their farm, including apples, peaches, scuppernongs, blackberries, raspberries, paw paws, and figs, among others. With the variety planted, the couple ensured that their farm would bear fruit in multiple seasons, not just during apple-picking time. Locals were nervous watching their industrious neighbor transform the property, fearing his toil was for the payoff of a large corporate golf course or a private community. They breathed a sigh of relief when Ed planted orchards, berry patches, and vineyards instead, forging spectacular mountain views and returning the land to its roots.

The Lands wanted to create more than a business for themselves and desired a place that would benefit the whole community. They began by taking the advice of locals when they suggested ideas for the sprawling acreage.

According to Kitty, one neighbor approached Ed while he was planting and remarked that the orchard would make a beautiful spot for a wedding. Ed took the advice to heart and built the farm’s signature Event Barn in 2009.

The following April, Chattooga Belle held its first wedding. Another Long Creek resident suggested a restaurant showcasing the Lands’ farm-fresh food, and in 2013, Belle’s Bistro served up its first of countless delicious meals featuring ingredients grown and raised on the farm. Ed and Kitty persisted with new ideas for the property, and like any good farm, Chattooga Belle continued to thrive under the constant work and nurturing of the Lands.

The couple’s creative thinking, along with Ed’s diverse experience, soon led to expansions beyond fruit growing. Chattooga Belle Farm officially opened to visitors in 2010, and visitors flocked to the new establishment, attending 22 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

Bottle Rocket Liquor distilled using produce grown on site

the Event Barn as well as three small residences

by Horse Shoe Lake for lodging. The Lands also recently purchased 50 more acres adjacent to the farm, which Kitty describes as “gorgeous, with a trail that follows a stream through mountain laurel and rhododendron.” They want to add a two-mile walking trail to the property and are considering more family-friendly events for the site.

weddings, filling baskets with fruit, and enjoying the views on the 18-hole disc golf course. Firm believers of not letting anything go to waste, the Lands soon added a commercial canning kitchen that would allow them to use excess fruits, selling their creations in their on-site farm store. Ed’s knowledge of butchery led to the Lands wanting to raise grass-fed Angus beef cattle, which in turn resulted in the addition of a pole shed for hay, farming equipment, and a new catch pen for their cattle.

As the business grew under tireless tending by the Lands, the couple began to think about opening a distillery; even with the canning business, their trees and vines were producing more fruit than they could keep up with. Fruits that appeared less-than-perfect on the exterior due to hail damage or small size were still just as healthy and flavorful, and the Lands knew they could transform them into something appealing to customers. Chattooga Belle Distillery was formed during the summer of 2013, and as Kitty says, “The next summer, we were licensed to make some ‘shine!” They built a still and held a grand opening in 2016, becoming the first legal producers of moonshine in Oconee County in a century. The entire distillery is operated on site, from growing to fermenting, distilling, bottling, and labeling. Guests can visit the distillery year round and purchase at least seven products, including brandy, whiskey, and vodka, and bourbon will be added this year.

As blessings continued to flow on the farm, more ideas became realities. Both the restaurant and farm store were expanded to accommodate demand, and in 2016, the Lands purchased a nearby roadside stand and packing shed to further reach customers and make more room for apple production. The following spring, they opened a hardware store next to the roadside stand to hold customers’ interests a little longer. This year, the Lands plan to add an enclosed bar area to

The Lands are known for holding events that benefit the community, which was one of their original goals when developing the farm. Each year, they host a Farm-to-Table dinner that sells out well in advance, featuring locally-grown foods and assisted by local students from local Future Farmers of America (FFA). Proceeds from the event go towards scholarships for FFA students. Chattooga Belle Farm sits near the South Carolina-Georgia border and partners with food programs in both states, supplying apples to area school districts. The Lands see their bounty as a way to serve others and teach about the benefits of locally-grown, nutritious foods. Their perspective is unsurprising, as both Ed and Kitty have made service a cornerstone of their lives, working in the health industry and the military as well as volunteering in their community.

Despite an abundance of fresh foods, Chattooga Belle Farm is more than a farm. It is a destination for photographers who flock to the property for unspoiled views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and for amateur astronomers who take advantage of the night sky as seen from the farm’s Lomax Observation Circle. It is a gathering place for families to spend the day outside together, unplugged, untethered, and unconcerned about the stresses of daily life. It is a coveted wedding spot for couples beginning their new lives with each other; they can look around and observe what a marriage of teamwork can accomplish.

For Ed and Kitty Land, Chattooga Belle Farm is but one of their many adventures together. It is a project that took root after being carefully planted, nurtured, and loved after years of strenuous labor and preparation. It is the result of turning wheels and turned soil, of seasons of sweat and dirt and aching backs. Today the springtime of Chattooga Belle Farm is in full bloom, and it flowers as the Belle of Oconee County. chattoogabellefarm.com

Historically

Modern

Shop, dine, and play in downtown Summerville, where charm and Southern hospitality blend gracefully with a modern, forward-thinking sensibility. Our lovingly preserved downtown, complete with beautiful public art, a friendly town square, and an array of businesses from boutiques to brewhouses, is the hub of activity in Summerville.

For info about Downtown Summerville, visit summervilledream.org/palmetto

The Campbell Street Story

Ends March 1

Camden’s African American Heritage The African American Cultural Center of Camden 517 York Street

ing things that can be improved within the market, and working behind the scenes than manning the merchandise booth. But, he agreed to meet me here to discuss the Soda City Market, his passion project of over thirteen years, so he stays put—for now. As we talk, a handful of people interrupt to wave at Emile, shake his hand, or talk to him a moment themselves; it is quite clear that he is an important and appreciated figure in the Columbia community.

But despite the recognition he receives, Emile prefers to lay low, opting out of being the face of the market, and instead letting the market speak for itself.

Wonderfully, the market has so very much to say.

Main Street didn’t always look like this. Where musicians, artisans, farmers, and food trucks stand today, tumbleweeds could have passed through not too long ago, and no one would have noticed; the place was a veritable ghost town on weekends. And the market itself, originally held elsewhere, was nowhere near the size it is today, now featuring well over a hundred vendors on any given weekend. When it began thirteen years ago, it was simply the result of a handful of farmers looking for a place to sell their products. Emile, a hog farmer at the time, banded together with a couple of friends to start the “All Local Farmers Market,” setting up on a sidewalk outside of his friend Kristian Niemi’s restaurant, Gervais and Vine. They sold produce, flowers, meat, and eggs, and quickly gained a devout local following. Four years later, they moved to an indoor/outdoor location on Whaley Street and added artisans and food vendors, blossoming well past the six-vendor setup and into something more like a local institution. Only a couple years later, the market began to outgrow its new digs, and luckily, the right person noticed.

“Mayor Steve Benjamin came down to the market one day and asked me to bring it over to Main Street,” remembers Emile. “We did some analysis and watched videos taken of Main Street on random weekends throughout the year: there was minimal activity. Maybe 60 cars from 9am-1pm. So we decided to give it a go, setting up for the first time in October 2012, and it just took off from there.”

SOUTHERNNARRATIVE Soda City Market:Community

The Market Maestro Driven by a passion for his beloved city, Emile DeFelice invests his heart and soul into providing engaging, beneficial experiences for locals and visitors alike.

by Jana Riley

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C O LU M B I A ,

S O U T H

C A RO L I N A

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n a recent Fall Saturday, Emile DeFelice stands behind a Soda City Market table on Columbia’s Main Street, scanning the expansive crowd gathering across multiple city blocks. This isn’t typical; Emile isn’t one to stand still, and he is much more likely to be found talking to vendors, assess-

Local Love Emile DeFelice at the Soda City Market; fresh produce awaits.

The move to Main Street coincided with a rebranding campaign for the market, an effort led by an entirely self-taught Emile. He chose the name Soda City in a nod to Columbia’s nickname, Cola, and the new moniker quickly made its way into the local lexicon and beyond. From the beginning of Soda City Market’s Main Street occupation, Emile knew that he had one chance to get it right. He focused on sustainable growth and securing a variety of vendors, stipulating that everything had to be made or grown locally, with the exception of out-of-season or exotic produce. He opened up space for buskers, especially talented young people looking to share their skills, and allowed them to set up and play instruments, dance, juggle, perform magic tricks, and more all over the market, lending a creative and engaging air to the space. He prioritized vendor relationships, mentoring those who needed attention and working with each to ensure the greatest profit. Growing organically while being shepherded by Emile, the venture evolved into its own living, breathing organism. palmettomagazine.com

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Market Street A market attendee surveys the offerings; petite treats entice passers-by.

income is our priority. That’s why we are here, to help small businesses get off the ground and become successful for themselves. And it’s really, really working, not just for the vendors, but for the revitalization of downtown as a whole.”

His vendors agree. Over at Curiosity Coffee Bar’s booth, owner Greg Slattery says, “This event is one of the greatest exposure tools a business can have in the midlands. It really has been integral to Curiosity Coffee Bar expanding our reach.”

“Emile’s goal, from what I have seen, is that the market stands on its own as a member of the community itself,” says longtime market supporter and Columbia resident, Kate Reynolds.“He doesn’t act like it is this business or entity that he owns or runs; he gives it to the community and works hard to foster it.

That is why my family keeps coming back; it’s more than a market. It feels like our own extraordinary festival each week, and a place where you can feel the pulse of our city, hear its voice, and appreciate its identity. People come from all over to attend, and when you’re here, you can see why.”

Though the Main Street version of Soda City Market began with 26 vendors on one block, a more standard number these days is 150 across three blocks, a testament to the success vendors can find here. Over the years, Emile has seen countless professionals quit their high-paying jobs to work a table at the market, and many vendors report being able to buy houses, send their kids to college, and get out of debt because of their presence at the Soda City Market.

A couple of years back, a curious Emile paid some data professionals to run the numbers, and discovered that across the span of all the people involved with the market, either directly or secondarily, Soda City Market plays a part in seven thousand paychecks every week. That, combined with the sheer amount of income the market receives funnels anywhere from seven to ten million dollars back into the local economy annually, not to mention an impressive amount of taxes paid out. From the macro scale of the state economy to the micro scale of a farmer being able to pay his rent, Emile is invested.

“I am a startup guy at heart,” Emile says, “With Soda City Market, it’s like I can do my startup thing over and over again with a bunch of businesses. I tell everyone involved here that if you are a part of Soda City, I am invested in you. If my boat goes up, I make sure yours does too. The success of this whole venture is important to everyone else’s economic success. So when people fill out the application to become a vendor, the first thing they read is that their 26 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

Another seller, Laurie Grindley at Meeting and Market Candles, shares similar sentiments. “The sense of community we have out here is incredible. It’s a great place to meet and mingle and you can tell everyone is excited about supporting small local businesses. And we’ve definitely found success at this market—just today, we sold out of three scents in a couple of hours!”

As the Soda City Market grew in popularity, the venture generated enough money to start a nonprofit called Soda City Friends in 2011, enabling them to host around eight events each year and raise a total of around $400,000 for charity since its inception. Tickets for the most popular event, the 1,000-person Gervais Street Bridge Dinner, sold out in eleven minutes last year, and 100% of the proceeds went to such beneficiaries as Serve & Connect, a nonprofit aimed at building stronger ties between law enforcement and underserved communities. Other events focus on music, shelter pet adoption, Oktoberfest, Mardis Gras, and more. One of the newer events is the Brookland Brunch, a Sunday riverfront market aimed at bringing more people to West Columbia. Always a cheerleader for new ideas, Emile is currently throwing his seemingly limitless energy at a project called Surf Soda City, an endeavor that will bring river surfing to Columbia and bring a considerable boost to the local economy.

The only privately run street market in the United States that is held in a public right of way, Soda City Market is unique by existing as it does alone, but there are so many other elements of the event that distinguish it from a typical farmer’s market. Technically in a USDA-defined food desert, and right in the heart of University of South Carolina student housing, the market stands as the only access to fresh food that some local students have, and they line up early each Saturday to fill boxes with produce, pay by the weight, and cart it home to try new recipes. Here, a young boy stands in the middle of the street playing Green Day on his guitar as he fearlessly performs for the masses streaming around him, while millennials line up to get avocado toast nearby.

A woman explains the custom aspects of her handmade clothing to customers, while a preteen violinist astounds passersby with her talents. Food vendors

the looks of it, he’s just getting started.

“I owned a successful farming business for twenty years, and it grew with the boom in Charleston’s restaurant industry,” says Emile. “I saw firsthand how a city can change when creativity, good food, and a focus on locally-sourced items is prioritized.

I know we can do that here. Columbia has a great cost of living, incredible outdoor opportunities, fantastic people, miles and miles of publicly-accessible riverfront property, and so much more.

I’m just doing my part to highlight what I can and encourage anything that benefits this place I hold dear.”

The Soda City Market is held on the 1300, 1400, and 1500 blocks of Columbia’s Main Street every Saturday year-round from 9am-1pm, rain or shine.

sling churros, waffles, macarons, boiled peanuts, acai bowls, bbq sandwiches, wraps, juice, smoothies, and more. Artisans showcase handcrafted soy candles, wind chimes, jewelry, instruments, t-shirts, woven baskets, planters, and countless other items.

Market-goers carry their purchases proudly, and conversation between strangers abounds. Along the sidewalks, Main Street businesses set out signs and hold streetside sales, capitalizing on the crowds, while streams of customers file through their doorways. Looking around at the bustling market, it is nearly impossible to imagine what it looked like before the Soda City Market made its impact here, but it is possible to envision the effects its presence has on the future. Driven by a passion for his city and armed with the support and assistance of a team of dedicated individuals, Emile DeFelice has changed Columbia forever, and, by

Hitting the Streets

This page, clockwise: yarn art lends a creative aspect to the already vibrant space; Soda City Market is both kid and pet friendly; a coffee truck offers comforting beverages perfect for drinking while browsing the market; a young busker belts out classic songs.

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• Illustration by Jason Wagener

Confessions of a Helicopter Kid In the never-ending circle of our life, if we’re lucky, we end up much as we began

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y dad is 87 years old, and I know I’m driving him crazy. He lives two hours away, and still, I’m like a pesky bee that won’t stop buzzing around his head. He’s nice about it, but there is no doubt that I have become the dreaded helicopter kid.

I admit it. His determination and resilience amazes me. But still, I hover.

I never cease to be amazed by the circular nature of life. We have no choice as to whether or not we come into the world, and when we get here, we’re utterly dependent on the kindness of the people around us, most often our parents. We have no frame of reference to measure our world, and no

power to change it. Everything we know is based on our instinctive trust and blind faith in the humanity and goodness of those we hope love us.

We see the blur of their smiling faces through unfocused eyes and reach for their hands.

If we are lucky, despite our best efforts to try their patience, we are confident in the unconditional love of a parent for a child, and spend our formative years under their gentle guidance, learning kindness and caring, values and manners, discipline and skills for daily living. Despite my best efforts, I never knew an instant on this earth without that unconditional love like the wind at my back, though like most kids, there were times when I certainly didn’t deserve it. palmettomagazine.com

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It hardly seems fair that after we have fought our way through the angst of our teens, set off on our own and settled down in our twenties, then clawed our way through the crises of our thirties before finally catching our breaths in the forties, we are rewarded with the middle ages.

It’s a pretty depressing day when the AARP card arrives in the mail, but there’s a little part of us that shouts, “Yay! It’s about time I got a discount at Denny’s, and reduced ticket prices, a small drink, and popcorn at the movies.” Then, some smarty pants announces that fifty is the new thirty, and we have to do the middle age stuff all over again—except this time, with creaky knees and aching backs.

It’s a pretty depressing day when the AARP card arrives in the mail, but there’s a little part of us that shouts, “Yay! It’s about time I got a discount at Denny’s, and reduced ticket prices, a small drink, and popcorn at the movies.” Then, some smarty pants announces that fifty is the new thirty, and we have to do the middle age stuff all over again—except this time, with creaky knees and aching backs.

At last, we retire, thinking that our days will be filled with leisure travel, gardening, reading the classics and all the other things we felt guilty about doing when we were working and raising our kids. The reality is that when we abruptly have time on our hands, we have no clue as to how to manage it. After all the years and all the rules, some of us who have spent our lives as organized, efficient professionals can’t keep track of what day of the week it is. (Okay, maybe by ‘some of us,’ I mean me. I’ll be honest—all that freedom takes some getting used to.)

Finally, we figure it out, and though we’re told our seventies are now our fifties, we get to relax a bit. We’re who we’re going to be, and those that don’t like it can, well, you know. I see it all the time in the people I know (ahem, live with) and I get it. Try humming “Don’t go changin’ to try and please me,” to someone in their seventies, and they’ll add a new verse to the Billy Joel song that says, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to.”

But just when we get comfortable in our own skin, time, gravity, and all the punishment our bodies have taken over the years begin to catch up with us.

They sneak up on us, making things that were so easy a challenge for our minds and bodies. We’ve been sold a bill of goods; the eighties really aren’t anything like the sixties. We’ve eaten right and exercised, worked crossword puzzles and done Sudoku, but inevitably, the machine we’ve so carefully maintained begins to slow down.

Our lives have come full circle. We have no choice as to whether or not we leave this world, and we’re approaching the time in our lives when we’re utterly dependent on the kindness of the people around us, most often our children. The difference is that though we again have little power to change it, we now have a lifetime to use as the frame of reference to measure our world. Once again our circumstances make us reliant on our instinctive trust and blind faith in the humanity and goodness of those that we know love us. We hope that they have learned through our gentle guidance, the lessons of kindness and caring, values and manners, discipline and skills for daily living. We see the blur of their smiling faces through clouded eyes and reach for their hands. And if we are lucky, despite our best efforts to try their patience, we are confident in the unconditional love of a child for a parent.

So Dad—that buzzing around your head? That’s me, hovering. I hope that you feel my unconditional love like a wind at your back. You deserve it— even if it sometimes feels more like a helicopter.

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A Place in the Sun

Balancing the aesthetics of an authentic farmhouse with the practicality of modern materials and a contemporary interior, architect Amanda Thomas’ design is a bright spot in the landscape for Blair and Matt Vana.

by Susan Frampton Inspiro 8 Studios

photos by

New Addition A bright kitchen offers beautiful views of the forest

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A

top a sunlit knoll surrounded by pine forest, a sprawling white farmhouse sits as comfortably as though it has owned this space for a century or more. Though a place like this might not seem an uncommon sight in the rural landscape outside Simpsonville, SC, a closer look reveals that this is no ordinary farmhouse.

When Blair and Matt Vana decided to move from Greenville with their three children, they turned to Amanda Thomas of Tindall Architecture Workshop to design their new home on a 150-acre tract of land in the gentle rolling hills outside of Simpsonville. To get a feel for the property, Thomas first viewed it from an ATV, noting its natural contours, the small creek running along its perimeter and its surrounding woodland forest. She was immediately captivated by the 32 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

Warm Welcome This Page: towering beams make the living space feel even larger; the family shares their land with feathered friends; meaningful details on the staircase make a house a home.

Opposite Page: the spacious kitchen is a favorite place to gather

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natural beauty and inspired by the Vana’s vision for their dream home in the beautiful setting.

cedar rafter tails of the living space are the only wood elements used in construction.

Though they would not farm the land in the traditional sense, the Vana’s number one requirement of the design was that it be an updated version of a real farm, constructed with modern building materials that would require less upkeep than a traditionally built structure. Thomas immediately grasped the concept and set out to create their dream home.

She began by positioning the home to take advantage of the sunlight. Incorporating a deep, wrap-around porch with entryways strategically placed to allow the cross breeze created by open doors, her plans also provided room for rocking chairs and the obligatory porch swing. A metal roof tied both wings of the home to the main section, with a covered breezeway to the asymmetrical garage offering access to and fro in all weather. Her design struck the perfect balance that the Vana’s requested, using innovative PVC and Hardie board to create a traditional board and battened exterior, and interior ship-lapped surfaces. The

Thomas artfully achieved the Vana’s desired open-concept living space by placing a walk-thru butler’s pantry at its center, carrying the kitchen’s clean navy and white color scheme to the area conveniently accessible from the kitchen, dining area, or family room. The stairway’s custom rail replicating the fence of Blair’s grandmother’s home is among her favorite features of the house.

Wide Open Spaces This page: the home is a perfect mixture of old and new. Opposite, clockwise: the kitchen is a welcoming gathering place; the yard is perfect for relaxation; contrasting colors and textures make the kitchen pop, a wide front porch allows for rest and conversation.

So far, a chicken coop matching the exterior of the house, and a garden tended by Blair are the family’s only foray into farming, but the outdoor fire pit and shooting range promise many happy hours for the family’s outdoor lifestyle. With natural light spilling from windows positioned to view the outdoors from almost any angle, the Vana’s modern farmhouse invites the outside into every room. They don’t have to look far to see the land that first captured their imagination, and know that they are home.

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ACROSS SOUTH CAROLINA, THE TENDRILS OF FLAVOR THAT WAFT THROUGH THE AIR WITH A HINT OF HICKORY AND A WHISPER OF TANGY VINEGAR ARE THE ESSENCE OF A BARBECUE BIRTHRIGHT. By Photos by

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Susan Frampton

Andrew Cebulka & Dottie Rizzo

Meat & Greet This page: John Lewis of Lewis Barbecue showing off the fruits of his labor. Opposite: hot coals are the base of any great barbecue

If you’re hoping to rile up a South Carolinian, throw shade on their football teams, announce that the tea is too sweet, the marsh smells funky, or people talk too slow. If you’re looking to stir up a hornet’s nest of epic proportions, dare to claim that your barbecue is better than theirs. In this state, barbecue is sacred. It can also be a bit confusing.

The semantics are important. According to the South Carolina BBQ Association, the Palmetto State’s barbeque is all about pork. As a verb, the term describes the act of cooking pork for hours over the low heat of hardwood coals. As a noun, it is the product of cooking pork for hours over the low heat of hardwood coals. To barbecue is not to grill, nor is a barbecue a cookout. Although any meat can be cooked over a flame, when you talk about a South Carolina barbecue, you’re not grilling burgers or chicken. Technically, one could attend a barbecue, which would be a gathering where pork is barbecued, and the barbecue is eaten, but actually, we call that a pig pickin’.

Then there is the spelling. Though purists might argue, it’s a case of tomayto or tomahto, whether spelled with the more accepted barbecue, the Southern variant of barbeque or the shorthand moniker of BBQ, the meaning is the same.

Lake Hughes, the author of The History of South Carolina Barbeque, writes that South Carolinians have every reason to come to feel possessive of the method of cooking that renders their swine absolutely divine.

Hughes opines that though the actual word “barbeque” has its origins in the West Indian barbacoa, it originally referred only to the actual wooden structure used to suspend meat over a fire. His research shows that the method of cooking began in South Carolina as a result of the Spanish introduction of pigs to the region. There, along the southern coastline, St. Elena Native Americans developed the technique of slow cooking pork over coals to tenderize the otherwise lean, dry meat. The word was

eventually adopted into the lexicon to refer to the method and the meat.

With over 220 family-friendly restaurants on South Carolina’s BBQ Trail, a barbecue enthusiast might travel from the mountains to the Midlands and to the coast, sampling the best that the birthplace of barbecue has to offer along the way. All across the state, award-winning pitmasters devote hours to staying true to the time-honored technique. Their passion is plated on china in fine dining establishments, folded into cardboard cartons at converted gas stations, wrapped in waxed paper at country stores, and delivered on trendy aluminum trays in suburban watering holes.

Through the centuries, four distinctly different styles have evolved. They are often passed down from generation to generation, and most pitmasters harbor a secret ingredient to define their signature style. Some swear by whole hog only, while others revolve around ribs or make butts their business.

While lines may be drawn by region, it all comes down to the sauce applied before, during, and after the meat is cooked. You’ll find a spicy vinegar and pepper mixture near the coast, in the Midland’s a sweet, mustard-based recipe, a thick, tomato-based sauce Upstate, and a more universal, lighter tomato option popular in the Pee Dee region.

It’s pointless to try and sway those of one persuasion to the style of another. Like football teams and sweet tea, everyone has their own reasons to choose one over the other. But before you mention your penchant for that other Carolina’s barbecue, talk about Texas or bring Kansas City into the mix, hop on the BBQ Trail, for a taste of barbecue the way it was meant to be—made in South Carolina.

Slow & Low This page, clockwise: BBQ Barn in North Augusta is a local favorite; links being smoked over a hot grill; it’s all about the sauce at Swig & Swine; John Lewis checks on the state of affairs in his smoker.

Roadside Revelry This page, clockwise: a sampler at Lewis Barbecue is full of fixin’s; Cooper’s Country Store is well worth the rural drive; a barbecue sandwich is full of the good stuff at Swig & Swine; Rodney Scott’s BBQ is open, airy, and delicious.

Lewis Barbecue When John Lewis fires up his massive custom-made smokers in the early hours of the morning, the city streets take on the distinctive aroma of Central Texas barbecue.

Tuesday through Sunday, Pitmaster John Lewis serves up expertly smoked pork spareribs, beef ribs, “Texas hot guts” sausage, oxtail and his legendary beef brisket. Redolent with unique flavor profiles created by the El Paso native, the menu’s daily specials such as Wagyu beef back ribs, chicken-fried steak and prime rib, along with a full complement of sandwiches and sides have dedicated barbecue fans lining up to indulge in the full effect of “what 18 hours tastes like.”

Open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am - 10 pm 464 North Nassau Street, Charleston, SC (843) 805-9500 lewisbarbecue.com

Maurice's Piggy Park BBQ When Joe Bessinger first served his tangy, mustard-based sauce over a plate of tender, hickory-smoked pork in 1939, a new standard was set for barbecue lovers. At age 9, son Maurice began cooking with his father, and the torch was passed to the next generation. With the recipe for dad’s secret sauce in hand, Maurice opened Maurice’s Piggy Park in West Columbia, SC. Today you will find his children serving up the family’s legendary barbecue, along with ribs and chicken tenders, hash, and hamburgers, potato salad, catfish stew and much more. Family matters to the Bessingers, so bring yours by to meet theirs today.

Open Sunday through Thursday 10 am - 9 pm, Friday & Saturday 10 am - 10 pm 1600 Charleston Highway, West Columbia, SC (803)796-0220 or visit piggypark.com for a location near you.

Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ Cut-chop-cook is the mantra for Rodney Scott, the Charleston pitmaster recently named the winner of the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast Award. Scott’s Charleston restaurant has helped bring about a virtual barbecue renaissance in a town well-known for its culinary scene. Slow-smoked over hardwood coals, Scott’s whole hog barbecue takes center stage, and big, meaty spare ribs get saucy alongside pit-cooked chicken and turkey. Sandwiches, salads and sides round out a menu with something for everyone, and Ella’s Banana Pudding wraps up the flavor feast with its sweet salute to a true Southern favorite. A drive-thru window offers barbecue on the fly, and for special events, feed a crowd from a tasty selection of catering options.

Open every day, 11 am - 9 pm 1011 King Street, Charleston, SC (843) 990-9535 rodneyscottsbbq.com

Cooper's Country Store At the crossroads of US-521 and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway time has stood still since 1937. At the white clapboard store on the corner you can pick up a pound of nails, oil for your tractor, and some of the best Williamsburg County barbecue you’ll ever put in your mouth.

Pitmasters Russell Cooper and Vern Darby turn the whole hogs skin up over hardwood for hours, then and fill them with a vinegar based sauce spiked with spices and pepper to allow the flavor to seep through to the bone. They make it mild, but Cooper says if you add enough black pepper, it will “pull sweat out from under your eyes.” Their selection of hot food changes daily, but barbecue is always on the menu. Stop by and pick up a sandwich or fresh smoked ham for the holidays, or drop by to just soak up the flavor of this iconic store.

Open Monday through Saturday, 7 am to 7 pm 6945 US-521, Salters, SC

Home Team BBQ Converting a gas station to a barbecue joint with white tablecloth sensibilities might seem like an impossible task, but with no small amount of elbow grease, patience, and finesse, Aaron Siegel created a classy, comfortable establishment West Ashley, with the feel of a neighborhood hangout. Then he did it again and again across the Lowcountry. In Home Team kitchens, the classic flavors of old favorites are honored, while a creative spin on slowcooked meats and Southern comfort food is sure to please traditionalists and adventurous barbecue lovers. Craft cocktails and spirits are plentiful, and a menu chocked full of snacks, tacos, salads, sandwiches and platters make choosing a favorite impossible. With three locations to choose from, getting there is easy from wherever you are.

For specific hours for the location nearest you, visit hometeambbq.com.

1205 Ashley River Road, Charleston (843)225-RIBS ext.2 2209 Middle Street, Sullivan’s Island (843)225-RIBS ext.3 126 Williman Street, Charleston, (843)225-RIBS ext.4

Bacon Bros.

Public House Naming yourself after the most beloved meat of all time is a little like jumping in a hot frying pan. Setting goals to include serving the highest quality, farm-fresh ingredients, and superior service in an engaging environment might jump you right into the fire. But when 4 friends set out to create a culinary experience in 2012, they discovered a “cure” for ordinary dining. The dishes made from scratch, cured in-house and served with a smile against a backdrop of rustic warmth are from a chef-driven, seasonal menu that is eclectic and modern, yet respectful of tradition.

With a wide range of libations, old and new Southern favorites, and powered by divine swine, Bacon Bros. is no flash in the pan, but rather, a sizzling success.

Open Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm, Friday, 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm and Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm 3620 Pelham Road, Greenville, SC (864) 297-6000 baconbrospublichouse.com

Cannon's BBQ n More There’s a fire burning in the Midlands, made from hardwoods reduced to amber coals. On metal grates above it, rows of Boston butts rest in the smoky darkness, slowly collecting the essence of the wood that keeps those seeking authentic Southern barbecue driving miles toward the unassuming white building.

The out-of-the-way smoke shack located just north of the Lexington/ Newberry County line isn’t grand by conventional standards, but what it lacks in flash, it more than makes up for in flavor. You won’t find a fancy sign announcing pitmaster Leon Cannon’s brisket or ribs, or even a sandwich board boasting of melt-inyour-mouth hash cooked in metal wash pots. When barbecue is this good, it speaks for itself.

Open Thursday and Friday, 11 am to 7:30 pm Saturday, 11 am to 6:30 pm 1903 Nursery Road, Little Mountain, SC (803) 945-1080

Swig N Swine One might not imagine that Anthony DiBernardo’s job as submarine cook set the course for a successful barbecue business, but when that career deposited him and his mad cooking skills in the Lowcountry, it may have been fate. Fast forward 25 years, to Chef DiBernardo’s distinguished culinary career and a brilliant collaboration with Queen

A Road Side Miracle When Kay Baker accidentally left out a comma between ‘barbecue’ and ‘pie’ on the sign outside her restaurant, she had no idea it would cause a culinary sensation. After many requests for the odd menu item, Kay’s husband Dennis decided to run with it. He placed sautéed peppers and onions along with barbecue in a piecrust, then topped it with pimento cheese. Barbecue Pie, the delicious result, is now a staple on the Baker’s Cottage Kitchen menu, proving once and for all that everything is better with barbecue.

To try this culinary juggernaut, take a trip to Summerville. While you’re there, you might as well try Dennis’ sweet tea pecan pie.

You can thank us later.

Baker’s BBQ Kitchen 807 Central Ave. Summerville, SC (843) 875-4469

Street Hospitality Group creating a barbecuelover’s-barbecue-destination in the Lowcountry.

With mouthwatering pulled pork, beef brisket, smoked turkey, smoked pork belly, housemade sausage, chicken wings, and juicy ribs, all smoked to perfection over hardwood coals, plenty of tasty sides and a selection of over 60 craft beers on the menu, pigging out has never tasted so good!

Open every day, 11 am to 10 pm 1217 Savannah HW, Charleston, SC (843) 225-3805 swigandswinebbq.com 2379 Highway 41, Mt. Pleasant, SC (843) 416-7368

The Smokin' Pig It’s Monday at the Smoking Pig in Pendleton, where the hanging automobile tags chronicle visitors from every state, and everyone knows your name—because you wrote it on the wall.

The fire is rekindled every Monday, and over 4 tons of meat prepared for their low, slow turn in the smoky heat. Come Thursday, eager eaters will be lined up and ready for their favorite barbecue meal. But during football season, it’s all about the Tailgate Packages that will make you the hit of the parking lot, with pork, beans, slaw or potato salad, buns and sweet tea to serve anywhere from 5 to 40 revelers. With three locations across the Upstate, the Pig is a hot ticket to tasty town!

Open Thursday through Saturday, 11 am to 9 pm 6630 Clemson Boulevard, Pendleton, SC (864) 646-5150 smokinpigsc.com 720 Anderson Drive, Williamston, SC (864) 841-2323 701 S. Pendleton Street, Easley, SC (864) 442-5074

Southern Smoke BBQ Restaurant N Food Trucks The frills are few at this restaurant that sees no reason to put lipstick, or sauce, on a pig, “What sauce? You don’t need it—try it!” their menu instructs, and those who come through its doors, or follow its food trucks will tell you not to fiddle with what’s on the menu, either.

But when the meat is moist and tender, the chicken falls off the bone, the fried pickles hit the perfect notes and the hash is heavenly, why mess with perfection? Food truck locations

change daily, so follow them on Facebook to be first in line!

Open Thursday through Saturday, 11 am to 9 pm 926 Easley Highway, Pelzer, SC (864) 402-6040

Sweatman's Bar-B-que There isn’t a sign on Eutawville Road that reads “Stop for Barbecue,” but there should be. If you find yourself on Eutawville Road outside Holly Hill, you’re definitely going to want to hit the brakes when you see the picturesque old farmhouse where three days of chopping hickory, oak, and pecan each week prepares the smoker for the whole hog barbeque owner Mark Behr serves Friday and Saturday. Basted with secret sauce and fork-tender with flavor acquired by 14 hours of low and slow cooking, it’s no wonder that Sweatman’s has attracted attention from the likes of The Travel Channel’s “No Reservations,” and “Food Paradise,” and The Cooking Channel’s “Man, Fire, Food.” Choose a one-time trip through the buffet, or opt for the bottomless option. You can decide on the way. Get in the car—it’s time for a road trip!

Open Friday and Saturday, 11:30 am to 9 pm 1427 Eutaw Rd, Holly Hill, SC (803) 496-1227 sweatmansbbq.com

BBQ Barn Bridging the great barbecue divide with its proximity to the GA/SC state lines, for over 12 years the authentic, hickory-smoked pork, ribs, brisket, chicken and turkey of Jody and Susan Glover’s North Augusta restaurant have happily united both sides in a true Southern flavor-fest.

If the slow-cooked meats, side dishes that seem straight from your grandmother’s house, and heavenly hash made from pure Boston butts don’t have your buttons popping, “Girdle Buster” desserts like Happy Cake, a chocolate cake with peanut butter, cream cheese frosting, topped with crushed Oreos and sliced peanut butter cups may stretch your waistband to the limit. Stop in for lunch or dinner, or pick up meat and sides by the pound, sauce by the bottle, and whole cakes—or they’ll happily cater your special event.

Open Wednesday 11am – 6pm Thursday-Saturday 11am - 8:30pm 10298 Atomic Road, North Augusta, SC (803) 278-7202 bbqbarnna.com

‘Cue Ball Top row: showing off the Sweatman’s BBQ smokehouse; fries are the perfect accompaniment to Lewis Barbecue’s prime rib; dining al fresco is the best way to enjoy a meal at Lewis Barbecue. Second row: a piled-high plate at BBQ Barn; a mounted longhorn is a nod to John Lewis’ Texas roots at Lewis Barbecue; dry-rubbed wings are a crowd favorite at Swig & Swine. Third row: the pitmaster at Cooper’s Country Store; you can find the classics done right at Rodney Scott’s BBQ; the menu at Cooper’s Country Store

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The Prince of the Barbecue Ball From the ashes of a Hemingway fire pit, Rodney Scott has established his place among culinary royalty

Pit Master This page: Rodney Scott is king of the pits. Opposite: Scott tends to the meat using time-honored techniques.

by Susan Frampton

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t might stretch the imagination to cast an AfricanAmerican man with a backward-turned baseball cap as the lead in a fairytale, but if you’re interested in a modernday Cinderella story, Rodney Scott has all the qualities to place him in the starring role. Though his arrival and meteoric rise to fame on Charleston’s famed culinary scene may have looked like the product of magic, no gilded pumpkin coach transported him from the burning embers of a Hemingway, SC smokehouse to the Holy City’s barbecue ball.

His story began in rural Williamsburg County, in a town of around 500 people.

The only child of Ella and Roosevelt Scott, the young boy was the focus of all his hard-working parents’ praise, but also the bull’s eye for all the discipline. Early on, he learned responsibility by helping at their small variety store, and chopping wood to load into the burn barrel to make hot coals for the fire pit where his family cooked whole hog barbecue. Like clockwork every Thursday, the community lined up for the barbecue sandwiches his parents sold at the store’s lunch window.

Life in the small, poor community was not easy, and for many, the county line was the limit of their imagination. “I remember being told by someone that life is what you make it,” he says, “to dream big, and find the joy in whatever you do.”

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The smiling, gregarious boy took the advice to heart. He spent hours watching the hot coals from the burn barrel strategically shoveled into position beneath whole hogs laid over smoldering red oak and hickory, taking in his father’s methods of producing the moist, tender barbecue that created an ever growing line at the lunch window. A quick study, the youngster proudly cooked his first hog solo at age 11.

Graduating at age 17, he spent the night of his commencement loading and burning wood and shoveling embers. As word spread farther and farther afield of the Scott’s traditional Southern barbecue, the demand required more of the young man’s time. One hog per week gradually grew to multiples as the distance driven by willing devotees for the fragrant meat began to double, and then triple. By 19, he had already come into his own as a pitmaster, and taken over sole responsibility for creating and applying the pork’s distinctive seasoning. Life went on, and every day the pit in Hemingway sent smoke signals into the sky.

It didn’t happen overnight, but when the fairy godmother character in the story, or godfather as it were, caught the smoke in the wind, he appeared in the form of Nick Pihakis, of Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q. Drawn by the word of mouth to Hemingway to see and taste for himself, Pihakis was impressed enough by what he found to mention Scott to John T. Edge, writer, historian, and director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Edge’s story in the New York Times featuring the young pitmaster feeding the fire at Scott’s Bar-B-Q set the small restaurant’s business aflame, wafting the aroma of its unique flavor all across the country.

Though the newspaper was not a regular read in his small town, Scott knew its reputation. There is still a little disbelief in the voice of the now-famous restauranteur. “I knew this was huge, but I really didn’t know what to expect. It exploded, it just exploded.”

There is also joy in Scott’s voice that carries through the line when we speak via phone on a Friday morning sure to kick off a busy weekend for the owner of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, the restaurant he partners with Pihakis in Charleston. The establishment is the end result of the whirlwind that blew Scott into Charleston in 2010 for the Charleston Wine + Food Festival.

The next few years were a blur of activity. With his imagination stretched far beyond the boundaries of Williamsburg County, Scott turned the business in Hemingway back over to his parents in 2016, and began to concentrate on bringing the flavor of Hemingway to his own eatery in Charleston. When his restaurant opened in 2017, the whole hog barbecue, other Southern favorites he brought to round out the menu, and the new dishes he created turned the town on its culinary ear. Opening a new world of flavor to barbecue neophytes, and restoring life to an almost-forgotten culinary art, at any given time the casual eat-in/drive-thru/take-out restaurant on Upper King Street serves a crowd that is an eclectic mix of business suits and flip-flops, families and first dates, ladies who lunch and dudes on skateboards.

In a turn of events that strained even his boundless imagination, earlier this year Scott was nominated for and won one of the culinary industry’s most coveted honors: the 2018 James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southeast Award. “I still don’t even know who nominated me or who voted for me,” Scott admits sheepishly. “I’m still not even sure how it happened.”

It seems that the sky is truly the limit for Scott these days. The small-town boy who remembers playing in the dirt as a child, looking up to see a plane streaking across the sky and imagining who was on it and where they were going, can hardly believe that he is now the one going places, and looking down from the airplane to the dirt road below.

“I went from having a dream to living a dream,” he says of his life’s journey. His advice to those who ask the secret to his success, “Go after what you want—whatever it is. Do what you love, listen to the music and make it fun. And remember, the world is yours.”

As Scott’s own world soon expands to a new location in Birming-

“Go after what you want—whatever it is. Do what you love, listen to the music and make it fun. And remember, the world is yours.”

“I immediately fell in love with Charleston,” he says of his introduction to the culinary mecca, and in the understatement of the year, continues, “Charleston seemed to like me, too.” By the event’s end, Scott was dubbed “the Charleston Barbecue Guy,” and the distant dream of a Charleston location began to take shape as a reality.

ham, AL, it is clear that Rodney Scott’s life is a true Cinderella story. The hard work, smoke, and ashes that were his ticket to the ball have made him a Prince among culinary royalty, and there is no doubt that both he and his traditional Southern barbecue will live happily ever after.

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45

Light Show West Fraser in his element: enjoying the outdoors.

THE

LIGHT

OF SOUTHERN With bold strokes, vivid hues, and the authenticity of a true son of the South, West Fraser’s brush captures the light and unique colors that illuminate his beloved Lowcountry home.

By

SUSAN FRAMPTON

Photos by

DOTTIE RIZZO

A Quiet Calm, oil on linen

A

SON

DEEP IN OUR SOULS, we carry the images of places

that in some intangible way define us. Whether they float at the forefront of our recall or lie buried beneath the years, they are images that wordlessly speak to our understanding of who we are and give us a sense of our place in the world. For those who know the Lowcountry, the art of plein air impressionist West Fraser takes us home.

Plein air painting, Fraser’s preferred method of creating his scenes, refers to painting in the outdoors. Impressionism, a painting style at which he excels, describes an approach to painting that took root in the 1800s that was far different from the fixed stillness of the period’s traditional landscapes. Created by thick, loose strokes, an impressionist creates more natural images that suggest movement and the immediacy of the moment through the use of thick, loose brush strokes.

Both the method and style bring authenticity to Fraser’s canvases, allowing us to believe he has stood in our place and captured the scenes our minds were too fickle to record accurately. In them, we re-live the dimming of summer days reflected in wandering ribbons of water, changing from gold and rose to violet and silver as dusk falls across the marshes.

We recall colorful vignettes of ordinary days at noonday crossroads, of pocket-sized neighborhood markets, and familiar lamp-lit streets.

We soar in dream-like visions of bright red rooftops, past steeples that rise against the sky and distant bridges that sometimes take us away, but just as often bring us home.

For those who have never been geographically privy to the cool relief of a palmetto-shaded coastal hammock, the moist, salty tang of a sea breeze, or the swaying of Spanish moss from ancient oaks, Fraser’s work offers the gift of instant passage to those places, and the opportunity to understand and appreciate their aesthetic, cultural, and environmental value.

I met Fraser on a cobblestone street in the heart of Charleston. Through an oddly placed opening in an otherwise nondescript wall, he led the way down a brick-lined walkway to the lush green of an unexpected urban grotto. For over two decades, from his studio on the upper floor of Charleston’s historic Confederate Home and College, the artist has built a body of work that has garnered national and international acclaim and earned him a reputation as one of the best American painters of his time.

The door through which we enter his studio is a portal into the soul of an artist who sees beyond the surface of the world around him. It is a lived-in space of soaring ceilings and drunken, tilting floors; of glass-fronted cabinets filled with fossils and artifacts, and tables laden with wellused brushes. Images of the Lowcountry’s most celebrated vistas and most intimate moments stand on paint-spattered easels and lean against waterstained walls.

Offering a comfortable chair adjacent to his easel, Fraser is soft-spoken, warm, and unpretentious as we sit down to talk. As he speaks in his slow, measured way, it becomes clear that the Lowcountry

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through West Fraser’s lens is a reflection of his passion for life under the Southern sun. Born in Savannah, Fraser traces his family’s Lowcountry roots to their 1696 arrival on the banks of the upper Ashley River where they established small towns long since lost to time. His early years were spent exploring the woodlands, waterways, and marshes of South Georgia, and summering amidst the maritime forests and marshes of Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.

In 1964, over two hundred years after their arrival in the Lowcountry, his family permanently relocated to Hilton Head, where his uncle and father pioneered a new-concept development called Sea Pines. It was a move that changed the landscape of South Carolina and shaped the future of young Fraser, who watched it change the land around him.

There, Fraser learned to appreciate the natural world and strove to see beyond its exterior to the biology and science of the life within. Naturally artistic, he took note of the depth of its colors and the evolution of the light as it moved across the land.

“I loved science, and I was always reading,” he recalls. “As I watched what was happening to the island where I grew up, I became really concerned about the environment. I knew from my early teens that I wanted to be a painter. I saw the changes coming, and it was disturbing.

I knew I wanted to capture the wild places.”

Graduating with a Fine Arts Degree from the University of Georgia, he began his career by painting in watercolor. His work in the medium gained accolades, but for the artist in him, something was missing.

“I stopped painting in watercolor and working from photographs in the studio right after Hurricane Hugo. I felt I’d gone as far as watercolor could take me.”

He began to paint in oil, and immediately recognized that the heavy pigments had been patiently waiting for his brush. “Oil is such a completely different medium,” he says of the transition. “It offered the rich colors I was looking for. I also found it easier, and much more forgiving.”

He was also ready to get back outside. “The plein air movement was resurging, and I wanted to be out there. I wanted to paint from life.”

Influenced by Coby Whitmore and Joe DeMers, Fraser is also an accomplished portraitist and has chronicled three decades of winners of The Heritage Golf Classic. Though forays into portraiture are relatively rare, thirty of his portraits hang in the hallowed halls of Harbor Town Links Clubhouse.

“The plein air movement was resurging, and I wanted to be out there. I wanted to paint from life.”

He prefers to paint what he sees and cherishes the quiet of painting in the landscape. His proximity to the city from his downtown studio made it natural for him to take his paints along as he moved through its streets. His rooftop harbor views and city scenes are among the most iconic renderings of both Charleston and Savannah.

“Charleston was hard to paint before Hugo,” he says. “You couldn’t see it for all the Crepe myrtles and other big trees blocking the buildings.”

Oil and Water A Second Sense, oil on linen, 24” x 36”; Exactly Like You, oil on linen, 36” x 48”

Town and Country Peregrine’s Porch, oil on linen, 36”x50”; Alto Tropical, oil on linen, 32”x44”

Charleston in My Time, The Paintings of West Fraser, published in 2001 by University of South Carolina Press, beautifully collects the decade of his plein air work in the aftermath of the Category Four storm that changed the face of the Lowcountry.

“I began returning to the studio about five years ago because I started wanting to do larger paintings. It’s hard to do that in outdoor conditions that can rapidly change. More and more I find myself painting from memory, sketching in the field and returning to the studio to flesh out a larger canvas. Trudging through the mud and marsh with a 60 lb. backpack is a vigorous endeavor, and at some point, you can’t do as much of that,” he says, laughing at what he calls his ‘old age plan.’

Some of his scenes are composites of the thousands he has viewed in his lifetime. “I’m not a purist in that regard. It doesn’t matter to me how a painting is made; it’s the end result.”

Though his painting has taken him far afield – from his second home and studio in Costa Rica to the fertile farmland of Italy, to New England’s maritime communities and the missions of California, the colors and textures of his homeland pull at him like a lodestone. Lovingly distilling the Lowcountry’s ever-changing palette of light and color to bring its distinctive flavor to his subjects is tribute to the land that is as much a part of him as the blood that runs through his veins.

Inviting his audience to share the details and textures of roads less traveled, he offers vistas known only to those willing to wander, and an opportunity to view everyday moments in the light of a Southern sun. As that sunlight filters through the tall windows of his studio, I ask Fraser

Spring Gold, oil on linen Studio Sessions Fraser in his Downtown Charleston studio

what he sees in his future, and what he hopes his legacy will be. His eyes move to the walls, the bookshelves, and the easel before him, pausing on the canvases that represent his life’s work.

“Well, I love to paint. It’s who I am. I’ll paint until the brush falls from my hand.” He nods, as a contemplative smile affirms the thought. “A lot of what I’ve done is to make people aware of these places so that they’ll want to save them. As a son of the South, I can only hope that I have dutifully captured them for the future—so that we will all remember.”

With West Fraser’s gifts so freely given to us from behind the easel, and so sincerely from his heart, how dare we ever forget?

For more information, visit westfraserstudio.com

B A N

A N D

T H E

O N

.

D

P L A Y S

P L A Y S

O N .

A N D

photos courtesy of Charleston Jazz Initiative, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston

D

Over a century ago, an unlikely group of musicians influenced music and dance around the world. These days, a group of dedicated individuals work tirelessly to ensure their legacy is known.

by JANA RILEY

T H E

B A N

ON

a frigid winter night in 1891, the pastor of Charleston’s New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist Church, Reverend Daniel Jenkins, made a discovery that would change the world forever. A lumber worker in Charleston, Jenkins was delivering a load of timber when he came upon four abandoned African American children shivering in an empty train boxcar. Though he had children of his own, Jenkins brought them home, where he and his wife cared for the kids while recognizing that they were a symbol of a greater need within the city. The following Sunday, the pastor delivered a moving, impassioned speech to his congregation about the children, appealing for help for not only them, but all black orphans in the city of Charleston. The church came together, donating to the cause, and within a year, The Orphan Aid Society was granted a state charter, enabling Jenkins to create a home for local black children to be fed, clothed, and taught life skills that would ensure a brighter future. In the decades following its inception, Jenkins’ orphanage would become, among many other things, a notable part of an international movement: the birth of jazz.

112 years after Reverend Jenkins’ monumental and compassionate decision, not far from the site of the original orphanage, two new friends met for lunch. For quite some time, mutual colleagues had suggested they meet, convinced that the two thoughtful scholars could collaborate on something important together. So they did: Karen Chandler, who at the time ran the Avery Research Center, met Jack McCray, longtime journalist for the Post and Courier, at Sermet’s restaurant, and the two quickly hit it off. Over appetizers, McCray mentioned his interest in the Jenkins Orphanage, and specifically the brass band that came out of the institution. McCray thought that the band, which toured the world for decades, had a greater influence on the musical landscape than they were given credit for. Chandler, a jazz buff, was both intrigued and shocked that she had never heard of the band while securing two degrees in music.

“I said to him, ‘well there have to be books written on this subject, right?’” Chandler remembers. “He shook his head. ‘CDs?’ I said, ‘Oral histories?’ He kept shaking his head. There was virtually nothing on the band at the time, save for a small but significant book by British jazz historian, John Chilton, and a South Carolina ETV video. That’s when I knew we had to dive in.”

They began researching, but it wasn’t until then College of Charleston professor Sylvia Gamboa requested the help of Chandler, McCray, and the Avery Research Center for a presentation on the Jazz Age that they really began connecting all of the pieces together. The team gathered a panel of musicians who had played in some of the later bands at Jenkins Orphanage, as well as people who had studied under various Jenkins

54 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

Orphanage Band members and fans of the band who had followed their work. On March 23, 2003, Chandler and McCray stood near the Avery Auditorium, each holding their breath, unsure of what was about to happen. Then, Chandler peeked out into the room.

“I looked out across that huge auditorium and saw people standing shoulder to shoulder in the aisles,” Chandler remembers. “They were wall-to-wall. We stopped being worried that no one would show up and started being worried someone would call the fire marshall! At one point, we had an open session where people could ask questions. Someone would raise their hand and start telling stories about their uncle who played in the band. Then another person would tell a story about their brother, another about their cousin, again and again, the stories kept coming...I was grabbing my notebook and trying to take notes as quickly as possible. It was unbelievable. Jack and I looked at each other, and I knew we were thinking the same thing: ‘the data is in this room!’”

The whirlwind continued when McCray and Chandler returned home.

The evening’s attendees had filled their answering machines full of messages of excitement and encouragement, urging them to continue their research. In the morning, Chandler, along with virtually every high-level staff member at the College of Charleston, received an email from Mark Sloan, the Director and Chief Curator of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, who shared how incredible the program was the night before and encouraged the college to help the research continue. McCray and Chandler, who both had highly demanding day jobs, consulted with one another and decided to go for it. “The community called this into existence,” says Chandler, smiling.

The pair connected with professional jazz drummer and music professor Quentin Baxter and local videographer and photographer Tony Bell, each of whom had been part of the event. Together, they formed the Charleston Jazz Initiative, with the main intent of gathering as many oral histories about the Jenkins Orphanage Band as possible. They began interviewing descendants of band members and collecting photographs, and in 2005, they held an official launch event. The multi-faceted affair, which featured a highly-attended symposium, presented their findings up to that point to the public, and again, they were urged to continue digging. And so they did.

As the research came together, so did a strong narrative for what happened through Reverend Daniel Jenkins’ orphanage. After founding the institution following his train car discovery in 1891, Jenkins began to take in orphans at 660 King Street in Charleston, later moving to the Old Marine Hospital at 20 Franklin Street to accommodate the influx of young people he took in. The site, situated behind to the city jail, remained home to thousands of orphans over the years, at times charging Jenkins with more than 500 boys and girls, who he called his “black lambs.” The reputation of Reverend Daniel Jenkins and word of his devotion to children began to spread, which helped in raising funds to support the institution. Still, with hundreds of young people to feed and clothe, Jenkins needed to do more. Likely inspired by other orphanages that performed as musical groups to raise funds, the Reverend decided

J a p t

e n k i m o n a r t h e b

n s ’ O r p h a n a g e w o u l d b e c o m e , g m a n y o t h e r t h i n g s , a n o t a b l e o f a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l m o v e m e n t : i r t h o f j a z z .

From the beginning of their musical training, children from the Jenkins Orphanage learned classical European musical styles, but they also learned African musical traditions. In Charleston, the children were well acquainted with the Gullah-Geechee community, which brought together cultural elements from all over Africa and the Caribbean through enslaved and later, formerly enslaved people. Through this community, the children heard unconventional timing and rhythms, which presented most clearly in syncopation: a disturbance or interruption in a standard rhythm flow. Additionally, they learned and came up with dance styles that worked well with such music, kicking up their feet to the beat and feeling the essence of the tunes. They brought these elements of Southern African American culture with them everywhere they went, unknowingly influencing musicians across America and Europe. In Harlem, concert-goers would encourage the band to dance, yelling, “Hey, Charleston, do your little Geechee dance!” The band would oblige, and their dance,

. . . w e a c w i G u c o Living History Karen Chandler downtown Charleston, not far from the site of the original orphanage

to start a band, and did so in 1894. He appealed to local churches for instruments, secured discarded uniforms from The Citadel, and hired two local musicians to teach the young people how to read sheet music, which enabled them be able to play each instrument interchangeably.

As they became more skilled, Jenkins took to the streets of Charleston with the musicians, setting up on street corners, letting the smallest of the children conduct the energetic streetside symphony, and soliciting donations as the enraptured crowd gave an uproarious round of applause.

Later, presuming that a group of young African-American musicians would be better received up north, Jenkins took them to New York City, and still later to London, somehow securing passage for a dozen young orphans of color to cross the Atlantic at the turn of the 20th century.

After finding little success on this first tour, the group returned home, but Jenkins didn’t give up. The band continued to play, and by 1896 had an established touring schedule that took them up and down the East Coast. In 1902, they played at the Buffalo Expo, and in 1904, they played on their own stage at the St. Louis World’s Fair and later at the Hippodrome in London. In 1905, the Jenkins band played in President Roosevelt’s inauguration parade and began traveling extensively in Europe. In 1909, they played again in a Presidential parade, this time for President Taft. Though the traveling life often seemed glamorous to outsiders, the young musicians rode from place to place in the crude, non-white sections of busses, steamships, and trains, and were often turned away at hotels, regularly relying on local churches to open their doors for a night or two. Additionally, the group was often dubbed “The American Pickaninny Band,” an extremely derogatory term that showed while spectators enjoyed their music, the African-American youths were viewed as a lower class. Still, people began to respect the Jenkins Orphanage as a musical training ground, and parents began sending their children to the institute for musical education and a chance to be in the band. As a result, Jenkins formed a second ensemble, and later a third, fourth, and fifth. They continued playing on street corners all over the East Coast and Europe, but some of their most popular gigs were found in the nightclubs of Harlem, where people of all races and societal class gathered to hear new talents.

t h e c h i l d r e n r e w e l l q u a i n t e d t h t h e l l a h - G e e c h e e m m u n i t y

brought from the Gullah-Geechee communities in Charleston, inspired famous Jazz pianist James P. Johnson to write a few musical numbers to accompany the moves. One of the numbers became popular, and it, along with the Jenkins Orphanage “Geechee dance,” became known simply worldwide as “The Charleston.” Undoubtedly, the dance made its way into the clubs of Harlem, where wealthy white New Yorkers visited after sundown, and into the ballrooms of the elite across America and beyond through the lively Jenkins Orphanage Band. What is harder to pin down, however, is exactly how the band influenced the music scene, particularly their impact on jazz: a task that Karen Chandler and Jack McCray were happy to try to decipher over a century after the first musician played the first instrument in the Jenkins Orphanage Band.

After founding the Charleston Jazz Initiative, Chandler, McCray, and the rest of the team pulled together an advisory council. They brought on Dan Morgenstern, former Director of Rutgers-Newark’s Institute of Jazz Studies and creator of the world’s largest collection of jazz documents, recordings, and memorabilia. Then they secured his European counterpart, Dr. Wolfram Knauer, Director of the largest jazz archive in Europe. The two men played instrumental roles in connecting Chandler and McCray with research that helped to establish relationships between former Jenkins Orphanage Band members and famous musicians, connections that seemed to occur quite frequently. They began to discover more detailed and extensive information about how Jenkins Orphanage was an early influencer of musicians such as Freddie Green, Willie Smith, Lonnie Hamilton, III, and Cat Anderson, among many others. To bolster their findings, Chandler and McCray went to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, scouring the archives for any clues as to what happened to the skilled musicians after leaving Jenkins Orphanage. There, deep in the archives of famous jazz composer Duke Ellington, they hit gold.

“We were going through Duke Ellington’s manuscripts when we saw it,” says Chandler. “At the top right of several of his compositions, Ellington wrote his name along with the other musicians who helped write the piece; he was a collaborative composer. All of a sudden, we see ‘Duke Ellington and Willie Smith,’ ‘Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley,’ ‘Duke Ellington and Jabbo Smith.’ These were our guys! These were guys who came out of the Jenkins Orphanage Band or collaborated with them locally through the Avery Normal Institute nearby. Jack and I realized then that our guys were not just instrumentalists. They were composers.

That was huge! That was a turning point in our research. Our whole perspective changed.”

Listening to many of Ellington’s songs such as “Caravan” and tunes from “The Far East Suite” album, one can clearly hear the syncopation that came from Southern African American culture, the unique way of playing for which the Jenkins Orphanage Band musicians came to be known.

Later, other jazz musicians adopted this style, and syncopation soon became a common element in the jazz genre. This, Chandler believes, lends credence to the idea that the band and its musicians had a major influ-

ence on the world of music, but as a researcher and scholar, she hesitates to make sweeping conclusions. Rather, she is calculated with her conclusion as it stands today, basing it around facts gathered over countless interviews and over a decade of digging.

“What I can comfortably say today is that we contributed our Gullah rhythms to early jazz,” Chandler says. “Did Charleston create jazz? No, we did not. We contributed. The entire time we have been conducting our research, we have been searching for the answer to the question ‘What was our role or contribution to popular music at the turn of the century?’ And it is safe to say that the contribution was huge, both to early jazz in this country and to jazz in Europe. We can clearly hear the Gullah rhythms in the music of early jazz, and it was the Jenkins Orphanage Band that brought those rhythms out of Charleston and into the mainstream.”

Still, Chandler wishes that the team had begun their research years ago.

“Jack and I interviewed a number of people who said to us, ‘if I had only known then what you guys would be doing now, I would have saved so much for you,’” Chandler recalls. “And, of course, we wish we would have begun our research earlier because we would have been able to interview the actual musicians from the early days. Unfortunately, by the time we began, all of them had passed away.”

Though the Charleston Jazz Initiative exists today as an archive, the future holds more research and more public access to the information that the team has collected over the years. Chandler, now Director and Associate Professor of the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston, is currently writing a book, one which explores the journey of the musicians and their rhythms, from the Gullah churches of coastal South Carolina to the jazz clubs of Harlem and beyond. Chandler is quick to say that none of this would have happened without Jack McCray, who passed away in 2011. McCray left an immeasurable impact on everyone he met, including Chandler herself, who considered him a great friend and unparalleled research partner.

“When I moved to Charleston in 1999, I figured I would stay for three years and move on,” says Chandler. “Then I met Jack. He told me about this story, and we both immediately connected with it, together. We felt a responsibility to tell these stories. I grew up as an African American woman in the South, studied music education, received two degrees in music, always loved jazz, and I never heard this story. These musicians deserve to have their stories told, for people to understand how influential they were. Now that Jack has passed, there is a part of me that keeps hearing him in my ear saying, ‘keep it going.’ And there’s a large part of me that knows this is what I need to do. So I will keep it going. I will keep telling their stories.”

If you have any information to contribute to the Charleston Jazz Initiative, contact Karen Chandler through their website at charlestonjazz.net or at chandlerk@cofc.edu

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57

CITY SCOUT

Summerville

A quintessential small Southern town, Summerville offers more than meets the eye. by

JANA RILEY

Photos by D O T T I E R I Z Z O

& P AU L Z O E L L E R

Talk of the Town This page: The Colonel’s Cup, a well-crafted cocktail from The Icehouse. Opposite: Grand and inviting homes are a staple in downtown Summerville.

J

ust a short drive from the infinitely popular port city of Charleston, where travel magazines, food bloggers, and more than a few television and movie production companies have focused their attention in recent years, Summerville is a quiet charmer, one that feels like stumbling upon a hidden gem when you drive into town. Centrally located near the Edisto and Ashley Rivers and not far from the city and beaches, Summerville is the perfect place to spend a day or a lifetime. Here, like in the oft-more renowned Holy City, you will find delicious food, stunning architecture, cultural and historical sites, and sweet southern hospitality, but without a bustling atmosphere inundated with tourists. Rather, visitors are given an opportunity to slow down, encouraged to browse, meander, mosey, stroll, or wander to their heart’s content.

In Summerville, no matter where you are from, you are home, welcomed like an old friend by not only the people, but the inviting spirit of the town as a whole.

BEGINNINGS Not far from the ocean, close to the Ashley River, and covered with towering pine trees, the land on which Summerville sits was a haven waiting to be discovered for centuries. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, it was: first by pioneering puritans from the North who settled in the nearby colony of Dorchester, and later by summering wealthy Charlestonians. Seeking a place to escape the oppressive heat and mosquitos of the hotter months, the city dwellers found refuge in the forested ridge of Summerville, and felt rejuvenated by the scent of the surrounding pines. Later, in 1888, the International Congress of Physicians declared the town one of two of the best places in the world for the treatment and recovery of lung diseases, and word quickly spread that Summerville was the place to go for a health retreat. The distinction brought scores of new visitors to the area seeking to breathe clean air and improve their health, benefiting the local economy greatly as opulent inns and guesthouses welcomed presidents, celebrities, 60 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

and vacationers to the “Flower Town in the Pines.”

BIRTHPLACE OF SWEET TEA In the late 1700s, French explorer and botanist Andre Michaux imported the very first tea plants onto the North American continent, planting them in the soil of Summerville, South Carolina near what is now Middleton Plantation. Later, Dr. Charles Shepard founded Pinehurst Tea Plantation closer to Summerville proper, growing an Oolong tea that won first prize at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. While many believed that sweet tea originated at the very same World’s Fair, a deep dive into wartime confederate rations and tales passed down for generations suggests that Summerville, South Carolina can more accurately lay claim to the phrase “the Birthplace of Sweet Tea.” As the original site of the very first tea plantation in the United States, Summerville’s history is deeply entwined with the consumption of the beverage, and sweet tea holds a venerated place in the hearts and memories of those with Southern roots. The town is more than happy to share its legacy with visitors from near and far, offering sweet tea-themed attractions such as an annual sweet tea festival, giant, photoworthy sweet tea mural, and more. Don’t miss Mason, an enormous mason jar parked outside of city hall that earned the Guinness World Record title of “World’s Largest Sweet Tea” in June of 2016.

COACH MCKISSICK Alongside its natural blooming azaleas, sprawling oaks, and grand pine forests, Summerville boasts a more cultivated accolade: a place where community is paramount. Indeed, though the population of this charming town grows every day, the feeling of being connected to our neighbors in a welcoming atmosphere is unrelenting. Many individuals and organizations have helped shape the town into the pleasant enclave it is today, but perhaps none more so than Coach John McKissick, the recently-retired football coach at Summerville High School who coached for a staggering

photo provided

It Takes a Village Opposite page: fine dining can be found all over the town; wide front porches are always inviting in Summerville. This page, top row: a bounty at Coastal Produce Market; Peter Nickle, mixologist extraordinaire at The Icehouse. Second row: The Summerville Orchestra adds vibrancy to the town; craftsman details abound in Summerville homes; Kevin Morrissey paints a sweet tea-themed mural on the back of the Summerville Visitor’s Center. Third Row: Richard Mallett is the man behind the beans at Coastal Coffee Roasters; cold sweet tea is a must-have in this small town; locals regularly gather for festivities in the town square.

photo provided

photo by Virgil Bunao

Local Love This page, clockwise: Guerin’s Pharmacy is a treasured homage to days gone by; hunting is a time-honored tradition near the Ashley River; floating on the Edisto River is one of the best ways to spend a summer day; drives around town are rewarding.

Opposite: chicken and waffles, a Southern classic at Five Loaves Cafe

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63 years. Beginning in 1952, McKissick led the Summerville Green Wave to victory time and time again, bringing a sense of pride to the town and filling the stadium with fans. In 2012, he became the first American football coach in history to win 600 career games, earning him the title of “the Winningest Football Coach in History.” By the time he retired in 2015, he had coached the team to 621 victories and 10 state championships. For over half a century, McKissick was the man behind Summerville’s most popular past time, investing his time in his team and his town as they came together in support of a common, wholesome cause. Though McKissick is no longer pacing the sidelines, his service to the town is a legacy not soon forgotten, and the spirit of community his work fostered continues strong today.

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN Downtown Summerville is a quintessential small town, one that celebrates locally-owned businesses. In the highly walkable historic district, there are boutiques for every style, delicious restaurants spanning multiple cuisines, enough bars to find your atmospheric fit, and a couple of coffee shops for fueling up to explore it all. Then there is 12-acre Azalea Park, filled with bronze sculptures, winding paths, and reflection ponds. For cultural excursions, the Summerville Dorchester museum is filled with information about the town’s past, and the historic Timrod Library is as beautiful as it is informative. In the center of it all is the Flowertown Players, Summerville’s community theater that consistently features incredible productions. With musical and cultural events happening monthly around this part of town, it is always a good time to check out Historic Downtown Summerville.

INCREDIBLE ARCHITECTURE Summerville’s history is one that can be felt on a quiet walk through town, as old homes framed by majestic oaks whisper their stories and towering church steeples built a century ago recall the town’s foundations. Many of the homes and businesses around town were built around the turn of the twentieth century, after the Earthquake of 1886 reduced much of the town to ruins. Now, a few dozen local structures are officially on the National Historic Register, and many are one-of-a-kind, breathtakingly beautiful buildings. Here in Historic Summerville, no two homes are alike, and an afternoon spent with a cup of local coffee and a sense of adventure can reward one with a myriad of beautiful architectural visuals. For tips and maps, stop by the Summerville Visitor’s Center, which can get any visitor set up with a self-guided walking tour that passes by some of Summerville’s most hidden gems.

CRAFT CULTURE All over the world, a movement is occuring in the food and beverage industry, one that honors traditional practices and prioritizes local everything. In Summerville, the movement reigns: craft culture is here to stay. At Coastal Coffee Roasters, the passionate team roasts their sustainably-sourced coffee on-site, creating custom blends that amass a dedicated fan base as locals sample them. Next door, at Oak Road Brewery, brewmasters perfect the art of creating micro batch brews for the constant flow of visitors to enjoy. Just down the road, in the heart of Downtown Summerville, Homegrown Brewhouse pours South Carolina beers from 40 taps, creating an atmosphere that celebrates the craft culture movement and its role in the Palmetto State. Around the corner, at the upstairs bar within the Icehouse Restaurant, you can find locally-created flavored vodkas and thoughtfully crafted cocktails that rival anything found in more cosmopolitan areas. Located in close proximity to one another, it is easy to create a short “coffee and beer brew tour,” allowing one time to sample the delicious work of the four major players in downtown Summerville’s craft beverage game.

HISTORIC SITES No visit to Summerville is complete without a visit to some of its treasured historic sites. At Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, visitors can check out one of the best-preserved elements of the town’s past, where the ruins of the area’s first non-indigenous settlers, by way of Dorchester, Massachusetts, first built a colony. Situated along the Ashley River, the property is is beautiful, and self-guided tours are an inexpensive way to explore the land. Not far away, Plantation Row sits quietly on Highway 61, the grand entrances to culturally significant estates open to the public.

Though Middleton Place is the only plantation that is technically in Summerville, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and Drayton Hall are only a couple of miles up the road. All offer unique glimpses into the rich history of this hallowed land.

EDISTO RIVER Just a short country drive from Downtown Summerville, the Edisto River snakes through swaths of forested areas, offering an oft-overlooked attraction ideal for both the Lowcountry’s hot and mild months. As one of the longest free-flowing blackwater rivers in North America, the Edisto is a wild and fascinating ecosystem, and perfect for a short day trip out of town.

Access to the river can be found at Givhans State Park, which sports a public beach as well as hiking and camping options, or at private providers such as Edisto River Adventures. There, you’ll find rental equipment and

photo by Virgil Bunao

Local Color Opposite page: Oak Road Brewing offers some of the best brews in the ‘Ville; dirt roads beckon to be explored; barber Trevor Elam of Mod Barber gets a client ready for a shave. This page, clockwise: an aerial view of Middleton Plantation shows how beautiful the grounds truly are; find the latest trends at Fly Modern Apparel; rides at the Flowertown Festival are always a hit with kids and adults alike.

customized tours for kayaking, tubing, and stand up paddleboarding, allowing for a multitude of excursion experiences. Back at the Edisto River Adventures outpost, visitors can relax by the water, play beach volleyball, make use of their outdoor kitchen, and more. No matter how you decide to enjoy it, the Edisto is a veritable playground in Summerville’s own backyard, ready for exploration.

FLOWERTOWN FESTIVAL Every spring since 1972, the annual Flowertown Festival draws scores of visitors from all over the country to Summerville’s Main Street and Azalea Park. Featuring food vendors, jury-selected artisans, live entertainment, carnival rides, and other local events, the three-day affair takes over the entire downtown area, bringing with it a buzz of excitement and community.

Proceeds from the festival support the mission of the Summerville Family YMCA, helping fund events for the rest of the year. In 2019, the festival will be held from Friday, April 5 to Sunday, April 7, hopefully coinciding with the brilliant pinks and purples of blooming azalea bushes and wisteria vines. Fingers crossed! visitsummerville.com

S O UTHER N

THEOL OGY

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by Rachelle Cobb

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Illustration by Jason Wagener

Daddy’s Little Girl

Fathers and daughters are the topic of many a country song, and there’s a good reason why When I turned 18, Daddy turned into the driveway in a champagnecolored pick-up truck. An automatic ’01 Sonoma (the Chevy S10 model) with a CD player and arm-workout windows, it had a third seat in the cab that Daddy still calls the Shelf. He specifically looked for that feature so I could easily transport all my college textbooks later that fall.

Daddy had asked me over and over for months whether I was sure I wanted a pick-up truck. Wouldn’t I like a smaller “chick car” better?

Nope. I wanted a truck.

I drove that truck back and forth from college. To North Carolina multiple times to visit friends. To my first internship and first (and second) post-college job.

Like clockwork, every few thousand miles or before each out-of-state trip, Daddy would pull out a ledger in the garage. Filled with his handwriting, that ledger records every oil change, windshield wiper fluid fill-up, and battery replacement that truck has needed in the last eight years—including the time he replaced the bumper after that fateful day, when on the way to work, I put that truck in a tree and walked away without a scratch (the bumper didn’t make out so well).

My daddy’s protective love for me as his little girl has mirrored for me the love of our Heavenly Father. Jesus says in Matthew 7:11, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?” (NLT) 66 p a l m e t t o m a g a z i n e . c o m

In those same eight years since Daddy brought home that truck, I have graduated college, signed a book contract, went to work for my church, released four books, and fell in love. One day in April when I was 22, I climbed out of another truck, a white F-150 belonging to the man I’d marry, and walked across the O’Charley’s parking lot, eager to see what Daddy would think of this truck-loving guy I was going out with.

Daddy shook his hand and says now that he liked him immediately. Still, I think he was just a little shocked that just one year later, that same man dropped to one knee in the Sullivan’s Island sand and put a ring on my finger.

What’s a daddy to do when his little girl sets a date (far too soon!) for the big day she’s dreamed of for years, the same day he’s been dreading because his big job is to “give her away”?

On a sunny Saturday that same summer, I tapped on Daddy’s shoulder and he turned to see me for the first time in my wedding dress. The wedding video perfectly captures the reaction on his face—and on mine when later we danced together to Tim McGraw’s “I Loved Her First.”

Though my daddy isn’t perfect and of course God is, there are still similarities between my earthly father and Heavenly Father: after all, they both love me fiercely and give great gifts. In fact, just last week, I went over to my parents’ for dinner and discovered my favorite chocolate truffle ice cream in the freezer, which he’d said he’d “stock up” on for me. Whether you have a great daddy like mine or not, I hope you know the protective care of your Heavenly Father.

Tradition and tomorrow pair perfectly in the state’s capital city. Take a stroll through time with historic house and garden tours, or just wander along the bustling streets of downtown and take in the architecture of historic buildings transformed. Visit ExperienceColumbiaSC.com