Spring 2019 Legends Magazine

K I AWA H I SL A N D LE GE N DS FA LL 2019 CO MPL IMEN TA RY

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33

2019

VOLUME 33

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We Build It As If It Were Our Own. results

experience

access

K I A W A H G E T S

kiawahisland.com |

Obtain the Property Report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal or State agency has endorsed or judged the merits of value, if any, of this property. This is not intended to be an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offer to buy real estate in any jurisdiction where prohibited by law. This offer is made pursuant to the New York State Department of Law’s Simplified Procedure for Homeowners Associations with a De Minimis Cooperative Interest (CPS-7).The CPS-7 application (File No. HO16-0007) and related documents may be obtained from the sponsor. This project is registered with the State of New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Real Estate Commission.

Obtain and read the NJ Public Offering Statement before signing anything (NJ Reg#16-15-0012). AN AFFILIATE OF KIAWAH PARTNERS.

For generations Exclusively focused on Kiawah I sland

sales for over 4 0 years .

Kiawah Island invokes a feeling you can’t quite describe yet never want to let go.

When you fall for Kiawah, you fall hard.

Y O U

Kiawah Island Real Estate is the trusted resource for people seeking the Kiawah lifestyle.

866.554. 2924

KIAWAH’S MAIN GATE THE SANCTUARY FRESHFIELDS VILLAGE

1 Kiawah Island Parkway near Jasmine Porch 390 Freshfields Drive

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BuffingtonHomes.com

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nostalgic the first time you visit a place?

8 6 6 . 5 5 4 . 2 9 2 4

|

k i a w a h i s l a n d . c o m

Y O U G E T S K I A W A H

A Curated Collection of Homes and Homesites with Club Memberships Available.

Obtain the Property Report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal or State agency has endorsed or judged the merits of value, if any, of this property. This is not intended to be an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offer to buy real estate in any jurisdiction where prohibited by law. This offer is made pursuant to the New York State Department of Law’s Simplifi ed Procedure for Homeowners Associations with a De Minimis Cooperative Interest (CPS-7). The CPS-7 application (File No. HO16-0007) and related documents may be obtained from the sponsor. This project is registered with the State of New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Real Estate Commission. Obtain and read the NJ Public Offering Statement before signing anything (NJ Reg#16-15-0012). An affi liate of Kiawah Partners.

I s it possible to feel

W H E R E P E A K V I EW S M E ET PEAK CONDITIONS ALL YEAR LONG

Carolina Mountain & Lake Keowee Real Estate. Seven Private Club Communities.

Plan Your Discovery Experience | 864.326.3122 | cliffsliving.com/legends I N S P I R I N G I N EV E RY D I R E C T I O N OBTAIN THE PROPERTY REPORT REQUIRED BY FEDERAL LAW AND READ IT BEFORE SIGNING ANYTHING. NO FEDERAL AGENCY HAS JUDGED THE MERITS OR VALUE, IF ANY, OF THIS PROPERTY. THIS IS NOT AN OFFER WHERE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED PRIOR TO ANY OTHER OFFER BEING MADE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. IN SOUTH CAROLINA, CLIFFS REALTY SALES SC, LLC, 635 GARDEN MARKET DRIVE, TRAVELERS REST, SC 29690 AND 341 KEOWEE BAPTIST CHURCH ROAD, SIX MILE, SC 29682, HARRY V. ROSER, BROKER-IN-CHARGE. IN NORTH CAROLINA, WALNUT COVE REALTY, 158 WALNUT VALLEY PARKWAY, ARDEN, NC 28704, DAVID T. BAILEY, BROKER-IN-CHARGE.

KIAWAH

MADE

EFFORTLESS

A F T E R A L L , YO U H AV E E N O U G H O N YO U R P L AT E .

With dolphins to watch. Sunsets to share.

And every morning, a fresh batch of seashells to discover. Now open, the oceanfront residences of Timbers Kiawah—and your private staff— free your days to follow your heart.

Welcome to Lowcountry living. As easy as can be.

Kiawah’s only private residence club with fractional ownership is now open. Please stop by for a visit.

3000 Souther n Pines L ane, Kiawah Island , SC Timber sKiawah.com/L egend s | 843. 371. 5177 This advertisement does not constitute an offer to sell nor the solicitation of an offer to purchase made in any jurisdiction nor made to residents of any jurisdiction, including New York, where registration is required and applicable registration requirements are not fully satisfied. Timbers Kiawah Acquisition Partner, LLC uses the Timbers Resort,® Timbers Collection® and certain other Timbers brand names under a limited non-transferable license in connection with the sales and marketing of the Timbers Kiawah Ocean Club & Residences (the “Project”). If this license is terminated or expires without renewal, the Project will no longer be identified with nor have any right to use the Timbers® marks and names. All renderings depicted in this advertisement are illustrative only and may be changed at any time. All rights reserved.

TIMBERS COLLECTION l Aspen l Bachelor Gulch l Cabo San Lucas l Jupiter l Kaua‘i l Kiawah Island l Maui l Napa l Scottsdale l Snowmass l Sonoma l Southern California l Steamboat l Tuscany l U.S. Virgin Islands l Vail

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OW N E R PROF I L E S GEORGE & J U LIE BARKLE Y VERNON & JoEL KNIGHT

26

P I E S F O R FA L L

Dough demystified! Discover six holiday pie recipes that make the most of the season.

40

TUR KEY CA LLS

Read about one man’s dance with the Eastern wild turkey on a spring morning.

106

114

50

I N F U L L ST R I DE

A spectacle of hats and horses, the Steeplechase of Charleston is a timeworn tradition with roots in eighteenth-century England.

62

A PL AY ER’S GU I DE TO T H E R I V ER COU R SE Dylan Thew and Charlie Arrington offer hole-by-hole notes on one of Kiawah’s most celebrated courses.

76

BI R D K E Y STONO

In the wide estuary east of Kiawah Island lies a small barrier island teeming with South Carolina’s largest brown pelican colony.

96

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The Mark of Distinction in World Class Home Building™ Charleston (843) 801.1600 Charlotte (704) 889.1600 www.kingswoodhomes.com

C H A R L E S TO N C H A R LO T T E World Class Living

86 86

T H E K I AWA H V E R N A C U L A R

The origins of the Island’s Shingle-style design and the architects who brought it to life.

96

SH R IM P COU N T RY

Icons of the Lowcountry milieu: How the trade and traditions are passed down through generations of South Carolina shrimpers.

106

OL D WOR L D R I SI NG

Heritage seeds and animals are redefining Charleston’s culinary expressions. Meet the visionaries behind the movement.

114

A N ISL A ND IN R ELIEF Photographer Gately Williams captures the natural world of Kiawah on film.

122

H A L L OW E D GROU N D Historian Christina Rae Butler explores the rich and storied past of the Holy City’s cemeteries and graveyards.

50 G O OD WOR K : T H E GI BBE S M USEU M OF A RT | 130 I NSI DER’S COR N ER : DOUG L EE & L E W IS DR I SK E L L | 14 4 M ATCH ( POI N T ) M A DE I N H E AV E N | 1 3 8 O N & A B O U T K I AWA H | 1 4 8 E N D NOT E | 16 0 ON THE COVER: The vibrant plumage of an Eastern wild turkey

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STEVEN SHELL LIVING BORN IN LONDON ENJOYED AROUND THE WORLD EST. 1992

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CASE GOODS,UPHOLSTERY, LIGHTING, RUGS, ACCESSORIES AND OBJETS DE VERTU

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E X E C U T I V E E D I TO R & D E S I G N

C O N T R I B U TO R S

Hailey Wist

Christine Mitchell Adams Cyrus Buffum Christina Rae Butler Joel Caldwell Peter Frank Edwards Stephanie Hunt Bryan Hunter Olivia Rae James Sandy Lang Jenni Ridall Lindsey Harris Shorter Melissa Toms Gately Williams Charlotte Zacharkiw

C O P Y E D I TO R

Sunny Gray P H OTO E D I TO R

Nathan Durfee A DV E R T I S I N G

Emily Mosh and Jana Robinson

SPECIAL THANKS

Sara Arnold Charlie Arrington George Barkley Julie Barkley Gary Brewer Deborah Cardenas Jack Case Townsend Clarkson Will Culp

Lucinda Detrich Lewis Driskell Elliot Hillock Jerry Hupy Christian Jackson Tank Jackson Mike Lata Doug Lee Angela Mack

Celeste Marceca Patrick Melton Rachel Moore Brittany Nelson Josh Nissenboim Amy Pastre Mark Permar Jordan Phillips Chris Randolph

Helen Rice Courtney Rowson Chuck Schaffer Chris Shope Bonnie Singletary Jason Stanhope Matt Stanis Blake Suarez Cindy Tarvin

Taylor Tarvin Vasa Tarvin Dylan Thew Janet Thibault Austin Walker Joe Walters Bradley Wilkinson Charlotte Zacharkiw Stephen Zacharkiw

Kiawah Island Legends is a publication of Kiawah Island Publishing, Inc., an affiliate of Kiawah Island Real Estate. Copyright 2019.

All rights reserved in all countries. Contents may not be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of Kiawah Island Publishing, Inc. Kiawah Island Publishing, Inc. does not necessarily agree with the viewpoints expressed by authors of articles or advertising copy.

 

. , 

   



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FURNITURE

RUGS

ACCESSORIES

LIGHTING

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KIAWAH 420 FRESHFIELDS DRIVE 843-768-4246

Contributors Photographing Old World Rising opened my eyes.

I was amazed to see the huge amount of effort that goes into the continuation of heritage breeds.

L I N D SE Y SHORT E R |

P H OTO G R A P H E R

Lindsey Harris Shorter is a travel and lifestyle photographer from Charleston, SC, with work featured in national and international publications like Domino magazine, Garden & Gun, and Lodestars Anthology. Recent documentary work has included trips to France, Switzerland, and an upcoming expedition along the American West Coast.

OLI V I A R A E JA MES |

P H OTO G R A P H E R

Olivia Rae James is a lifestyle and wedding photographer. Born and raised in Nashville, she has called Charleston home for more than a decade. She has been recognized by Harper’s Bazaar and Condé Nast BRIDES as one of the top wedding photographers in the world. She is known for her warm and timeless photos.

Jenni is such a talented baker and observing her in her element, baking pies all day, was such a treat. Getting to taste test was pretty great too!

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ST E PH A N I E H U N T |

WRITER

Writer and editor Stephanie Hunt’s interests are as wide-ranging as her assignments—from travel reviews for The Telegraph (UK), to features and profiles for Charleston magazine, to design stories for Veranda and Coastal Living.

She is active in the Charleston community, serving on the boards of Charleston Moves, Ohm Radio, and the Ibu Foundation.

I loved the opportunity to interview Celeste Albers, someone I’ve admired for a long time as a champion of sustainability and all things farm-to-table.

JOE L C A L DW E L L |

PH OTOG R APH ER

Joel Caldwell is an expedition photographer and writer living in New York City. He tells localized conservation and environmental justice stories from around the world. He has been published in Modern Huntsman, National Geographic Voices, Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line, Far Ride Magazine, and many others.

Shrimping with the Miss Paula crew was an incredible experience. Understanding where the food we eat comes from and the way in which it’s harvested is important, and I like putting a face to the process.

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Contributors

GATELY W ILLI A MS |

P H OTO G R A P H E R

Gately Williams is an editorial and landscape photographer. His work has appeared in Southern Living, Coastal Living, Garden & Gun, and National Geographic. Gately has crossed the United States seventeen times making pictures, most recently on a bicycle.

Captain Elliot Hillock brought me close to Bird Key by boat, and we photographed the island with a 400mm zoom lens. The next morning editor Hailey Wist and I took to the sky in a helicopter to look down at the island.

CHRISTINA R A E BUTLER |

Christina R. Butler is a professor at the American College of the Building Arts and an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston and owns Butler Preservation L.C., which specializes in historic property research. She is the author of Ansonborough: From Birth to Rebirth and an upcoming book called Dry At High Water: Flooding, Drainage, and Land Reclamation in Charleston.

I loved having the chance to visit some of Charleston’s most beautiful and eerie graveyards while working on the Hallowed Ground.

Riding aboard Miss Paula, the fifty-year-old shrimp boat based out of Shem Creek, gave me an even greater appreciation for the importance of preserving our traditional maritime cultures.

Remember, friends don’t let friends buy imported shrimp.

C Y RUS A . BU F F U M |

WRITER

Cyrus A. Buffum is a Charleston-based conservationist and commercial oysterman. His company, Seaborn, manages over six acres of wild oyster grounds and strives to tell the stories of traditional maritime culture. Buffum plans to build a wooden oyster sloop—the first of its kind to work on Lowcountry waters in nearly a century.

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WRITER

JENNI RIDALL |

WRITER

Jenni Ridall owns {TK} Culinary Consulting & Test Kitchen and is a freelance recipe developer, stylist, and restaurant consultant based in Charleston, SC. Inside the Test Kitchen, she combines her culinary and business degrees to offer creative and operational support to chefs, restaurateurs, culinary brands, and cookbook authors.

I believe that pies should evoke nostalgia but don’t need to be stuck in time. Each recipe is a nod to a classic with a bit of fresh personality sprinkled in.

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PARKING VALIDATED

EDITOR’S LETTER

NATURE CONCEALS HER MYSTERY

BY HER ESSENTIAL GRANDEUR — ALBERT EINSTEIN

On a sunny May afternoon, I rocked about in a boat on the windward side of Bird Key Stono Heritage Preserve (page 76), a small barrier island just beyond the easternmost tip of Kiawah. The little island is home to thousands of brown pelicans, and just then an entire generation of birds was beginning to hatch.

Since that spring day, I have seen pelicans everywhere—riding the updraft from the beach, flying in lazy lines across rooftops, stamping their pink feet on docks and decks. The year of the pelican. It is amazing how the trip to Bird Key brought the magnificent, prehistoric birds to my attention. I think often about the fuzzy fledglings—how this fall, their feathers will turn a sandy brown, and they will learn to fly and forage in the warm waters around Kiawah.

After years of exploring this Island and all her mysteries, I still experience an immense feeling of wonder at each new discovery. It is my great pleasure to tell these stories. Here’s to another year!

HAILEY WIST

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Voted “Best Pool and Spa Service” Three Years in a Row!

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Property Owners

JULIE & GEOR GE B ARKLEY

Q

Where are you from?

A

George: We live in Athens, a college town about an hour away from Atlanta.

Julie: We’re both from Atlanta, and we met at the University of Georgia. But we’ve been in Athens for fourteen years.

Q

How did you find Kiawah?

A

George: We had been going to Hilton Head for years. It was great, but at some point we decided to start looking around, and each year we went somewhere different. We went to Fripp Island, Wild Dunes, Litchfield, Daufuskie Island, Isle of Palms, and Amelia Island. A friend of ours suggested Kiawah. We rented a house here and fell in love with it.

Julie: We’ve never looked back.

George: We came for the first time in 2010 and then bought our house in March of 2013.

Q

Why do you think Kiawah was the place that stuck?

A

Julie: From the moment we drove onto the Island, we knew.

George: It was just perfect. It was just what we were looking for. Kiawah has everything our family likes, and it’s the perfect size, not too small and not crowded.

Q

What do you like to do on the Island?

A

Little George: I play golf almost every single day. I just made my first hole in one. I like Cassique the best.

Anna: He likes the snack shops.

Reed: I like to tan. [everyone laughs] I babysit and I have a job as a hostess at the Salty Dog this summer.

Anna: Every summer I have a nice schedule. I work out in the morning, go to the beach, and then work at Ben and Jerry’s in the evening.

Julie: We love the beach, of course, but we also love biking, kayaking, and paddleboarding. Anna and I do Turtle Patrol!

Q

Tell me about that.

A

Anna: We started when I was in sixth grade. We do it with the same couple every year.

Julie: This summer they’re already up to 320 nests in June!

Double what it was last year. Our week starts July 7th.

Anna: That’ll hopefully be when the turtles are hatching.

It’s fun because everyone comes out to the beach and watches, and you feel so amazing because it’s your job!

From

ATHENS, G A

Q

Do you see a lot of animals on the Island?

A

Julie: Today we saw two baby deer with their mom.

Little George: We see alligators, bobcats, and birds.

Anna: We used to be obsessed with the Nature Center, and we would go see the animals all the time.

George: You should see the snake in there now!

Q

Tell me about the community.

A

George: There’s an expanding group of folks our age with kids the same ages as ours. It’s great because they have similar summer schedules.

Little George: I meet a lot of people playing golf.

George: I’m known as George’s dad at the Clubhouse.

Anna: Everyone is familiar. You see them every day at the Beach Club—the regulars.

Q

How do you like the Club?

A

Little George: It’s literally everything you can imagine. I like the golf and the caddies.

George: I had played the golf courses, but when we first saw the Beach Club, that was it. Then our agent showed us Cassique and the Sports Pavilion—it was like, wow.

Julie: And everyone is really friendly, down-to-earth, and easy to strike up a conversation with.

George: Barbara at the B-Liner always hugs us.

Julie: It’s so nice because we don’t have to have beach towels or beach chairs. We are so spoiled!

Little George: I wish the Cassique Clubhouse was my house.

Q

What is your plan for the future?

A

Julie: When we decided to buy a second home, we wanted to buy where our kids will always want to come and someday bring their kids. That was the major thing.

Anna: We know that our parents are going to retire here, so maybe I’ll move to Charleston and visit on the weekends!

Little George: I want to live in Charleston and come here and play golf.

Q

What makes Kiawah so special for your family?

A

Julie: In the summer, we all decompress from everyday life. That’s so important. The kids don’t worry about what all their friends are doing. They never complain that they’re missing out. I think that’s amazing.

Anna: Kiawah is the one place where we’re always together as a family.

Pictured here with Little George, Reed, and Anna

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Property Owners

VERNON & JoEL KNIGHT

From

CHARLOTTE, NC

Q

Where are you from?

Q

What a great place to bring your family.

A

Vernon: I’m from Charlotte. I was born in Mobile, Alabama and moved to Charlotte when I was very young.

JoEl: I’m from Summerville, South Carolina.

A

Q

How did you two meet?

A

Vernon: We met at a local watering hole in Charlotte. We were watching the Duke-Carolina basketball game. She was on a date and I was with some friends.

JoEl: I was not on a date!

Vernon: Yes you were.

JoEl: We were both with friends.

Vernon: She wouldn’t stop following me around.

JoEl: That part is true. I liked him instantly.

JoEl: We were coming home from the beach one day and a deer followed us all the way to the steps of our house. Suzy turned to me and said, Do you think he wants to come in for dinner?

Vernon: There’s just so much for the kids to do here. They ride bikes, go to the beach, and go to camp. They are now getting to the age where they want to pick up a tennis racket or golf club. We go to Night Heron Park and kick the soccer ball.

Q

What do you like to do on the Island?

A

Vernon: I’m an avid golfer. I play as often as I can. And we enjoy having cocktails and big dinners, sitting on our screened-in porch and listening to music.

Q

Tell me about the Kiawah community.

A

JoEl: It’s the sweetest community. Everyone is very family-oriented.

Vernon: We’ve introduced all our friends to Kiawah and now it’s everyone’s favorite. There is a large group of us that stay in contact, play golf together, and hang out.

Q

You also work with so many clients on the Island!

A

Vernon: Our clients have been wonderful. We’ve probably built or remodeled forty-five homes on the Island, and we’ve maintained good friendships with all of them.

Q

What do you think is so special about Kiawah?

A

JoEl: It sounds corny, but it’s a little bit of magic. It’s not about going to the beach and putting your chair in the sand. There’s a lot more to it. It’s wildlife, it’s riding bikes, it’s exploring…

Vernon: We used to want to retire to Belize and now we want to retire to Kiawah. It’s just a timeless place. We want to create traditions for our kids and we want them to bring their families here when they grow up.

JoEl: I’m already dreaming about it. I know it’s way too early but I can’t wait to bring my grandbabies here.

Q

Tell me about your company.

A

Vernon: We formed Knight Residential Group in 2012.

JoEl is our operations manager. Our focus is high-end new construction and remodels. In the summer of 2014, I opened an office in Freshfields Village and started building on Kiawah. We love having a business here. It’s the best place in the world to work.

Q

So you started spending more time here as a family?

A

JoEl: When we were renovating our house in Charlotte we spent the summer on Kiawah and fell in love with it. We explored every day and found new things to do with our kids. Now we come down for family time, alone time, with friends, and, of course, for work.

Q

When did you buy a home?

A

Vernon: We bought our place about a year ago. We’re right off of Eugenia Avenue. We have incredible access to the beach and we’re a block from the Sandcastle.

Q

Do your kids love coming here?

A

JoEl: I came to Kiawah when I was young and it’s very interesting to be here as a parent—I wouldn’t go anywhere else. We can let the kids run further, wander further, and feel safe. And they experience so much!

Pictured here with Suzy and Charlie

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PIE FOR FA L L PH O T O GRA PH Y by O LIVIA RA E JA M E S REC IPES by JENNI RID ELL

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PECA N- SORGH U M TA RT This recipe takes a traditional Pecan Pie and dresses it up in the form of a composed tart. The addition of two unique sweeteners—date purée and sorghum—add a bit of earthiness and elegance that elevate the humble Pecan Pie. 1 recipe Sweet Tart Dough (page 39)

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 ounces pitted Medjool dates (about 8)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup water

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sorghum

1 cup pecan halves for garnish

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Blind-bake Sweet Tart Dough as directed on page 39 in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, make the date purée. Cut dates in half to check for pits. Place in a small saucepan with water and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. Stir in baking soda and purée until smooth. Set aside 1/4 cup of purée for the pie, reserving the rest for another use.

In a large bowl, stir together melted butter, corn syrup, sorghum, brown sugar, 1/4 cup date purée, vanilla, and salt. Add egg and egg yolks and stir until smooth.

Scatter 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans into the precooked tart shell. Gently pour the filling over the top. Arrange pecan halves in a decorative pattern around the top of the tart. Bake at 350˚F for 35-40 minutes, just until set.

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PE A R & CR A N BE R RY PI E This pie marries the bright tartness of cranberries with the sweet fruitiness of a ripe pear. Though best made in the early fall when pear and cranberry seasons overlap, this easily can be made yearround with frozen cranberries. Simply thaw in the refrigerator and proceed as directed.

2 recipes Classic Pie Dough (page 38)

Pinch salt

2 cups fresh (or thawed) cranberries

4 pears, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

1 cinnamon stick

(for egg wash)

1 orange

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons cornstarch Preheat oven to 400ËšF. Prepare a double recipe of Classic Pie Dough as directed on page 38.

Divide into two discs and chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one of the discs and arrange inside a pie dish, leaving 1 inch of dough hanging over the sides. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Combine cranberries, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon stick in a small pot. Using a vegetable peeler remove a large piece of zest from the orange; juice the orange. Add orange zest and 1/4 cup orange juice to the pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until cranberries have popped and mixture reduces slightly, about 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Discard zest and cinnamon stick.

In a large bowl, stir together cranberry mixture, sliced pears, cornstarch, and salt. Pour into chilled pie crust. Roll out the second disc of dough and cut into 8 strips, about 2-inches wide by 10-inches long. Lay four strips evenly across the top of the pie. One by one, weave the remaining four strips over and under to create a lattice-top crust. Pinch gently all around the edges to seal and trim off any excess dough. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Combine 1 teaspoon cinnamon with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar and set aside. Brush pie all over with egg wash and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil to catch any drips. Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, until filling is bubbly and jammy and crust is golden brown.

Remove pie from oven and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Allow to cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

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S W E ET POTATO PI E w it h ma r s h mallow m e r i ng ue

Sweet Potato Pie is often overshadowed during the holidays by its northern sibling, the Pumpkin Pie. Here, a richly spiced custard is garnished with a crown of fluffy meringue reminiscent of all the best parts of those old-fashioned marshmallow-topped holiday casseroles.

1 recipe Classic Pie Dough (page 38)

Pinch salt

2 pounds sweet potatoes

2 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons butter

1 egg yolk

3/4 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon ginger

Marshmallow Meringue:

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 large egg whites

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon dark rum

Pinch cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla Preheat oven to 400˚F. Roll Classic Pie Dough as directed on page 38 and shape the edges as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Prick sweet potatoes with the tines of a fork and place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Roast until very tender, about 45-60 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375˚F. When cool enough to handle, peel away and discard the skins as well as any blemishes. Transfer sweet potato to a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Add butter and purée until perfectly smooth.

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups sweet potato purée, brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cream, rum, vanilla, salt, 2 eggs, and 1 egg yolk. Stir until smooth. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell and bake at 375˚F for 50 minutes, just until set. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, make the Marshmallow Meringue. Combine egg whites and sugar in a metal bowl and set over a small pot of simmering water. Whisk until eggs are warm and frothy and sugar is dissolved, about 3-4 minutes (the mixture will register 110˚F on an instant-read thermometer).

Remove bowl from heat, add vanilla and cream of tartar, then continue to whisk until mixture is glossy and forms stiff peaks, about 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer.

Dollop meringue over the top of the sweet potato pie and swirl with the back of a spoon. Toast gently with a kitchen torch or under the broiler, just until the swirls are lightly golden.

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CA R A M E L A PPL E PI E Apple pies can be tricky because of the moisture content of the fruit. By marinating the apples first, we coax them to release much of their juice ahead of time. We reduce this juice down to create a flavorful apple juice-caramel sauce, which gets folded back into the pie filling. This recipe requires a bit of time to make but holds beautifully, so feel free to make a day or two in advance.

2 recipes Classic Pie Dough (page 38)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

8 medium golden delicious apples, peeled

1 teaspoon cinnamon

and sliced 1/4-inch

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Pinch salt

(for egg wash)

Prepare a double recipe of Classic Pie Dough as directed on page 38. Divide into two discs and chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one of the discs and arrange inside a deep pie dish, leaving about 1 inch of dough hanging over the sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Combine sliced apples, both sugars, lemon juice, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Let stand for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Strain and reserve the juices released from the apples (you should have about 1/2 to 3/4 cup).

Transfer to a small pot and simmer over medium heat until liquid is reduced to 3-4 tablespoons. It will be deep amber in color and bubble like a caramel. Remove pot from heat and swirl in butter.

Toss apple slices with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cornstarch. Stir in caramel sauce.

Preheat oven to 400ËšF. Fill chilled dough with apple slices, mounding them slightly at the center.

Roll out the second disc of dough and gently lay over the top, pinching gently around the edges to seal. Trim off any excess dough and crimp edges decoratively as desired. Working from the center of the pie, cut five evenly spaced two-inch slits in the top of the dough to release steam.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Brush pie all over with egg wash and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil to catch any drips. Bake in preheated oven for 50-70 minutes, brushing again with egg wash to encourage browning. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

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BU T T ER M I L K PI E Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this pie. Rich and tangy full-fat buttermilk lends a silky texture to the custard, which is rounded out by subtle highlights of vanilla and lemon. While you can make Buttermilk Pie with a traditional pie dough, the sweet and nutty flavor of the cornmeal really lets the buttermilk shine.

1 recipe Cornmeal Dough (page 39)

1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

3 eggs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/4 cups sugar

Pinch salt

1 1/4 cups full-fat buttermilk

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon lemon zest

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Blind-bake Cornmeal Pie Dough as directed on page 39 in a shallow 9-inch pie or tart pan. Allow to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 300˚F. Combine eggs, sugar, buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest, heavy cream, butter, and salt in a blender. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the mixture and blend until smooth, about 3045 seconds. Add flour and blend again until smooth and no lumps remain. Let filling rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour before baking.

Carefully pour chilled buttermilk filling into the prebaked cornmeal crust. Bake for 1 hour until filling is set (there may be a slight wiggle at the very center of the pie; this is okay). Allow to cool.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

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CL A S SIC PI E DOUGH This is a classic pie dough made with all butter for both flavor and flakiness. Be sure to use a good-quality butter. The flour amount may vary depending on which brand you use. I use White Lily, a Southern soft wheat flour. If you use a harder wheat flour with a higher protein content (such as King Arthur brand), start by using only 1 3/4 cup. This recipe doubles easily if you are making a double-crusted pie.

2 1/4 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 9 tablespoons (125 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

BL I N D -B A K I NG CL A S SIC OR TA RT D OUGH

Roll dough and place in pie pan as directed. Preheat oven to 350ËšF. Spray one side of a piece of foil or

1 egg, lightly beaten

parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and

1-2 tablespoons cold water

lay on top of the chilled dough. Fill with pie weights

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Scatter pieces of cold butter over the flour mixture.Using your fingertips, rub the bits of butter into the flour until there are pea-sized pieces evenly distributed throughout.

or dried beans. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove pie weights and brush the crust gently with egg wash (made by mixing 1 egg with 1 tablespoon water). Return to the oven and continue to bake uncovered until crust is cooked through and lightly golden in color, about 5-10 minutes.

Make a well in the center of the bowl. Add beaten egg and 1 tablespoon cold water. Using a fork or your

ROL L I NG CL A S SIC A N D TA RT D OUGH

fingertips, work the dry ingredients into the wet until

Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to sit at

it forms a shaggy dough. If dough is dry, add another

room temperature until it is just soft enough to roll,

tablespoon cold water. If it is too wet, add a bit of flour.

about 5-10 minutes. Roll into a large, even circle, about

Turn the shaggy dough onto a clean countertop. If

1/4-inch thick and 1-2 inches wider in diameter than

dough is sticky, dust with a bit of flour. Knead 5-8

your pie pan, dusting with a bit of flour as necessary to

times using the heel of your hand, just until it forms a

prevent sticking. Carefully lift dough into your pie or

cohesive, slightly tacky ball.

tart pan and gently press into the bottom and corners, leaving no air gaps. Fold the overhanging dough under

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and press into a 1-inch-

to create a double thickness around the edge, then

thick disk. Refrigerate until ready to use, at least 30

shape as desired with your fingers or a fork. Trim away

minutes and up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen for up

any extra dough. Prick dough all over with the tines of

to 1 month.

a fork and chill at least 30 minutes.

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S W E ET TA RT DOUGH

COR N M E A L PI E DOUGH

This recipe is a cross between a pie dough and a cookie

This is a variation on the Classic Pie Dough recipe.

dough, and it’s wonderful for large or individual tarts.

The cornmeal adds a bit of savory texture and the

Follow the same instructions for Classic Pie Dough

buttermilk yields a very tender, flaky dough.

regarding the best type of flour to use.

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 1/4 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more

3 tablespoons fine stone-ground cornmeal

for dusting

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (100 grams) sifted confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons (125 grams) cold butter, cut into small

7 tablespoons (100 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut

pieces

into small pieces

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons cold buttermilk

1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon cold water

Follow directions for Classic Pie Dough, adding 3 tablespoons cornmeal with the flour and substituting

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar,

buttermilk for the cold water.

and salt. Scatter pieces of cold butter over the flour mixture. Using your fingertips, rub the bits of butter into the flour until there are pea-sized pieces evenly distributed throughout.

Make a well in the center of the bowl. Add egg, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon cold water. Using a fork or your fingertips, work the dry ingredients into the wet until it forms a shaggy dough. If dough is dry, add another tablespoon cold water. If it is too wet, add a bit of flour.

Turn the shaggy dough onto a clean countertop. If dough is sticky, dust with a bit of flour. Knead 5-8 times using the heel of your hand, just until it forms a cohesive, slightly tacky ball (the dough should be neither too wet nor too dry; add a touch of flour or cold water if necessary).

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and press into a 1-inchthick disk. Refrigerate until ready to use, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen for up to 1 month.

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TURKEY CALLS STORY by S ANDY L ANG PHOTOGRAPHY by PETER FRANK EDWARDS

MATT STANIS DRIVES IN THE DARK, NO HEADLIGHTS. HE KNOWS THIS PATH BETWEEN PINE WOODS AND A FARM FIELD THAT WELL. Depending on your perspective, it’s either exceedingly late or

all wearing camouflage colors of green and brown, like the

very early on a Friday in April. Dawn is still nearly an hour

sandy soil and grass at our feet. As the darkness brightens

from breaking, and the hunting party is in an electric cart at

slightly, we follow Stanis to a copse of brush surrounding a

Orange Hill Plantation, an over nine hundred-acre property

massive live oak.

off of Bohicket Road on Johns Island. A bird’s call, whip-poor-

Stanis feels confident that Eastern wild turkey are

will, whip-poor-will, cuts through the darkness as we park

roosting nearby. He’s observed the fowl all spring, driving the

near a farm shed.

property’s unpaved farm roads with binoculars in his truck

Stanis hops off the cart and clicks on a flashlight that

and stopping often to look for hens, gobblers, and the young

casts a red beam. Townsend Clarkson, chief operating officer

male “jakes.” Turkeys range about, he explains, frequently

at Kiawah Development Partners, carefully lifts the shotgun

changing their roosting locations. It takes a dedicated pursuit

that he’ll carry on the hunt. Following their cues, I move

to keep track of them.

deliberately and try not to add much noise to the scene. “It’s

Guiding hunters is a sideline to Stanis’s primary work as

good to be outside as the sun comes up,” Clarkson says quietly,

landscape superintendent for Kiawah Development Partners.

“to listen to nothing but the wildlife.”

The tall, lanky South Carolina native grew up around Lake

Particularly, we’re listening for the gobble of a turkey, a

Murray near Columbia, graduated from Clemson with a

bird known for eyesight so good that it can “spot a tick on

degree in horticulture, and now directs a staff of about thirty

a tree at a hundred yards,” according to Stanis. The birds

at Kiawah. Watching and listening to him, his knowledge of

should wake soon, with the light. To be less visible, we are

the state’s land appears both learned and instinctual.

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THE SCOUT “The ocean used to be here,” he explains when we join him

that the rolling topography includes ancient sand dunes and

on an evening scout a few days earlier. In his truck this time,

troughs once part of the ocean floor. I learn later that not only

Stanis drives on roads through the clay shooting course of

is the land historically fascinating, but also the birds within

the Kiawah Island Sporting Club, which uses the land for

it are linked to ancient history, too. Recent DNA studies have

shooting sports. Each year there’s an annual drawing among

shown that the wild turkey native to America are among the

interested Club members to join one of a limited number of

closest living relatives to the dinosaurs. Turkey chromosomes

dates available for a guided turkey hunt. (This year, the two

“have undergone fewer changes than other birds since the

Club guides led just ten hunts.)

days of feathered dinosaurs,” according to the best seller The

On a pre-hunt scout, Stanis’s goal is to locate where the

Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman.

Eastern wild turkeys might be roosting for the night. Just

Maybe that’s why the turkeys’ behavior can seem

before nightfall, the birds fly up into trees, seeking a suitable

exceptionally primal. We step out of the truck onto a section

horizontal branch for sleeping. Often they choose a live oak,

of farm road that’s powder-dusty dry. Earlier in the spring,

he says. Meanwhile, the mated hens begin laying eggs in

after rainy weeks, Stanis says, some lower sections of the

spring—only one egg every day or two. She eventually gathers

property became wide stretches of shallow water. But now

a clutch of ten to fifteen eggs together in a grassy nest on

the road is marked with long scratch marks and meandering

the ground, and then she will sit on the nest for four weeks

lines—the markings of the three long toes of these modern-

straight to incubate the eggs. Often six or seven poults will

day, mini dinosaurs on the South Carolina Sea Islands.

survive and thrive, joining her in flocks the following summer

At a power line easement we see a gobbler and a deer grazing within yards of each other—under power poles that

and fall.

The Johns Island property is the backdrop and habitat for

Stanis notes were originally installed when power was

turkeys but also for flying squirrels, foxes, wood ducks, owls,

brought across Johns Island to reach Kiawah. Over the past

deer, herons, and songbirds, according to Stanis. He explains

several years, he’s coordinated the wildlife management

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efforts on the property, including some select timbering to create open areas, along with the planting of crops that can be food for wildlife, including mustard and turnip greens, sunflowers, wheat, oats, corn, and millet. In all, we see a dozen wild turkeys during our drive-around, and Stanis says he sometimes sees dozens more.

AROUND THE OLD OAK TREE Back to the morning hunt. Clarkson is the hunter, Stanis is guiding, and I’m observing from several yards back. A South Carolina native as well, Clarkson says he never hunted for turkey growing up because the wild population was so sparse.

Because of unregulated hunting and habitat loss, the birds’ population had dipped so low that they were nearly extinct in the U.S. by the early twentieth century. It took decades of state-by-state restoration efforts for wild turkey populations to rebound by the 1980s and 1990s. Habitat loss is still a concern, but today wildlife officials report flocks in all fortysix counties in South Carolina, and the hunting season— which lasts only for a few weeks each spring—is continually monitored and regulated.

Once in place, we each settle on a cushion of pine straw at the base of the tree trunk and stay as motionless as possible.

Turkey hunting is a patience game. Stanis and Clarkson have a clearer view to the open fields ahead, and we’re all listening to the woods wake up with birdsong. Crows are calling. It

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STANIS HAS A “CALL” MADE OF BLACK WALNUT AND BUTTERNUT WOOD THAT HE SCRATCHES TO MAKE SOFT SQUEAKS AND CLUCKS.

feels like a jungle in this stand of pine and cherry laurel

unfurled in a showy fan. “Hey, I’m looking for somebody,” is

around the live oak. I think about the brambles that we

what Stanis tells me later that he imagines the turkeys are

pushed through at the edges, the blackberries just ripe

communicating to each other.

Everyone watches and waits. About thirty minutes into

enough to pick.

We hear a turkey gobble. It sounds distant. South Carolina

the morning hunt, Clarkson lifts his shotgun into position

Department of Natural Resources regulations allow for only

and fires. Everyone rushes forward. It’s a successful shot,

male turkeys to be taken, so this is what we’re waiting for.

and the twenty-four-pound bird falls instantly, a gorgeous

Stanis has a “call” made of black walnut and butternut wood that he scratches to make soft squeaks and clucks in

gobbler with a nine-inch-long beard (really a bristly, modified feather) and sharp spurs about one-and-a-half-inches long.

an imitation of the sounds of a turkey hen. There’s another

I think of stories the men shared earlier of how turkeys

gobble, and the noise of it is coming from a different direction,

often outsmart the hunter. Stanis recounted how the majestic,

and sounds nearer. Stanis gives a thumbs up. His goal is to

wily bird is known to be unpredictable, and may appear and

attract the tom turkey. And after only a few minutes, in the

disappear “like Houdini” during a hunt.

nearest field rows that are planted with sunflowers, a gobbler is strutting. “He’s just down the field,” Stanis whispers.

On other mornings, it goes differently, but this time, the hunter gets the bird. We step closer. I’m amazed at the vivid

I can’t see the large male turkey, but Clarkson and Stanis

blue skin on the gobbler’s head, and I reach down to touch

can, and they use the wide trunk of the sprawling live oak

the brown, white, and greenish feathers with reverence—a

as cover. Clarkson crouches low and begins to move toward

dinosaur descendent in the very colors of the spring landscape

the bird that’s puffing out its chest and has its tail feathers

and sky around us. — S.L.

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IN FULL STRIDE

T H O R O U G H B R E D S T H U N D E R B Y A S C R O W D S T I P T H E I R H AT S A N D RAISE A GL ASS. THE STEEPLECHASE OF CHARLESTON IS MORE THAN TRADITION; IT’S ONE GALLOPING GOOD TIME. STORY by STE PH A NIE H UNT PH OTOGRA PH Y by LINDS E Y S H ORTE R

DON’T SCIP A CHECK ISN’T SKIPPING MUCH OF A N Y T H I N G A S H E T E A R S A C R O S S T H E T U R F. “Now setting a strong pace, leading out by two-and-a-

it’s our final meet of the year, and sometimes it all comes

half lengths,” the announcer incants in his breathless Irish

down to the wire here,” says Toby Edwards, race director

brogue, describing the gelding’s take-charge start in the first

for The Steeplechase of Charleston, one of the thirty annual

race of the day. It’s a sunny afternoon and sixty-five degrees,

races sponsored by the National Steeplechase Association

the Lowcountry fall air feeling frisky and festive, and the

(NSA). Steeplechase is a thoroughbred horse race, but unlike

Steeplechase of Charleston crowd is all in.

the Kentucky Derby, the horses must jump over obstacles.

Don’t Scip A Check’s chestnut-brown engine of equine

The season begins in March and wraps up in November

muscle and speed is striding strong, soaring over the first of

in Charleston, with stops at marquee tracks like Saratoga

eleven fences in the two-and-a-quarter mile race, but here

Springs and Belmont Park along the way. This past year the

comes Change Maker moving up on the outside, with Eyeing

NSA Jockey Championship and the Trainer Championship

Victory and Lead Investor close behind. Then another loping

were both decided at the Charleston finale.

circuit around the Stono Ferry racecourse and out of nowhere

comes Moss Code—his muscular neck lurching forward and

however, have never even heard of the Jockey or Trainer

silky haunches unfolding behind him with every thrumping

Championships, much less that the season title depends

gallop. “It’s a three-horse affair with three-quarters of a mile

on what unfolds on this Hollywood turf. But that hardly

to go, with Moss Code coming on strong,” the announcer says,

matters. For many of the six thousand or so who attend, the

just before declaring him the winner, which puts Moss Code’s

Steeplechase is an excuse to trot out hunt-inspired fashion

rider, Darren Nagle, in the lead for the Jockey’s Cup season

and their finest millinery; for others it’s a cocktails, tailgate,

championship.

and corn-hole affair; and others still appreciate that a day at

the races is a family-friendly event, with an infield village of

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Most spectators at the annual Stono Ferry affair,

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A L L I N A L L , S O M E F O R T Y- E I G H T H O R S E S A N D T H E I R J O C K E Y S V I E F O R PA R T O F T H E STEEPLECHASE OF CHARLESTON’S $75,000 PURSE.

vendors, booths for kids, beers and food trucks for the adults,

clearing eleven four-foot fences—four minutes and forty-five

and adrenaline-pumping horse racing for everyone.

seconds of riveting speed and grace. Nostrils flare, manes fly,

and whips whack. Ultimately Dynaformersrequest prevails,

“Horse racing is a sport that you are born loving, or

you will soon grow to love,” says Edwards, a Brit who grew

winning the $30,000 prize.

up riding ponies and plants himself firmly in the former

category. His father served in the British military and was

for part of the Steeplechase of Charleston’s $75,000 purse.

moved to Germany, where Edwards’s mother was able to get

The winning horses from each of the day’s five races circle up

her jockey license. “That’s one of my formative memories,

in front of the grandstand, their coats glistening with sweat,

watching her win a race in 1968,” says Edwards, who went

as jockeys, trainers, owners, and sponsors pose for a victory

on to follow in his mother’s footsteps, or stirrups, rather. He

photo. A proud moment—and a big chunk of the payoff.

raced throughout England and Ireland before visiting the

U.S. and falling in love with and settling in Camden, South

lucky sport,” says Bill Gallo, Director of Racing for the NSA and

Carolina. Edwards has done everything from jockeying to

a Kiawah Island resident during the steeplechase off-season.

training thoroughbreds to directing steeplechase events, as

It’s expensive to train a horse, maintain a barn, transport

he does in Camden for the Carolina Cup, in Tryon, North

horses to races up and down the East Coast, and all in all,

Carolina, and in Charleston.

there’s $6 million total in purse money annually up for grabs.

Meanwhile back on the Stono Ferry course, the start

By comparison, the Kentucky Derby alone awards a $3 million

official walks out with his red flag held high, a line of nine

purse. “But you don’t get into steeplechasing to make money,

horses skittering behind him, their jockeys reining them in

you get into it because it’s a wonderful experience for people

until the flag falls, signaling that the second race of the day is

who love horses,” Gallo adds. And most NSA events, including

on. Another two-and-a-quarter mile race, with horses at full

the Steeplechase of Charleston, are charitable events, with a

throttle—reaching speeds nearing forty miles per hour while

portion of proceeds benefiting community organizations. “It’s

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All in all, some forty-eight horses and their jockeys vie

“Steeplechase is not a get-rich sport; it’s more like a get-

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“ S T E E P L E C H A S I N G H A S A B O U T I T R AT H E R M O R E G L A M O U R A N D E X C I T E M E N T T H A N T H E F L AT [ R A C I N G ] , A T R A C E O F C H I VA L R Y, A S P I C E O F D A N G E R , A N D A R E F R E S H I N G V I G O R T H AT T H E S M O O T H U R B A N I T Y O F F L AT R A C I N G L A C K S . ”

about the thrill of it, the camaraderie of participants, and the

bicyclists make tracks. The stone gates that once marked

close-knit community of trainers and owners. And we get to

the entrance to the Washington Race Course now grace the

go to places like Charleston, which does a great job making

grounds at famed Belmont Park, home of the Belmont Stakes.

the Steeplechase of Charleston charming and welcoming, an

With the Steeplechase of Charleston as the penultimate race

event where riders and owners want to come,” Gallo says.

on the National Steeplechase Association calendar, the long

Horse racing is one of the world’s oldest sports, and steeplechase is a cross-country version of it, dating back

tradition of horse racing in America has come full circle, so to speak.

to early-eighteenth-century Ireland and England, where

As legendary English horseman John Hislop once

horsemen challenged each other in four-mile races from one

observed, “Steeplechasing has about it rather more glamour

village to another, with many stone fences to jump along the

and excitement than the flat [racing], a trace of chivalry,

way. Church steeples were often the most visible point-to-

a spice of danger, and a refreshing vigor that the smooth

point landmarks, hence the moniker.

urbanity of flat racing lacks.” There’s no starting trumpet

Here in the many-steepled Holy City, horse racing was

call, not much fussy pomp and circumstance, no official

popular among the colonial plantation elite, and in fact,

wagering—it’s all sport. Sheer equine and human athleticism.

Carolina planters here formed the first known organized club,

And on a beautiful fall day in the Lowcountry, where better

the South Carolina Jockey Club, in 1734, sixteen years before

to watch professional athletes do their thing? Horses and

the more famous English Jockey Club was created. Races

jockeys racing neck-to-neck, swooshing over jumps, wowing

were held at the York Course in present-day North Charleston,

onlookers with their physical majesty, agility, and might.

and at as many as ten other tracks in the tri-county area,

“The Steeplechase of Charleston is an important niche on

historical records suggest, with the most prominent being the

our calendar,” says Gallo. “There’s a great racing history here,

Washington Race Course, established in 1792. What was once

and the drama of being the last race of the season makes it

an eight-furlong racecourse is today the popular recreational

special.” — S.H.

loop around Hampton Park, where walkers, runners, and

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A PLAYER'S GUIDE TO THE RIVER COURSE CO U RSE N OTES BY D YLAN THEW AND CHA RLIE A RRIN GTON

HOLE #1 Right out of the gate, Tom Fazio makes you think with this short dogleg left. Longer hitters want to take an aggressive line down the left to leave a short wedge onto the green. Any shot that fades too far right could be blocked out by trees. However, overdraw too far left and you risk the lake and severe fairway bunkering. Hit a shot that curves gently to the left in order to situate yourself in the middle of the fairway with a good line to the green.

The left side of the green is guarded by water and sand. The right side is guarded by a short, steep bunker, which is actually not a bad spot to miss. This is a two-tiered green. The safest bet is to play to the right center of the green. If the flag is on the front, utilize the slope to spin the ball back. Distance control is crucial when attacking the back flag, as anything long of the green will leave an incredibly challenging chip shot. but was **The River Course opened in 1995 again in 2015. substantially renovated in 2005 and

hole #2 Good scoring opportunity here! It's a reachable par 5 with a fairly demanding tee shot. A huge bunker guards the right side of the fairway, and the left is bordered by trees and a water hazard. The aggressive play is to hit driver. The fairway narrows in the landing zone, but hitting the downslope will get some extra yardage.

The widest part of the fairway is the safest play. You will have a long second shot no matter what, but it's very gettable! The layup is protected by bunkers that jut into the fairway. If you can't carry the bunkers, stay focused. You're forced to lay up into a tight area, so choose your club wisely.

This is a very wide but shallow green - typical of a Tom Fazio par 5. Because of the width, you can miss left or right. If you're coming in with a short approach shot, watch your distance control. The green slopes severely from the back to the front and is separated into three undulating tiers: a high tier on the left side, a slightly lower middle tier, and an even lower tier on the right. Landing in the correct quadrant will leave you a good chance at making the putt. There is a very high waste area on the left side of the green and a small pot bunker just short to force you to take more club. Remember, short is better than long.

Don't be fooled. from when the Kuwaitis **The tunnel on this hole is left over y intended to design a owned Kiawah Island. They originall le Point Clubhouse. second course to play from the Turt

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**The USGA Mid-Amateur Championship was played on the River Course and Cassique in 2009!

HOLE #3

The first of four beautiful par 3s. This hole often plays into the wind, so the length can be difficult. Tee the ball up on the right side of the tee box. There are some overhanging trees on the left-hand side that you must avoid, especially if you hit butter cuts.

The size of the green surface area is quite forgiving.There are three prominent pin locations: front, middle, and back. There's a hollow in the center of the green that funnels balls off to the left. The front portion is raised, the middle portion is low, and the back portion is raised.

If the flag is center left, this is definitely a pin to attack. When it's on the front, missing it short is okay. When the flag is at the back, play from the middle of the green. Missing left will pretty much always leave an uphill chip, so favor this side.

HoLe #4 The first of back-to-back par 4s. It's birdie time! Be strategic with your tee shot. You can drive it over the bunkers where the fairway is narrow, or you can lay up in between the bunkers where the fairway is the widest. The most ideal shot shape off this tee box is a draw, as the hole curves slightly left. A good drive will leave a short shot.

Bunkers guard the left and right sides. The center of the green is a good play no matter what the pin location is. Avoid the front left, as the contours will catch the ball and pull it off the green. If you have a short iron in your hand, throw a dart. This is a good chance to get one back on the field.

HOLE #5 Drivable for long hitters! If you have the ability to carry the ball 280 yards, then have some fun and go for it. If you don't have the length, the safe play is a 220 shot up the left side of the fairway. The hole curves to the left around a water hazard and a waste bunker, so hit a draw to ensure a good line into the green.

One of the most severe greens on the course. There is a very large slope in the middle. Do not be too aggressive if the flag is at the back because long is dead. When the pin is at the front of the green, you can utilize the slope in the middle, taking the false front out of play.

*This hole has undergone more renovations than any hole the course. Originally it featured two greens! In 200on 5 they were merged to become one large green.

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HOle #6 It's difficult to gauge the wind here, so pay attention on the preceding holes. Anything short will end up in a bunker or in the water. Anything long will go into a waste area or a grassy bunker, leaving you an incredibly difficult chip. The entire green slopes toward the water, so if you are going to miss, err to the right.

*Shortest hole on the course. Very difficult, especially in the winter!

Spend some time reading this shallow green. Look from both sides and play for maximum break and minimum speed. This is no time to be aggressive, as there is no easy pin position. This is a demanding hole. Don't feel like you've lost a shot on the field if you make a bogey.

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hOle #7 One of the longest par 4s on the golf course. It actually has a wide fairway, which I think is fair considering the length. Definitely hit driver. I recommend you aim to the right corner of the left bunker and gently move the ball back to the middle of the fairway.

This green is deep and narrow with a slope in the middle that funnels balls right. This is Fazio at his best! Work the ball from left to right with your approach, so if you miss, you are left with a relatively straightforward pitch back up the slope and a good chance to save par. This is usually the windiest stretch of the golf course, so plan accordingly. a par *This hole was originally routed to be ught 5, but the original plan would have broFazio down a stand of large oak trees. ! made this a par 4 to save the trees 68

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HOLe #8

Again, the direction of the wind will determine the line you take. First, get an accurate yardage of carry distance from the tee box. The further right you go, the longer the carry over Bass Pond. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. The miss is definitely left. My recommendation for shot shape is to actually curve the ball away from the water. Although the hole curves right, do not try to fade the ball off the tee box. If you fade the ball a bit too much, you will end up in the hazard. This second shot is one of the most difficult layups on the golf course, especially when it's breezy. Again, Fazio is making you think! The ideal position is to lay up to about 110 yards. This will give a straight shot onto the green.

Very large putting surface. There are three tiers: front left, middle lower right, and a back tier. The center of the green is never a bad play. But don't be unnecessarily aggressive! This hole can be incredibly penal if you miss this green, so be patient.

HOLE #9 It's time to get focused. It's not a long hole and you will usually have a prevailing wind.

There is a waste area with bakeri grass and trees on the left and marsh and the Kiawah River on the right. It does not matter if you hit a driver, a hybrid, or a fairway wood -the goal is to hit the center of the fairway. The green is impossible to hold if you're coming in from the rough.

This green is severely contoured. The left quadrant is raised and surrounded by a half-moon lower tier. If the flag is in front right, take dead aim. Any other pin placement will benefit from a shot more towards the center of the green.

hole #10 One of the longest par 4s on the back nine. Hit the ball down the right side of the fairway with a tight draw and you'll be in the perfect position to attack the pin with your second shot.

A fade here will bring the trees on the right into play.

The entire green slopes left to right. It is fairly wide, not too challenging. I would favor the right side if you are going to miss, leaving yourself a relatively easy bunker shot uphill. A miss on the left side requires you to chip downhill from the rough, which is more difficult to control. Great way to start the back nine. Enjoy!

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HOLE #11

hoLe #13

This is a short par 4. Do not over club off this tee box.

The fairway is too narrow, and the risk/reward is not worth it. Longer hitters must hit a fairwood, a hybrid, or an iron in order to hit the widest portion of the fairway. Now is not the time to attack.

This green is wide and shallow. A small pot bunker guards the front middle. You have no choice but to play aggressively into these pins because of the slope in the middle of the green. You must be confident and approach the shot with an aggressive mindset in order to leave your ball on the correct tier to give yourself the best chance at a birdie.

Pay attention to the wind and err on the short side. *Notice this hole is more low profile. It's called "the dry creek", its bunker modeled after an old, dried-up creek bed. **If you hit to the left side of the fairway, there is a concave hollow called the "catcher's mitt." This is the ideal landing area to get a clear shot onto the green.

hOle #12 Beautiful par 3. The further right you miss, the longer the shot needs to be to carry the water. If the flag is on the right side of the green, aim just left of it and use the slope. Don't be afraid to take a little extra club on and choke down.

Two-tiered green here: small back tier and then a much larger front tier. Be aggressive if the flag is at the front. Err to the left side to avoid the water and the bunker at the front of the green. A miss short left is an impossible up and down. A short miss right is fine because you have a lengthy two-putt. And if your shot is long, behind the green is a fairly straightforward up and down. (Although, when standing on the tee box, you may think I'm crazy for saying so!)

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Signature hole on the course! This is your chance to play aggressively and possibly walk off with an eagle. Don't play it too safe! Off the tee box, aim at the bunker in the center of the fairway and hit a slight draw. Good players will be left with a long iron into the green. If you hit the ball more than 250 yards, the bunker on the left will not come into play. Shorter hitters have the option to lay up across the lake or just short of the lake. In this case, favor the right side of the fairway as opposed to the bunker and draw the ball.

Play aggressively in your approach shot and draw the ball away from the hazard. If you miss the green, you're left with a either a bunker shot or a chip with plenty of green to work with. So you don't need to fear the third shot.

If you are laying up, make sure it's at a comfortable distance. Do not try to get close to the green if you're not comfortable with three-quarter shots or shots that aren't full swings.

Everything short on this green funnels to the water on the right side. If the pin is on the right side, play left of the flag and the ball will funnel down. If the flag is in the back of the green, watch your distance control. Attack the pin at the front of the green. h tee, stop t 14 e h t o t a get *Before you rt station for a snack and at the comfo od par 4s await you! drink. Two go

*Fazio wanted to connect holes 14, 15, he would have more sand to work with. and 16 so here is all completely natural to the The sand island.

hole #14

Blind tee shot here. It's a dogleg left, and the further you hit, the narrower the fairway gets.

Consider the wind here and choose between a fairway wood or a hybrid. Draw the ball off the tee if you want to play aggressively. If you prefer to fade the ball, aim just right of the waste area on the left side and work the ball to the largest part of the fairway.

This green has two tiers: upper left and lower right. Bunkers guard the front. If you're more comfortable in the bunkers, then the miss is short. If you're not comfortable in the bunkers, take an extra club and don't be afraid to chip back to the flag. If the flag is on the left, play aggressively to the left. Anything that hits in the center of the green will funnel to the right.

hOLe #15 You must hit the ball straight here. Waste bunkers guard both sides of the fairway. If you can carry the ball a decent distance, then a driver will hit the downslope and hopefully run a considerable distance. If you're not comfortable with a driver, then a fairway wood is fine. Just take the straightest club you have in the bag. The approach shot plays ever so slightly downhill, so make sure you deduct a few yards off the actual to get your number.

This green is narrow and long. Do not miss the ball in the bunker to the left. It has an awkward shape and will pose a very difficult stance and lie. If the flag is in the center of the green, don't be afraid to take a little bit less or a little bit more club just to avoid that bunker. Relatively flat green, so no real challenges posed with the putter. ries of shallow *Historically there was a se d fresh water wells in this area that supplieguests of the to the early residents and old Kiawah Inn.

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HOLE #16 This is your last good opportunity to make an easy birdie.

It's a long par 5 but very gettable. If you're a longer hitter, shape it right to left off the tee box and favor the left side of the fairway. If you miss right here, you will not be able to hit the green in two. If everything goes well, keep your foot on the gas and fade your approach shot.

Play aggressively on this green. Ideally you'll want to use the contours to work the ball close to the hole. The green slopes severely from left to right at the front with a relatively flat back tier. If the flag is on the front, play your approach shot just left of the pin. Utilize the slope to feed the ball to the hole. When the flag is at the back you have a little bit of room long left, so don't be afraid of a fraction too much club to ensure you carry the slope.

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hole #17 Do not be distracted by the beautiful views! This hole requires some thought. It's one of the most exposed holes on the course, so the wind is going to affect your tee shot more than the previous three. The waste area left of the green is close to the penalty area, so miss right if you must. I like to start the ball in the right portion of the green and work it back towards the flag. But some players hit a fade and work the ball off the waste area because the error is to the right side. Stick to your game and play your natural shape.

Relatively flat green. A small spine rolls through the middle. The front portion slopes right. Make sure you walk 360 degrees around your putt, because a putt from the front to the back will break multiple different ways. *You'll notice the back of the 15th tee here. This can also be played as the back tee for the 17th hole. And it's arguably a more direct shot!

hOLe #18 Home stretch! The average hitter should play a draw on this hole, starting the ball to the right center of the fairway and working it to the left. The longer hitters should favor a left to right - over the tree on the left side and work it to the right. Because the miss is definitely right. You don't want to hit driver on this hole and work it too hard to the left. This could potentially leave you in the waste area, or even the penalty area. Whatever you do, avoid the tree short left.

Fazio challenges you right to the very last moment. This is an incredibly narrow green guarded by a large bunker on the right and a waste area on the left. The green is contoured like a potato chip, with various slopes and contours. If the flag is on the front and your approach is above the hole, be very careful of the speed coming down this hill. If the flag is at the back, do not go long. Play to the center of the green and putt straight up the slope. The miss is short right! een after the iconic gr s hi t ed el od m io *Faz ave with sides that nc co gn si de st ha Tilling t like a potato chip! lo a is e ap sh he T . up sweep

GOOD LUCK!!

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PHO T O GR A PH Y b y G AT E LY W I L L I A M S

bird key stono

ST ORY b y H A I L E Y W I ST

We take a speed boat out to Bird Key Stono on a warm evening in late May. The air is sweet and humid and as we level out at speed, it fills

to Janet Thibault, South Carolina Department of Natural

our eyes and mouths and clothes. We only shout occasionally,

Resources (SCDNR) wildlife biologist, Bird Key is currently

briefly, our voices lost to the wind. From the west, Bird Key

the biggest rookery in the state and crucial to that population.

doesn’t look like much: a flat disc of shimmering sand on the

Though the statistics, she tells me, are constantly in flux. This

crisp blue of the horizon.

year the pelican count was down to 2,770 from a staggering

Officially protected since 2006, Bird Key Stono Seabird

3,313 last year. The previous year they counted 3,790.

Sanctuary sits in the wide estuary of the Stono River, between

Thibault attributes this to a couple of factors. The fluctuating

the easternmost point of Kiawah Island and the south end of

numbers have a lot to do with other seabird islands. If other

Folly Beach. As a small barrier island, it is dynamic, constantly

sanctuaries are threatened, Bird Key sees an uptick. Pelicans

shifting in shape and size. A mixture of salt marsh, vegetated

need an island with no mammalian predators or human

dunes, beach, and intertidal shoal, the roughly thirty-five acre

disturbance, with enough material to build their nests. These

preserve is one of five seabird sanctuaries in the state.

isolated barrier islands are ideal, with dunes for nesting and a

wide intertidal zone to cool off and to learn to fly.

As we draw near, the shoreline comes into view and the

breath catches in my throat. The boat slows and we idle at

the buoys, not saying anything. Pelicans, too many to count,

do with population numbers. It is strictly prohibited to land

line the beach. They stamp their flat, waxy feet and cool

on the island from March 15 to October 15, and even in the

their bodies with abbreviated flaps of massive wings. They

winter months, the dunes are still off limits. But it took a

are magnificent, relics from a prehistoric past, and in such

couple years for boaters to realize they couldn’t land on Bird

numbers, their presence feels weirdly divine.

Key. That, Thibault reports, makes all the difference. Human

contact dramatically affects seabird habitat, and if the birds

South Carolina supports around ten thousand brown

pelicans, 40 percent of the Atlantic population. According

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The official sanctuary status, she notes, also has a lot to

don’t feel safe, they move on.

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A Note on Ethical Photography If you come close enough to a bird for it to take flight, this counts as a disturbance. Keep this in mind when taking photos.

Use a telephoto lens and always maintain enough distance to allow your subject to behave naturally. Never advance on birds with the intention of making them fly. This disrupts natural processes such as resting, foraging, or hunting and causes them to expend energy unnecessarily.

As far as predation goes, it’s too far for most mammals to swim from the mainland. However, in the last year, Thibault tells me, they’ve noticed mink tracks out on the island. Mink are incredible swimmers and prime predators for beach nesting species. If a predator does make it to the island, it can make quick work of a seabird colony.

It’s hard to imagine a beach more alive with birds. As we idle north against the leeward shore, the birdlife becomes more diverse. A few pelicans still stand at attention, but numerous other species punctuate the landscape. Willets skitter through the lapping tide and royal terns hunch solidly in groups, their punky, tufted heads ruffling in the breeze.

The island is home not only to seabirds like pelicans and terns but also to shorebirds like oystercatchers and willets. Waders, a category that includes ibis and egrets, come to and from the island throughout the year as well, though they don’t require such a specific nesting profile.

The north end of the island is a rise of white sand connected by a skinny sandbar. This sand was deposited as part of a renourishment project a few years ago. We idle around the corner, and the wind hits us at full force. From this side we can see the topography a bit better. Crested dunes slope up from the striated intertidal zone. In the higher areas the dunes are dense with scrub and grasses. A bit further

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South Carolina Seabird Sanctuaries Few islands in the state have the right profile for the brown pelican to nest. The SCDNR owns Tomkins Island, Crab Bank, Bird Key Stono, and Deveaux Bank. These are considered designated Seabird Sanctuaries by the state. Pelicans also nest on Marsh Island in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge and on and around Castle Pinckney, an old Revolutionary and Civil War fort in Charleston Harbor.

Crab Bank and Deveaux Bank are the closest to Kiawah Island.

Crab Bank sits in the middle of the Charleston Harbor and has suffered severe erosion in recent years, though a renourishment project was funded last spring. Deveaux Bank lies just west of Kiawah, at the mouth of the Edisto River.

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As we idle south along the shore, the birds seem to surround us, a dense crush of wings and feathers.

south along the shore, the water has cut a steep cliff of sand,

And though the pelican’s wings, beak, and feet are quite

and it rises six vertical feet. It feels a bit like a desert island, a

substantial, Wilkinson says the bird is surprisingly light. Their

romantic undiscovered isle governed by the tides.

bodies are filled with small air sacs to counteract the weight of

these extremities and to buoy them from their deep dunk into

But that is to say nothing of the birds. There are infinitely

more pelicans on this side of the island. The beach, the water,

the ocean.

the air is alive, teeming with ibis, egrets, oystercatchers, and

willets. As we idle south along the shore, the birds seem to

are alive with movement. I can just make out the pale yellow

surround us, a dense crush of wings and feathers. In their

heads of the nesting pelicans. Unlike other seabirds, pelicans

sheer size, the pelicans dominate the scene, but terns and gulls

actually build a nest from branches and grass (by contrast,

skim and swoop in the air. Hordes of birds crowd the beach,

terns scratch a shallow depression in the sand). In early

preening and flapping. And the sound! It is a literal cacophony,

March they gather to court and mate. By April the couples are

layer upon layer of squawking and shrieking. Groups of five

building nests, and the colony is in full swing. They lay three

or six pelicans fly to and from the island together, gliding

eggs each season, and both males and females incubate the

uniformly in a line. The way they land and take off together

eggs (with their webbed feet!) for about a month. Eggs begin

reminds me of an airport. There is an air of business to their

to hatch in late May. The chicks are altricial, meaning they

comings and goings. Occasionally we see a pelican nosedive,

don’t leave the nest and they depend on care and food from

dropping dramatically into the ocean without so much as a

their parents during the first three or four weeks of life.

splash and then bobbing to the surface a few moments later.

Bradley Wilkinson is a PhD student at Clemson University

feathers and start to wander from the nest. And the following

and an affiliate of the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and

month, they become independent from their parents and grow

Wildlife Research Unit. He spends nearly every day during

their flight feathers. That’s when the beaches of Bird Key are

the breeding season on Bird Key, studying the migration, diet,

really alive with birds, says Thibault. The population appears

behavior, and environment of the brown pelican. He explains

to explode in the later months of summer, when the juveniles

later that these pelicans are “plunge diving” for Atlantic

inundate the beach.

menhaden, a schooling fish that makes up the majority of

their diet. Their heads, neck, and chest are padded for this

pelicans we see in the Lowcountry in winter are often birds

tremendous impact and instant density change of the dive.

from North Carolina or Virginia, says Wilkinson. However,

The oxeye and seagrass on the upper dunes of the island

After this phase, the pelican hatchlings develop downy

Many of these pelicans migrate south in the fall. The

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They are magnificent, relics from a prehistoric past.

he explains, that pelican migration is facultative. Some pelicans stay year round, and some fly as far south as Cuba or Belize. Wilkinson and his colleagues aren’t entirely sure why, though previous work by his research lab has shown a strong correlation between the size of a bird’s nesting colony and whether or not that bird migrates. The larger the colony, the more likely the bird is to head south in winter. Also pelicans are extremely sensitive to cold weather. The Lowcountry hit record lows two winters ago, and Wilkinson tells me that not a single bird from the cohort they study with specialized GPS transmitters stayed in the state. And though their migration is likely based on resources, habitat, and weather, I like the idea that it’s preferencial, that they head south when they feel like it (anthropomorphic, admittedly). Imagine these very pelicans gliding through the sky somewhere warm in six months, enjoying the tropical climes of Mexico or the Carribean like a bird on vacation.

We don’t speak much on our windy ride back up the Kiawah River. A wall of thunderclouds builds in the west, and the air becomes even more dense with the impending storm. The sun breaks through here and there in luminous, crepuscular rays.

We slow and idle towards the dock at Rhett’s Bluff, where a few small groups have gathered to watch the dramatic display of clouds and light. — H.W.

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T H E K I AWA H

VERNACULAR ST O RY by H AI L E Y WI ST

Previous Spread: The Ocean Course Clubhouse

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Architecture is one of the great expressions of modern society. From the humble home to the great civic structures of the world, buildings are the very foundation for the comings and goings of mankind.

In this sense, the built world is always linked, inextricably, to

designed by Connecticut firm Shope Reno Wharton (SRW) in

a people, to an environment. So often, the allure of a building

1993, and the Beach Club, designed by New York firm Robert

correlates to its integration into the natural surroundings,

A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) in 1994.

the way it corresponds to the ebb and flow of the community

The partners were drawn to the Shingle-style architecture

at large. And isn’t that a wonder? That we can look upon a

prevalent in the northeast. “It was forgiving, and we could

building and find it beautiful, inspiring, exalting? In its loftiest

adjust it,” remembers Permar. “It could come down here and

interpretation, architecture is a conversation with the past,

live.” It was paramount that the dominant architectural style

present, and future of humanity.

fit seamlessly into the natural landscape. Buildings needed

“Design is fundamental to the longevity and relevance of

to work within the island’s extraordinary oak canopy and

a community,” says land planner and architect Mark Permar.

sensitive dune-field, blend with the ever-changing textures of

Permar has been involved in the development of Kiawah

its leeward marshland.

Island since the late seventies and has played a role in the

When Shope Reno Wharton was commissioned to design

Island’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) for nearly four

a private home on the Island, no one at the firm had ever

decades. In a sense, Permar has embodied the through line,

heard of Kiawah. Well known for their acumen in the Shingle-

acted as the showrunner for the development of the Island.

style genre, SRW executed a previously unseen design and

As such, Permar was at the table in the early days with the

craftsmanship in the private home. “We introduced a different

development team, setting the tone for what became the

mindset, a new level of quality in both design and materials,”

architectural vernacular of Kiawah Island.

says Jerry Hupy, principal at SRW. According to Permar, the

Today Kiawah boasts some of the most impressive real

private home heavily influenced the decisions not only of the

estate numbers in the state, but in the late seventies, it was

master developer but also of property owners going forward.

a sleepy barrier island with a collection of beach bungalows.

It was a house like no one had seen on Kiawah at that time,

“From the beginning, we knew we had to lead by example,”

with mahogany windows and a terne-coat stainless steel roof.

Permar remembers. “We were never going to build all the

“It’s solid,” laughs Hupy. “People said that if a hurricane comes,

homes, so we wanted to make choices that would influence the

go to that house on Flyway.” (At the time of the commission,

organic evolution of the community.” Looking back, Permar

there were a few Shingle-style homes in West Beach, but these

traces the origin of the current Kiawah design aesthetic to a

were more in the bungalow style of northern California and

few specific buildings: namely a residence on Flyway Drive,

the Pacific Northwest.)

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Designing the Beach Club, Robert Stern and his partner Roger

of Kiawah’s communal spaces, and so it is safe to say they

Seifter were also coming from the northeastern interpretation

know the island, its natural environment, and its people well.

of Shingle-style—that of the holiday homes of the Hamptons

Both architects came to their careers with an early love of

and Nantucket. But the Clubhouse was RAMSA’s first Shingle-

drawing and an interest in art. Perhaps this creative bent lends

style project that wasn’t a private residence, and thus it posed

itself to a more intuitive understanding of architecture as a

an interesting challenge. Ultimately, they designed it as they

holistic discipline. For Brewer, architecture is deeply rooted in

would a big, rambling house. “It’s meant to have a residential

history and tradition. Initially, he was drawn to Shingle-style

feeling in the way that pre-war clubs used to have,” says Gary

design in the early years of his career because it flew in the face

Brewer, partner at RAMSA. “It helped establish a vernacular

of the prevailing modern and postmodern trends of the time.

for Kiawah. We thought that was a pretty good starting point.”

Similarly, Hupy links Shingle style to a cultural nostalgia,

Property owners building homes quickly adopted the same

early notions of leisure time in the mid-century milieu. Their

colors and materials, the deep porches and ipe wood decking.

respective philosophies on the built world—and Shingle style

These two buildings set the tone and, in a way, introduced

in particular—reflect these expansive paradigms. They have

Kiawah to the world of more elevated architecture, a loftier

approached each project on Kiawah with creative intuition

vision for the future. It resonated with property owners.

and with a larger understanding of the role of architecture in

Within a few years, Shingle-style homes were popping up all

the cultural consciousness.

over the island. Then, in 2002, the Kiawah Island Golf Resort commissioned RAMSA to build a clubhouse for Pete Dye’s Ocean Course on the east end of the Island. Completed in 2007,

“On Kiawah the landscape is primary,” reflects Brewer.

the Ocean Course Clubhouse became another strong, highly

“Shingle-style plans are broken down into smaller masses that

visible symbol of the Island’s Shingle-style identity, especially

ramble through the landscape, deflect to the landscape.” In

as the Ocean Course hosted tournaments televised around

color and material, Shingle style blends seamlessly into the

the globe. The Beach Club, the Ocean Course Clubhouse, and

maritime forest and finds easy harmony with the vegetated

SRW’s commission set in motion a standard for design that

dunes. Unlike more formal styles, this rambling format can

would define the community for decades to come.

work with existing tree canopies and the particulars of a site. “For me, having the building fit within the site makes the biggest difference in the entire project,” says Hupy. “As

Both Brewer and Hupy came to Kiawah for the first time in

every detail comes in, the building starts to work its way back

the early nineties. Throughout the following decades, both

into the ground and nestle in.” What’s more, the informal

architects took lead positions on Kiawah projects. Hupy and

format lends itself to function and use, the floorplan can be

SRW designed several more hallmark homes, the first River

configured any which way.

Course Clubhouse, and the Cassique Clubhouse. For Brewer

Just so, the way we use buildings, the way we feel when

and RAMSA, the Beach Club and Ocean Course Clubhouse

we occupy a beautifully designed space, all plays to the

projects led to commissions for more houses, and, more

design. “When you go into a space, there’s an experience,”

recently, the current revitalization of West Beach Village.

explains Hupy. “Whether it’s how you approach the building,

Between them, the two firms have designed the vast majority

the landscape, the furnishings, the textures, the volume of the

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The Beach Club | Photo by Melissa Toms

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Sunset at the Ocean Course Clubhouse

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The houses look as if they’ve been there forever, graceful neighborhoods tucked into the fold of a centuries-old maritime forest.

room...everything has an impact.” Hupy likens an architect to

of diverse characteristics that somehow still adhere to a subtle

a quarterback in that good architecture amplifies talent from

set of unifying principles. Kiawah’s ARB is strict enough to

all disciplines to create a dynamic whole—from landscape to

ensure a level of tasteful cohesion but loose enough to allow

interiors to fine finishes like iron working or stained glass.

neighborhoods to evolve organically. The Kiawah Partners and

Furthermore, both architects would argue that siting is

their team are largely to thank for this soft touch. “It would

everything. Good architecture responds to its environment—

have been easy to tighten the rules, prescribe a specific style

natural light, breezes, how a building is situated to the views,

and not allow diversity,” says Permar. “But it’s worth taking a

the trees. During the design phase, Hupy takes his time getting

risk because it can lead to great things.”

to know a site, seeing it at all hours of the day to note the

With the multi-tiered revitalization of West Beach

way the light shifts over the land, the direction of prevailing

Village, RAMSA is adding another significant ingredient to

winds. Also, understanding how to truly work within a site

the Kiawah vernacular. The new Cougar Point Clubhouse,

can dramatically affect scale, or at least the impression of

completed this summer, introduces colonial architecture, a bit

scale. “One of the things people say about our homes is that

of formality. “We wanted to do something a little bit different

they don’t look that big,” says Hupy. “But there’s a beautiful

for Kiawah,” says Brewer. “The colonial style clearly has a kind

scale trick going on.” A home might be well over ten thousand

of architectural grandeur, but it’s comfortable. There’s nothing

square feet, but a thoughtful integration to the site can hide

about it that feels intimidating.” And in a way, introducing a

square footage.

fresh design interpretation keeps Kiawah relevant. “Bob Stern

Since the early nineties, Shingle-style architecture has

says that architecture is not an autobiography, it’s a portrait of

become the predominant style on Kiawah Island. Just as

a place,” reflects Brewer. “One of the things we enjoy about the

Permar and the partners had hoped, buildings like the Beach

projects we do is to see how a built project affects the culture

Club and the River Course Clubhouse have influenced a

of an institution and a community. It sounds a little hokey, but

particular Kiawah-specific aesthetic. Wind through shady

it’s really satisfying.”

neighborhood streets of Kiawah, and these fundamental philosophies are evident. The houses look as if they’ve been there forever, graceful neighborhoods tucked into the fold of a

On a sunny afternoon in June, a south wind buffets the Beach

centuries-old maritime forest.

Club. Pelicans fly in lazy lines over the roof, riding the updraft

It is important, however, to note that this evolution is

from the Atlantic. The Beach Club in high summer is a sight

due largely to the creation of a thoughtful, comprehensive

to see. The length of the building runs parallel to the Atlantic,

building covenant. Both Hupy and Brewer give a lot of credit

opening to an expanse of pool, porch, and a white canopy of

to the oversight and guidance of Kiawah’s ARB. The covenant

umbrellas. Since opening its doors over twenty years ago, this

is written so beautifully, Hupy explains, that it allows for

Clubhouse has been the epicenter of the Kiawah summer. The

individual homes to be expressive without disrupting the

greatest buildings, the ones that remain in our memories, are

general architectural vision of the community as a whole.

the ones we really use, the places and spaces that provide the

Because real neighborhoods are varied, they are a collection

backdrop to our lives. — H.W.

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SHRIMPING COUNTRY STORY by CYRUS A. BUFFUM PHOTOGRAPHY by JOEL CALDWELL

T O WAT C H A F I F T Y-Y E A R - O L D S H R I M P B O AT, T R I E D A N D T I M E W O R N , U N T I E B E F O R E D AY B R E A K , B O U N D F O R T H E S E A , I S T O S E E W E L L B E YO N D T H I S S Y M B O L O F M A R I T I M E C U LT U R E . I T I S T O B E A R W I T N E S S T O A L A S T I N G L E G A C Y O F T R A D I T I O N —T H E U N B R O K E N PA S S A G E O F K N O W L E D G E A N D P R A C T I C E F R O M O N E G E N E R AT I O N T O T H E N E X T.

The Tarvin family has operated Tarvin Seafood from the

engine that has powered the trawler’s every trip for the past

south side of Shem Creek since 2011—first from Geechie Dock

fifty years. We untie just before six o’clock and head across the

and now from the fish house at Wando Dock—a last vestige of

creek to take on 707 gallons of fuel. Vibrations shake the nets,

the Old Village’s once sprawling working waterfront. Cindy

knocking loose remnants of dried bycatch from yesterday’s

and Taylor run the shoreside operations (from peeling and

haul. A flock of laughing gulls dives into the water behind us.

heading shrimp to wholesale deliveries and retail sales), while

Pelicans aren’t far behind, seizing the remaining scraps.

Vasa, their twenty-eight-year-old son, manages operations

As the sun breaks free from the horizon, we leave

at sea, commanding the family’s shrimp boat, Miss Paula, a

Shem Creek. Another shrimp boat shows in the distance, its

fifty-five-foot trawler nearly twice his age.

silhouette indicates the size of its rig. We pass an osprey’s nest perched atop one of the nearby daymarkers. The crew points out a pair of fledgling chicks flanked by an ever-watchful set

I arrive at the dock by five-thirty to meet Vasa and his

of parents.

shrimping crew. Under the glow of the full moon, I’m greeted

by Emily Hahn, Miss Paula’s newest crew member and the first to arrive. Only two months on the job, Emily is new to

Miss Paula, originally christened Laura Ann, was built by

shrimping but not to shrimp. Food has been the center of

hand in 1969 by one of North Carolina’s most legendary

Emily’s professional life—first training at the New England

boatbuilding families.

Culinary Institute, then working in kitchens from Patagonia,

The man who commissioned the boat, Waring Hills,

Chile, to downtown Charleston, and then, in 2016, placing

now an eighty-year-old widower living on the backside of

seventh out of sixteen on Bravo’s Top Chef.

Sullivan’s Island, has been shrimping nearly all his life. “My

Captain Vasa arrives a few minutes later, joined by Shawn White, the boat’s third and most seasoned member of the

body is completely worn out now, but I had a great time wearing it out.”

crew. Shawn has been shrimping his entire life—forty years,

Waring discovered shrimping in the early 1950s. He quit

in fact, save for the seasons he spent in school. What began as

school, went to sea, and found his dream. In 1954, when

a summer job at the age of fourteen became an identity, one

Waring was only sixteen, he and his brother paid eighty-three

he shares with his cousin and grandfather.

dollars for a forty-six-foot government surplus boat left over

Vasa says nothing as he boards Miss Paula. He heads straight into the wheelhouse to crank the Cummins diesel

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from WWII. The boats were common in those days, called MTLs (medium tug launches). This one was built of

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western cedar. Despite being too narrow in the beam for their

it was time to retire. He tied Laura Ann to the end of his dock

own good, many were converted to work boats and fishing

on Cove Creek where she stayed, waiting to be told it was

trawlers after the War.

time to go to sea again.

Many people believe those early days of shrimping in Charleston were the best. “In my time,” Waring recounts, “I think it got up to as many as seventy boats in Shem Creek. We

We clear the narrow channel and the nearby docks, passing

got forty to sixty cents a pound after we headed [the shrimp].

through the jetties that frame the harbor entrance. We head

That wasn’t bad for that time. Fuel was fifteen cents a gallon.”

north. Miss Paula’s outriggers are swung to either side of the

By 1969, it was time to upgrade the MTL.

boat, her wings now spread like a cormorant in the wind.

For decades, the Varnams of Holden Beach, North

Two trawl nets, each over one hundred feet long, hang in

Carolina, had cultivated an impressive reputation, building some of the most beautiful shrimp boats anywhere along the South Atlantic coast.

anticipation over the waters below.

Vasa directs Miss Paula into a place of familiarity, now in the open Atlantic, far enough from shore to see each of

The Varnams used timber harvested from nearby forests

the barrier islands from Capers to Kiawah. The crew unfurls

to build Waring’s boat: old growth heart pine for the framing

the trawl nets like a scroll onto a wet tabletop. Emily and

and air-dried cypress for the planking. Each board was cut

Shawn deploy the two pairs of otter doors—portside first,

by hand and every element of the design came from memory.

then starboard. The added resistance pulls the nets to the

Waring was impressed. “The old man that built this himself,

bottom and Miss Paula shakes with a violence she’s surely felt

he was a real artist. He didn’t write anything down. It was all

ten thousand times before.

in his head.”

The gear reaches the bottom. Everything above the

When the hull was completed, six months after the keel

surface of the water now seems tranquil and calm. This is

was laid, she was towed to Charleston where Waring readied

not the case below. Out of sight, the nets, now gaping wide,

her for her life as a trawler. With help from his father and

tugged open by the wooden doors on either side, are pulled

uncle, Waring designed and built the wheelhouse, bulkheads,

through the coolest layer of water, consuming everything the

bunks, and galley. For rigging, they salvaged what they could

bouncing tickler chain can discourage from the ocean floor.

from a retired shrimp boat that was being converted into a

I ask permission to enter the wheelhouse. Captain Vasa’s

houseboat. “For a pile of money, a hundred and fifty dollars

face is lit by the glow of his depth-finder and radar. Early

or something like that, we stripped everything off of it.”

morning chatter floods channel sixty-one on the VHF. Vasa

Laura Ann, named after Waring’s daughter, dragged for

steers with eyes fixed on the brightening sea ahead. Just

shrimp just offshore of Morris Island for over forty years. She

twenty-eight, Vasa carries himself with a sort of steadiness

was perfect, Waring remembers, “Big enough to do anything

reserved typically for those with the benefit of age. He wears

and small enough to go anywhere.”

a pink Sewee Outpost hat and a pair of Royal brand shrimp

But, by 2011, then well into his seventies, Waring decided

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T H E D E C K I S P I L E D H I G H W I T H T H E C O N T E N T S O F E A C H N E T. B L U E C R A B S , S I LV E R E E L , J E L LY B A L L S , AT L A N T I C C R O A K E R , F L O U N D E R , W H I T I N G , S Q U I D , S P O T, B U L L M I N N O W, A N D S H R I M P.

boots. Pink bushel baskets are stacked towards the transom

for two hours at two-and-a-half knots and each pull of the try

of the boat, and pink onion bags waiting to be packed full of

had revealed a promising haul below. A spinner shark leaps

shrimp are tied to the rigging. Pink is prevalent aboard Miss

into the air, lasting for only a moment in the corner of my eye.

Paula, a sign, Cindy Tarvin later reveals, of Vasa’s personality.

Winches strain against the sound of a groaning generator.

After all, pink gear is less likely to be stolen—a stronger

The winding cable, from years of heat and pressure, has

symbol of resistance than the Jolly Roger that flies from the

eroded narrow channels into the steel hardware. Using

mast above.

a crowbar, Shawn does his best to encourage an even distribution of tension along the metal spool as the trawls are reeled in. Each net soon emerges from the wet world below,

Vasa discovered shrimping when he was only eleven years old.

like a purse drawn shut, bursting with riches. The outriggers

A close family friend, Paula Urbano, introduced Cindy Tarvin

pull the catch high into the air and over the bright white deck.

to Captain Wayne Magwood, a third-generation shrimper,

A single line cinches the bottom of each net closed, keeping

at a benefit event one evening on Goat Island. Cindy asked

its contents packed tightly together. But, with a forceful pull

Wayne how old someone had to be to work on his boat. “Any

of the release, Shawn empties each bindle of potential energy

age,” Wayne responded. “I’ll pay them what they’re worth.”

into a wave of life.

Vasa promptly went to work on Winds of Fortune, the sixty-

The deck is piled high with the contents of each trawl.

eight-foot shrimp trawler Wayne still captains to this day.

Blue crabs, silver eel, jelly balls, Atlantic croaker, flounder,

Cindy recalls driving Vasa to the Shem Creek docks at four

whiting, squid, spot, bull minnow, and shrimp, of course,

o’clock every morning that summer, picking him up twelve

both brown and white. Emily and Shawn sit on turned-up

hours later.

buckets and sort the catch. The bigger white shrimp go in one

For the next nine years, Vasa worked for Wayne Magwood, absorbing three generations worth of knowledge

basket—these fetch the highest price at the dock. The smaller shrimp, brownies or pick-outs, go in another.

They put the final cull into an ice bath and ready the

and discovering his calling.

In 2011 Wayne suggested to Cindy and Taylor that Vasa

trawl nets to be dropped again. The crew brushes the mass

was ready to captain a boat of his own. In fact, Wayne knew

of bycatch left on the deck back into the waters from which

just the one. They purchased Laura Ann from Waring Hills

it came. A hungry procession of fish and birds stand at the

and rechristened her Miss Paula, in honor of Paula Urbano.

ready. Gulls, terns, and pelicans dive first from above, then a gam of blacktip sharks thrash from below. I’m reminded of my childhood—of swarming children attacking fist-fulls of

It is late enough in the morning to see beachgoers dotting

candy thrown onto sidewalks from Fourth of July floats. A

the edges of Sullivan’s Island only three miles away. Captain

pod of dolphins waits patiently in the background.

Vasa calls for the nets to be brought up. We’ve been dragging

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We drag one more time. The crew rests between hauls,

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napping, eating, and bantering. Shrimping seems to be a series of sprints.

Two hours later, the second haul comes in, flooding the deck again. Emily and Shawn repeat their process just as before. Cull, bag, ice.

The anticipated thunderclouds grow vertically above the inner harbor, and we head for the docks. I stand in the wheelhouse of Miss Paula and ask Vasa about the fate of the industry and his place in it. He laments, “Everything’s being lost: boats, sewing, netbuilding, boatbuilding.” Vasa mends and repairs his own gear, just as he was taught to do by those who came before him. He acknowledges the inconsistencies of the trade but suggests such risk can be hedged with skill. “It’s got its ups and downs. I’m just good at it.”

Vasa says he’ll shrimp for the rest of his life. That is, perhaps, until the day comes, many years from now, when a young shrimper, introduced to the craft by chance, goes out looking for a boat of her own and discovers a captain who’s tired and old, his body worn from years of use, who shares his stories of the shrimp he’s caught and the seas he’s sailed, who tells her of a boat she may like, a boat that has never let him down, a boat that is old but strong, a boat she very well may rechristen as she sees fit, a boat she can captain and call her own. — C.B.

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OLD WORLD

RISING A primer on heritage hog, seed, and grain in the Lowcountry

PH O T O GRA PH Y by LIND S EY S H O RT ER ST O RY by ST EPH A NIE H U NT

W h o p o l i s h e s a l l t h a t s i l ve r?

I wonder this as I walk by the windows of Geo. C. Birlant

Mike Lata, James Beard Award-winning chef of Charleston’s

Antiques on Lower King Street. Through that marvelous

FIG, The Ordinary, and most recently the Kiawah Island Club’s

looking glass lies an alluring trove of old, shiny things: fragile

B-Liner, has been at the forefront of this shift in culinary

porcelain displayed on deep-honeyed mahogany tables,

consciousness. Lata’s focus on quality ingredients sourced

elegant sideboards laden with silver. Platters, challises,

from local farmers began in the mid-1990s, when he was

perilous-looking serving forks, ancient serving pieces of

an upstart chef in Atlanta. There, he began spending all of

every possible shape and size. And, always, the rice spoon.

his free time on farms, learning how integral growers were

The Charleston Rice Spoon is a fixture in the Geo. C. Birlant

to flavor and quality. “I discovered how this connection to

windows—a sensual beauty with its elongated handle and

the story behind the seed or vegetable gave my cooking real

ample cup, a silver symbiosis of simplicity and practicality.

meaning,” Lata says.

What would have been served on all these fancy platters?

It also put Lata on the radar of Glenn Roberts, then the

What rice would have been worthy of such a thoughtfully

director of operations at Anson Restaurant and an early

crafted spoon, designed specifically for this important role?

visionary for what would become the farm-to-table concept

Surely not Uncle Ben’s.

in Charleston. In 1998 Roberts recruited Lata to Anson to

Answers lie a few doors down from Birlant’s emporium.

deliver on his vision and introduced him to local farmers

Take, for instance, the bags of Charleston Gold and Carolina

like Celeste Albers and Pete Ambrose. “Celeste is the reason I

Gold rice for sale at the Preservation Society of Charleston’s

came to Charleston,” says Lata. “She was farming with near-

gift shop on the next corner. A half a block south on King,

crippling integrity. I don’t think I ever saw a blemished or

the storefront window of Millers All Day features a massive

bruised vegetable the entire time she was growing produce.

175-year-old antique mill that grinds locally harvested old-

My discipline for consistancy was no doubt inspired by the

world Johnny Red corn into course nuggets of grits-and-

body of her work.” Not to mention the taste. A just-picked

cornmeal goodness. And around the corner at the James

Johns Island heirloom tomato, Lata notes, can be all it takes to

Beard Award-winning Husk restaurant, a board lists twenty-

convert a skeptic. “It’s often the first aha moment. We all grew

some locally sourced heritage vegetables, meats, and grains

up on those slicer tomatoes with pale color and little flavor, the

on offer, including Johnny Red.

ones that are bred to bruise less, last longer, and travel easily,”

Turns out that the love of all things “antique” in Charleston

he says. “But once you taste a beautiful Cherokee purple or

is not limited to furniture and housewares. Thanks to a

an heirloom Brandywine, your opinion about tomatoes has

thriving culinary scene fueled by chefs and foodies insisting

forever changed.”

on the integrity of ingredients, and more importantly, thanks

After Lata opened FIG in 2003, Charleston’s opinion about

to farmers who keep these foodways alive, the trend toward

culinary excellence and its connection to growers had also

heritage meats, heirloom crops, and keepsake seeds is bringing

forever changed. “FIG’s ethos is all about preservation, culture,

authentic local history—and flavor—to the table.

and tradition,” says Jason Stanhope, now Lata’s executive chef at FIG. “We cook relevant products from people we love and

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Top Right: Tank Jackson with son Ford

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Bottom Left: The Farm Stand at Bugsby Plantation | Bottom Right: Celeste Albers with her Sea Island Jerseys

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trust, people who are reinvesting in our community by going

percent fat—which in the math of flavor means it’s downright

to great lengths, often sacrificing profit to do things right.”

decadent—but also a challenge for chefs. “It takes a skilled

People like Celeste Albers and Greg Johnsman. People like hog

artisan butcher to properly handle that much fat.” The Jacksons

farmers Tank and Christian Jackson of Holy City Hogs, and

only sell whole hogs, and only a few a week, sometimes

Tara and Jon Darling of Roam and Farrow.

driving them to New York City and Nashville, wherever the

For Lata and Stanhope, as well as other chefs, like Marc

niche market dictates. They do what it takes to be stewards

Collins at Circa 1886, Kevin Johnson at The Grocery, and

of these old breeds. “The Ossabaw and Mulefoot are critically

Sean Brock, formerly of Husk and McCrady’s, gravitating to

endangered,” says Tank. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

the grains, corn, vegetables, and meats of yore isn’t about nostalgia or a menu gimmick—it’s all about flavor. “When a product like Carolina Gold rice has an interesting story, that takes it from great to memorable, and you know you’re embarking on a historical journey,” says Stanhope.

Hog

Seed If indeed it all begins with the seed, Celeste Albers may be the chief germinator of Lowcountry heritage. A Wadmalaw Island native, she and her husband, George, began farming there in the early 1990s, back when there were still large production farms on the Sea Islands. Their Green Grocer operation,

Make no mistake, the Ossabaw hog, pig of bristly black Mohawk

however, was different. “We were the first to grow certified

and long, unfortunate snout, is not a thing of beauty. And the

organic vegetables, and the first to offer a CSA,” she says. At

muddy fields and thick woods of Ravenel where Tank and

the Charleston Farmers Market, where Celeste has been a

Christian Jackson’s herd routs around are a far cry from the

fixture for twenty-five years, their heirloom potatoes were hot

fragile aisles of Birlant’s or the tony showroom of John Pope

commodities, and the Green Grocer’s famed fresh eggs sought

Antiques, but the goods here are equally rare and antique.

after like the gold (or golden yolks) they were.

That Ossabaw beaut, for example, is a relic—a survivor of

That’s where Glenn Roberts first discovered Celeste and

centuries of isolation on tiny Ossabaw Island, Georgia, where

her produce. “Eventually he got us to deliver vegetables to the

Iberian explorers first deposited them in the 1600s. “Spanish

restaurant, then before long he was hanging out at the farm,”

conquistadors left them as a food source for future explorers,”

she recalls. “I remember Glenn asking us why the grits at

explains Tank. “They’re like dinosaurs.”

Anson weren’t anything special,” Celeste says, and the answer

As are the American Mulefoot, another purebred oldie

was simple: The corn itself wasn’t as good as what he ate

and, along with the Ossabaw, one of the two oldest breeds in

growing up. “At the very least it’s hybrid corn, grown for yield

North America, both of which Tank and his family raise, old-

and not for flavor, and it’s not freshly ground.”

style. These heritage breeds produce smaller litters and take

That set Roberts on the search for heritage corns and older

longer to raise, which means profit margins are slim. But that’s

wheats, and soon rice. “Glenn did extensive research, went to

not what drives the Jacksons, who started Holy City Hogs

seed banks, and found remnant strains of Carolina Gold on

seven years ago on Wadmalaw Island, where they live (they’ve

Edisto Island. We would grow all that for him, test the crops

since moved the pigs to Ravenel). At first it was a side hobby—

and strains.” George found an old mill for sale and helped

Christian was a horse trainer and Tank had a landscaping

Roberts set it up in the back of Anson, “and we’d see our corn

company, but demand for their hogs grew so rapidly that they

go from field to mill to plate,” says Celeste. Roberts and David

decided to go whole hog into it.

Shields, of the University of South Carolina, established the

“The difference is 100 percent flavor,” Tank says. “Our

Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the

meat has a natural, cleaner taste, not covered up with sugar

restoration of heirloom grains, and in 1998, Roberts opened

and oil. Pigs are like wine, they have a terroir—they taste

Anson Mills in Columbia, where he specializes in Carolina

like the land where they are raised.” And the Ossabaw is 42

Gold rice and milling antebellum heirloom grains and corn,

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We ’ r e a c o n s o r t i u m , a c o m m u n i t y t h a t s u p p o r t s e a c h o t h e r. We ’ r e a l l n e e d e d t o t e l l t h i s s t o r y. a thriving business that can be traced to seeds planted and

in Virginia, and he is still growing it. Can’t make this stuff

fields tended by the Albers.

up,” says Johnsman, who is now one of a handful of farmers

Today, Celeste and George stay true to their roots. “We’ve

growing it too. But this is not a cash crop. An acre of modern

pretty much done it all,” says Celeste, tracing their trajectory

hybrid corn yields 250 to 280 bushels “without even trying,”

from growing vegetables, shrimping, and farming eggs, to their

says Johnsman. “Our best hope for these varietals is maybe

current focus on livestock farming with Sea Island Jerseys,

thirty bushels an acre.”

raising old breed cows for raw milk and fresh beef, which

In addition to heirloom corn, Johnsman grows Carolina

can be found on the menu at Glass Onion, FIG (usually in the

Gold rice both on his fields and in partnership with farmers

winter), and SNOB, among others. “The Jersey, originally bred

in Holly Hill, Orangeburg, Cheraw, and Georgetown. These

on the island of Jersey off the coast of England, is a smaller

other farms act as safeguards should his Geechie Boy Farm

cow that does well on pasture without much other feeding,”

crop succumb to flood or hurricane, as it has the last three

explains Celeste. She loves the rich, delicious milk, higher in

years. He’s particularly excited to be growing Carolina Gold

fat and protein content than that of the more common Holstein

at White Hall Plantation in Georgetown, on some of the

dairy cow, whose milk yields are much higher. “Our cows are

only rice fields that haven’t been modified since 1730. “By

our babies. They spend their whole day on pasture and are

reintroducing Carolina Gold there is an opportunity to honor

only milked once in the morning. The rest of the day is theirs

the work of enslaved people and tenant farmers, to continue

to graze and ruminate and just be cows.”

the story,” says Johnsman. “Financial gain is the wrong lens when looking at crops,” he adds. “I don’t do it to sell the bag of rice but to be connected to all the people before us who did it

Grain Greg Johnsman is the “John the Baptist” of grain and corn.

From the wilds of Edisto Island, he’s a burly bearded prophet of the millstone, evangelist of all things heirloom, authentic, and tasty. Get him talking about why he grows and what he mills and, look out, you’ll get several ears (of corn) full. This is a guy who loves what he does, which is basically growing heritage corns, rice, and wheat, and milling it into small-batch grits, cornmeal, and specialty flours, using antique mills. Old school, through and through.

“I come from a farming background and learned milling from a third-generation miller,” says Johnsman, whose wife, Betsy, also grew up farming—their Geechie Boy Farm is on Edisto land that her father farmed. Tradition and history run deep for Johnsman. Get him talking about Cocke’s Prolific corn, for example, and he gets downright zealous.

Once considered a popular field corn in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries—a dent corn that can be traced to Monticello—Cocke’s Prolific was thought to be extinct. “But then someone discovers ninety-nine-year-old Manning Farmer

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right.”

At Geechie Boy Mills, Johnsman uses only antique equipment. “It’s a slower cold milling process that doesn’t generate as much heat, so the crop can be seen by people in its best light, retaining natural sugars and oils,” he explains. And when the high demand for Geechie Boy grits left Johnsman with excess cornmeal as a by-product, Chef Stanhope worked with him to create some cornmeal-based dishes to help alleviate the surplus. Stanhope also currently uses a Geechie Boy black barley and two other specialty products that Johnsman hasn’t introduced elsewhere yet. “It’s all about the relationships we develop with people who invest their livelihood into developing heritage products,” Stanhope says.

It’s a tight ecosystem between growers, chefs, and markets, especially when it comes to low-yield, high-risk heirloom and heritage products. “I think what Tank is doing with hogs is amazing,” says Johnsman, who is obviously indebted to the work of Glenn Roberts and David Shields with Carolina Gold rice. “We’re a consortium, a community that supports each other. And we’re all needed to tell this story.” — S.H

Bottom Right: Greg Johnsman of Geechie Boy Mills

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AN ISLAND IN RELIEF F ILM PH O T O GRA PH Y by G AT E LY WI L L I AMS

J U S T L I V I N G I S N O T E N OUG H . . . ON E M U S T H AV E S U N S H I N E , F R E E D OM , A N D A L I T T L E F L OW E R . | H A N S C H R I S T I A N A N DE R S E N

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I N A L L T H I N G S OF N AT U R E T H E R E I S S OM E T H I N G OF T H E M A RV E L OU S . | A R ISTOTLE

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K E E P C L O S E T O N AT U R E ’ S H E A R T. . .

A N D B R E A K C L E A R AWAY, ON C E I N AW H I L E , A N D C L I M B A MOU N TA I N OR S PE N D A W E E K I N T H E WO OD S . WA S H YOU R S PI R I T C L E A N . | JOH N M U I R

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T H E R E A R E MOM E N T S W H E N A L L A N X I E T Y A N D S TAT E D T OI L A R E B E C A L M E D I N T H E I N F I N I T E L E I S U R E A N D R E P O S E OF N AT U R E . | H E N RY DAV I D T HOR E AU

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M Y W I S H I S T O S TAY A LWAY S L I K E T H I S , L I V I N G QU I E T LY I N A C OR N E R OF N AT U R E . | CL AU DE MON ET

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H A LLOW ED GROUND WRITTEN BY CHRISTINA RAE BUTLER

CHARLESTON E XUDES S OUTHERN GOTHIC AMBIENCE, WITH ITS HISTORIC AR CHITECTURE AND NARR OW COBBLESTONE STREETS, BUT NOTHING BRING S VISITOR S B ACK IN TIME LIKE A VISIT TO A CEMETERY, WITH HAND -CARVED STONES SEEMINGLY FR O ZEN IN TIME BELOW MO SS -L ADEN LIVE OAKS. THE LOWCOUNTRY B OASTS EERIE YET BE AUTIFUL GRAVEYARD S AND CEMETERIES IN THE CITY AND COUNTRY ALIKE, WITH INS CRIP TIONS THAT ALLOW THE VISITOR S OF TODAY TO CONNECT WITH RESIDENTS OF THE PAST.

The oldest tombstones in the city lie in the graveyards

and-crossbones and hourglass motifs emphasized the

of Charleston’s colonial churches. Headstones there are

inevitability of death and the briefness of life. The stones

wildly varied depending on the religious denominations

were intended to remind the living of the uncertain fate

and the personal preferences (and budget!) of the interred.

of the soul. The Great Awakening, a religious revival that

Permanent markers were actually a luxury item in early

swept the country between 1726 and 1756, emphasized a

Charleston. There is no stone native to the Lowcountry

joyful resurrection for those who repented.”

coast, so gravestones were imported from the North and

In the antebellum era, Grecian motifs like urns and

even from England. Many burials had wooden markers

maidens in draped gowns became popular, and polished

that have been lost to time, and “potter’s fields” (burial

marble replaced the slate and limestone imported from

sites for the poor who could not afford a plot) may have had

the United Kingdom. By the mid-nineteenth century, long-

no markers at all.

lasting granite became the most common mortuary stone.

By

contrast,

taphophiles

(cemetery

enthusiasts)

and tombstone tourists will find beautiful blue slate or

A TOUR OF MUST- SEE BURIAL CEMETERIES

sandstone tablets in the early historic churchyards, with

The city’s early churchyards provide the final resting

carefully lettered epitaphs and intricate winged death’s

place for the who’s who of elite Charlestonians, including

head motifs. Early markers included upright tablets, box

Founding Fathers, wealthy plantation owners, bankers and

tombs, mausoleums, statuary, and tiered monuments

merchants, and gentleman architects. Start at the Circular

with inscriptions. Carving styles changed over time,

Congregational Church, which boasts the oldest recorded

and eventually the morbid skulls and crossbones fell out

burial in the city. Notice the eerie aboveground box

of favor and were replaced by portraits of the deceased

tombs, but don’t be fooled; the “occupant” is still buried

and more uplifting iconography. Cemetery expert Susan

belowground, the standard six feet. Passing through a rear

McGahee explains, “In the early eighteenth century, skull-

gate, enter the western churchyard of St. Philip’s Episcopal,

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C ON F E DE R A T E M E MOR I A L , M AG N OL I A C E M E T E R Y, T U R N OF T H E C E N T U R Y

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CR O SS REFERENCING CHUR CH AND BURIAL RECORD S FOR CIR CUL AR CONGREG ATIONAL CHUR CH SHOWS THAT THERE ARE AB OUT FOUR TIMES AS MANY BURIALS AS SURVIVING HEAD STONES IN THEIR DENSE HISTORIC GRAVEYARD.

the oldest congregation in the city. Church Street divided

and a governor of South Carolina, is buried here, along

the St. Philip’s property in half, essentially creating two

with fellow signer and Continental Army Colonel Charles

separate burial yards. Legend states that the western yard

Cotesworth Pinckney. The most unusual marker in the

was set aside for non-church members, which is where one

yard is Mary Ann Luyten’s 1770 carved cypress headboard

of the most famous people interred at St. Philip’s is located.

“bedstead tomb.”

John C. Calhoun was born in Abbeville, South Carolina,

Two blocks away on Archdale Street are two vastly

and rose to political prominence as an ardent States Rights

different churchyards: St. John’s Lutheran Church and

Southern politician, who served as both a U.S. senator and

Unitarian Church of Charleston. St. John’s holds orderly

vice president. When he died in 1850, he was carried to

stones along a neatly trimmed lawn, typical of most

St. Philip’s in the largest funeral procession in the city’s

early burial yards, while the Unitarian Church has an

history. St. Philip’s is also the resting place of Declaration

overgrown-but-lovely aesthetic, where nature takes over

of Independence signer Edward Rutledge, and of Colonel

and symbolizes life after death. Legend states that the

William Rhett, who is best known as the “scourge of the

true-life inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee”

pirates” for his heroic capture of Stede Bonnet and his

is buried at the Unitarian Church. Her father forbade her

pirate crew in 1718. As criminals, Bonnet and his men did

to marry a sailor she fell in love with, and after her early

not receive a final resting place in a prestigious Charleston

death by yellow fever, he chose not to mark her stone so

graveyard. They were instead buried on the shore between

the young man could never come and give Annabel a final

high and low tide line, in what is today White Point Garden.

goodbye. Ghost tour guides claim that she still haunts the

Walk south on Church Street to the only active French

yard, waiting for her young sailor.

Huguenot Church in the United States. Here lies a “his

Charleston’s historic urban graveyards, while evocative

and hers” pair of skull and crossbones markers for John

and beautiful today, are actually quite overcrowded.

Neufville (d. 1749) and his wife Elizabeth (d.1754). Gabriel

Cross referencing church and burial records for Circular

Manigault, a wealthy planter and renowned amateur

Congregational Church, for example, shows that there are

architect who designed the current Charleston City Hall, is

about four times as many burials as surviving headstones

buried in a family vault at the Huguenot Church.

in their dense historic graveyard. The circa 1769 public

Head west via Tradd Street to First Scots

burial ground at Magazine, Queen, and Franklin Streets

Presbyterian Church, founded in 1731 and boasting the

(site of the Old City Jail today, allegedly the city’s most

fifth oldest church building in the city (1814). South

haunted building) quickly became full, and the city sought

one block on Meeting Street is St. Michael’s Church, the

new potters’ fields.

oldest in the city, dating to 1751 and with an even earlier

Churches, developers, and burial societies purchased

graveyard. John Rutledge, a signer of the U.S. Constitution

tracts on the outskirts of growing cities as they ran out

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LUCKILY THERE ARE STONE CARVER S, CONSERVATION E XPERTS, GENEALOGISTS, AND CHUR CH VOLUNTEER S WORKING DILIGENTLY IN THE CHARLESTON AREA TO DOCUMENT, CLEAN , AND REPAIR HISTORIC MONUMENTS.

of room for interments at their original grounds. These

out to be one of the oldest cemeteries for the enslaved in the

new cemeteries were large, well-planned, picturesque

city, with interments dating to the late eighteenth century.

landscapes where visitors not only paid their respects to

In early May 2019, the remains were repatriated close to

their deceased loved ones but also might stroll and enjoy

where they were found, in a formal ceremony led by the

the scenery, or even bring a picnic lunch for a day of respite

City of Charleston and the Gullah Society, which works to

from the crowded city. Following the success of Mount

document and preserve African-American burial sites. A

Auburn in Boston and Green-Wood Cemetery in New York,

commemorative marker will soon be placed to honor these

eight Charleston stockholders purchased Magnolia Umbra

unnamed early residents.

Plantation on the marshes of the Cooper River in 1849 to create nonsectarian Magnolia Cemetery.

PRESERVING FOR THE FUTURE Stone is not impervious to time. Historic graves require

LO ST BURIAL GR OUND S

stewardship as they age and are impacted by threats

As cities grew, it was all too common for earlier burial

ranging from acid rain to overzealous visitors who climb

grounds to be forgotten or redeveloped, especially those

on the fragile monuments to get photographs or gravestone

that did not have a church on-site. Building on top of

rubbings. Luckily there are stone carvers, conservation

graves—especially without reinterring the remains—might

experts, genealogists, and church volunteers working

sound like the makings of a horror movie, but it happened

diligently in the Charleston area to document, clean, and

often throughout the centuries in historic Charleston.

repair historic monuments with methods ranging from

Historian Nic Butler noted that “up until World War II, it

simple stain removal to resetting stones to complex epoxy

was not uncommon for churches and city officials to say,

repairs and even carving replacement pieces. Thanks to

‘this burial ground is full, so we’re going to build on top of

tourists’ interests in historic cemeteries (especially around

it.’ The idea that burial grounds will remain forever free

Halloween when the haunted graveyard walks sell out

of development was limited to the elite. Some churches

well in advance), some churches have found a creative and

put up walls around burial grounds, but others with more

entertaining way to generate revenue to aid with repairs.

modest pocketbooks sold or abandoned burial grounds and moved somewhere else.”

Time and decay take their toll on both the eventual occupants of the graveyards and on the gravestones

Almost any lot in Charleston is likely to yield

themselves, but human fascination with death—and with

something of archaeological intrigue. When the Gaillard

the ambience of a spooky historic cemetery—will ensure

Center on George Street was remodeled in 2013, workers

that the Lowcountry’s burial grounds are monitored,

rediscovered a burial ground that held thirty-six African

maintained, and loved for centuries to come. — C.B.

and native-born African-American persons. The site turned

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Reclining Sunbather, 1972 | by Frank Mason (American, 1921–2009) | sepia on cream paper, 20 5/8 x 15 inches | ©Estate of Frank Mason

GOOD WORKS

THE GIBBES

Museum of Art

GOOD WORKS

In Charleston, we believe art is the difference between merely existing and being truly alive.

In 1888, James Gibbes bequeathed funds for the founding of

beloved art museum reverberates out to the larger cultural

an art museum in the city of Charleston. His vision for what

mien, affecting the quantity and quality of live theater, dance

would become the Gibbes Museum of Art was to create a

troupes, art galleries, and even innovative restaurants.

cultural touchstone for the war-ravaged city. In the late 1800s, when Charleston was reeling from the Civil War and young people were leaving in droves, Gibbes saw a way forward

At its inception the Gibbes boasted two grand gallery floors,

in art and education. The Gibbes Museum of Art opened its

while the bottom floor was dedicated to studios for working

doors to the public in 1905.

artists. In the 1930s, the first floor was converted to gallery

Today the Gibbes remains the edifying underpinning of

rooms, and for nearly a century this configuration remained.

this thriving Southern city. Its mission has expanded to tell the

But in 2016 the Gibbes underwent a major renovation on its

story of American art and to connect Southern artists to the

bottom floor, reinstating the artist studios that served as the

national narrative. Its outreach is vast and multifaceted, with

foundation for James Gibbes’s original vision. Today, the

education at its core. Boasting over one hundred programs a

Gibbes Museum hosts visiting artists for two weeks to six

year—from panel discussions to film screenings, from lectures

months. “This program offers us an opportunity to reengage

to food festivals—the Gibbes is the beating heart at the center

with living artists,” explains Mack. “People are so interested

of a vibrant and robust artistic community.

in understanding the creative process.” You can actually

Art is the lifeblood of any society. “Look around the world

drop in on visiting artists, watch them work, and ask them

and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a thriving city without

questions about their process. It is this kind of authentic

an accredited art museum,” says Angela Mack, executive

rapport between institution and community that makes the

director and chief curator. “They are temples in their own

Gibbes so special—no ivory tower of long dead masters but a

right.” Art is the identity and cultural expression of a place

dynamic, living body, striving for relevance and connection.

and people. Art institutions, especially those as dynamic as

This philosophy also lives at the heart of the museum’s

the Gibbes, are one of the great keystones of community.

lecture and event programming. “Our themes often center

The tone set in the lectures and hallowed hallways of a city’s

around conservation and the environment, health and

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Hani, 2014 | by Jill Hooper (American, b. 1970) | oil on linen, 16 x 14 inches | ©Jill Hooper

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Photo by Brennan Wesley |

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GOOD WORKS

Art institutions, especially those as dynamic as the Gibbes, are one of the great keystones of community. wellness, innovation, and social justice,” says Mack. “We

events. In addition, two large auxiliary groups assist with

choose topics we think Charlestonians will be interested in.

event planning, fundraising, and scholarships.

We want to get people to see things differently through the visual arts.”

The Gibbes offers countless interactive programs, partnering with local schools and the College of Charleston.

In November the Gibbes hallmark Distinguished Lecture

And they provide summer camps and after-school programs

Series will feature Fred Wilson. Wilson has been the United

for kids ranging from kindergarten to high school age.

States representative for both the Venice and Istanbul

Even the casual young museumgoer can check out a special

biennials and recently joined the Whitney Museum board of

backpack to guide a scavenger hunt through the museum.

directors. In past years the Gibbes has hosted the likes of Jeff

At the college and post-graduate levels, the Gibbes offers a

Koons, Olivier Picasso, and Leonard Lauder. The lectures sell

comprehensive internship program and has seen its alums go

out and are the cornerstone of the museum’s annual calendar.

on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of

This fall the Gibbes will also host two concurrent

Fine Arts in Boston.

exhibitions. The first will feature the work of Robert

The Gibbes Museum aims to connect Charleston within

Rauschenberg, a photographer and multimedia artist who

the larger context of the canon. “Our desire is to tell the story

came to Charleston in the early 1980s. The museum actually

of American art from the perspective of this region,” says

exhibited his photographs in 1981. In the following decades,

Mack with a smile, “while also including that perspective into

Rauschenberg incorporated these photographs into larger

the story of American art.” It is in this way that the Gibbes acts

mixed-media pieces. “Rauschenberg in Charleston will explore

as a sort of cultural liaison between the oeuvre of Charleston

what type of eye he brought to the city,” says Mack. “He was

and that of the nation. In the words of Pablo Picasso, Art is

attracted to the textures and juxtapositions, and his work

the lie that enables us to realize the truth. Art is the very thing

asks you to look at Charleston in a very different way.”

that makes us human. — H.W.

Influence and Inspiration: The Art of Jill Hooper, Ben Long, and Frank Mason will also open in early September.

This lineage of realist painters are connected by decades of friendship and mentorship. Frank Mason taught Ben Long who mentored and taught Charleston artist Jill Hooper.

“These long, deep professional relationships underscore the importance of collaboration among artists,” says Mack, “which is something we try to foster at the Gibbes.”

Governed by a board of forty-three and an administrative staff of twenty-four, a fleet of smaller boards and committees also support the Gibbes. Five standing committees help manage the nonprofit in the areas of finance and governance, while several additional ad hoc committees curate specific

Arts, Etc. Arts, etc. is a non-profit organization made up of Kiawah and Cassique women dedicated to bringing visual, performance, and literary arts programming to the youth of Johns and Wadmalaw Islands. Arts, etc. has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Gibbes Museum for nearly twenty years. With funds raised from the annual spring Kiawah Art & House Tour, Arts, etc. members are proud to have initiated It Starts with a Dot, a program guided by Gibbes Museum educators and College of Charleston graduate MFA students that promotes literacy and creative expression for St. John’s High School students.

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A MATCH (P OI NT) MADE IN HEAVEN ST O RY by BRYA N H U NT ER

From the very first time newly hired Director of Tennis Roy

competitive junior or collegiate players. Barth points out that

Barth stepped foot on Kiawah Island to fashion a tennis

the principles were basic enough that they did not confuse

program from scratch for what was then Kiawah Island

players by undermining what they were learning from their

Golf & Tennis Resort, he envisioned a program that stressed

coaches or instructors back home. Rather, they were designed

instruction. Fresh off the highly competitive pro tour, he

to complement any style of play. Those principles remain the

required this sort of long-range vision. This Southern California

same today, even as upon his retirement in 2018 Roy Barth

boy, a two-time All American at UCLA, had matched wits and

was succeeded as director of tennis by his son, Jonathan, a

strength with greats like Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, and Björn

long-time instructor and head pro at the Resort (how’s that for

Borg at the world’s most prestigious venues, from the grass

continuity?).

courts of Wimbledon to the hard courts of Forest Hills. On his

When the Resort changed hands and passed from the

initial visit to Kiawah—the first time he ever set foot in South

initial developer, the master plan for one grand resort tennis

Carolina—he found little more on the island than sand roads,

center eventually morphed into two tennis centers, one at

dense undergrowth, and palmetto thickets. He could not have

West Beach and one at East Beach. But fast forward nearly

been more excited about the prospects.

forty years to 2019 and that original plan for one expansive

“I saw the master plan for the resort and the community,

tennis center became a reality. Barth flips through yellowed

and it was a bold vision,” Barth recalls. “The plan was so

blueprints until he finds the one he’s looking for. “Look at

thorough and well thought out, no detail was ignored.” But

this,” he says, pointing to a schematic on the enormous page,

something even stronger motivated Barth. “I was very grateful

flashing his characteristic beaming smile. “Does this look

for the lessons I’d learned from my coaches and the peers I

familiar?” The plans laid out on the fragile page precisely

competed against. Without them I wouldn’t have attained

mirror in two dimensions the new courts recently installed

the success I had. I felt a strong sense of responsibility to pass

at the tennis center that bears Barth’s name. “After all these

that knowledge along to other players. I was always a coach

years, we wound up building the tennis complex as it was

at heart, and I feel like I had a gift to take basic principles that

originally conceptualized.”

every player should have to set them up for success, and to

Spend any time at all with Roy Barth, who was inducted

clearly communicate them in a concise, step-by-step method.”

into the Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame this spring and

These principles became the bedrock for all instructional

is in the process of penning his memoirs, and he will soon get

tennis programs at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, whether the

around to crediting the people who influenced him as a young

tennis staff were working with weekend warriors or with highly

tennis player. The names will make anyone sit up and take

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In the summer of 2019, the Resort rebranded the program the Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. notice, like Billie Jean King, for example, whom he still talks

Tennis Center’s Tiny Tots program. “This creates a clear path

to over the phone on a regular basis. So before the first shovel

for players who aspire to advance,” he says. “They can progress

was ever driven into the ground at Kiawah Island Golf Resort,

to a junior camp or clinic, then to our Junior Tour Tough

Roy had already determined that having a strong juniors

program, and then, if they have the drive and motivation to

program was nonnegotiable. The penultimate manifestation

play highly competitive tennis, they progress to the Barth-

of that philosophy was the Barth Tennis Academy for highly

Hawtin Tennis Academy.” Viewed in this way, the Academy

competitive juniors.

should not be considered as somehow separate from the other

The program just got a makeover. In the summer of 2019, the Resort rebranded the program the Barth-Hawtin Tennis

junior programs at the center. “The Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy completes our juniors program,” Barth points out.

Academy at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. The name change

The program, designed to run year-round, aims to attract

reflects a collaborative partnership between Jonathan Barth

junior players who seek success in national, sectional, and state-

and Bruce Hawtin. The latter operated a highly successful

level tournaments while also preparing for collegiate tennis

juniors program for fifteen years at River Run Country Club

or the professional tour. “The philosophy of Barth-Hawtin

just outside of Charlotte. Barth, who also serves as head coach

Tennis Academy is simple,” says Hawtin. “Playing world-class

for Porter-Gaud School’s highly successful boys tennis team

tennis depends on establishing world-class fundamentals.

and who has been deeply involved in USTA Southern and USTA

Our approach first instills the right process for establishing

South Carolina, has a strong finger on the pulse of regional

tennis fundamentals before we begin thinking about results.

juniors tennis. He observed the success Hawtin’s pupils were

Commitment, built upon strong character, is at the heart of

having regionally and nationally. With a partnership borne

our culture, and we will hold each other accountable in those

out of mutual respect, Barth lured Hawtin out of the Charlotte

areas every day.”

market and convinced him that together they could build a junior tennis powerhouse in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

In addition to this process-driven approach to instill sound tennis fundamentals, the Academy sharply focuses on

“For a long time, I envisioned creating a full-time tennis

proper physical development. Barth and Hawtin partnered

academy based on highly personalized training for up-and-

with leading sports physiognomics expert Dr. Mark Kovacs,

coming junior players,” says Jonathan Barth. He explains that

who has trained numerous professional athletes in multiple

it is the culmination of an overall tennis program that starts

sports, to tailor-make the Academy’s conditioning program.

with kids when they are three or four years old through the

The guiding principle behind Kovacs’ program is to build

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stronger, more developed players. Not only will this help

and recruit these players,” Barth says. “Once word of that

with optimal performance, but it will also greatly minimize

spreads, it will only increase the momentum for the Academy.”

the risk of injury and the wear and tear often associated

Whenever Roy Barth drops by my office for a visit, I always

with repetitive motion. “The idea is to restrain these young

invite him to sit down. Being the consummate gentleman that

players from attempting to execute certain tennis maneuvers

he is, he typically accepts, but not for long. Spend two minutes

until their bodies are physically able to perform them safely,”

with Roy Barth and you soon learn that he’s the type whose

explains Hawtin. “This is just one of the ways the Academy

natural inclination does not lean towards being still. On a

is highly individualized. It requires us to know each player

recent visit, I mentioned the Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy.

extremely well, analyze what their limitations are, and to

The question flips a switch that lights his whole countenance.

develop a measured process to address them and turn them

“It’s what I always dreamed of having here, but when we were

into strengths.”

spread out we just couldn’t do it. But now we’re doing it.” It

Barth explains that this long-held vision could only become

is uncommon for someone to see an original vision slip away,

a reality with the consolidation of the two Resort tennis centers

then to have the restless patience over nearly half a century

into the expanded center named for his father. “The expansion

to watch that vision come full circle to fruition—through the

gives us the flexibility to be able to host something like the

efforts of one’s child, no less.

Academy in one location,” Barth explains. “And we went from two lit courts to ten, meaning we’re able to extend training time and work it around our other programming.” He points

Editor’s note: If you know a promising junior player who might

out that the expansion also positions Kiawah to attract events

be interested in exploring opportunities at Barth-Hawtin

it had a hard time securing before. Over Labor Day weekend,

Tennis Academy at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, call Jonathan

for example, the Resort hosted a highly competitive 18-and-

Barth at (843) 768-2706 to learn more about the Academy.

under boys tournament. “College coaches will come to scout

— B.H.

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THE SANCTUARY

Insider’s Corner Doug Lee has been a sales executive for Kiawah Island Real Estate for nearly thirty-five years. Throughout the last three decades, Lee has witnessed the thoughtful evolution of the Island and a persistent commitment to nature and community.

KL

Are you originally from here?

DL

I grew up in Virginia, but my family had a beach house in Sea Pines on Hilton Head.

KL

How did you end up on Kiawah?

DL

I moved down to sell for the Sea Pines company in the seventies, but my clients kept asking me about Kiawah Island. I’d show them around Hilton Head for weeks, and they’d say, ‘Before we make a decision, we’re going to run up to this new place.’ And they never came back.

Not one of them! So I arranged a tour with the sales manager of Kiawah. I needed to know my competition.

KL

And what did you think?

DL

I was so impressed. I couldn’t get over how well planned out it was. All the rampant development that was happening on Hilton Head couldn’t happen here because there was only one developer, one architectural review board, and one set of covenants. And that holds true today.

do something like that. That was fabulous. The next owners created the clubhouses. They understood how important it was to have a club and hired the very best architects to design the amenities. Now, the new owners [South Street Partners] have impeccable taste and high standards. They continue to raise the bar with the B-Liner, the Marsh House, and the new Sporting Club.

KL

You’ve really seen the evolution of the Island.

DL

I’ve been here for thirty-five years. That’s a long time!

I’m selling to the children of people I sold to years ago.

KL

Do you live on the Island?

DL

No, I have an old house downtown. I love entertaining clients when they come to town. They like to see both sides. I think Charleston is so important to Kiawah.

KL

Are you very involved in the Charleston community?

DL

I am. I was on the Historic Charleston Foundation board for eighteen years. I’m on the board of Drayton Hall still—which I love. I was president of the Gibbes Museum at one time. There’s so much you can get involved with in Charleston. Many Kiawah owners keep apartments in town. It works pretty well.

KL

And that was that? You left Sea Pines?

DL

Immediately. The Kuwait Investment Company owned Kiawah Island at the time, and they needed one more agent. I had just built a new house on Hilton Head. I had been married less than a year, but we moved up here.

KL

What do you think makes Kiawah so special?

KL

What was it like in those early years?.

DL

DL

The Kuwait Company had such deep pockets, they could do things that no one else could do. For example, they connected all of the lagoons and created a sophisticated drainage system. No developer today could afford to

Kiawah is so naturally beautiful. It has nearly eleven miles of oceanfront! The orientation of the island—west to east rather than north to south—is unusual for an East Coast island. It’s only a mile-and-a-half wide at the widest point, so no one is too far from the beach. It never feels crowded here.

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Insider’s Corner For most of his life, sales executive Lewis Driskell never stayed in one place for long.

Now, after nearly twenty years of living on the Island, Driskell is still discovering more to love about Kiawah.

KL

Tell me about your background.

LD

My father is career military, so we grew up all over the world. But my family has its origins here. My aunt has the original land grant for some property on Johns Island that dates back to the 1680s. I went to The Citadel [in Charleston], but then I spent the first twenty-two years of my career as an engineer and moved a lot.

KL

When did you first come to the Island?

LD

I visited for the first time in 1993 and ended up buying a one-bedroom Mariner’s Watch villa shortly thereafter.

I’ve been an owner ever since! In 2000, I sold my engineering company and moved to Kiawah full time.

I pursued a master’s and a postgraduate degree in mathematics at the College of Charleston. Then in 2004 I was hired as a sales associate.

KL

What were your first impressions?

LD

I was hooked. As soon as you come over the bridge you feel this sense of peace. You look out across marshland, and you feel your teeth unclench, you feel your shoulders drop and relax. And it’s always like that.

It doesn’t matter if it’s your first trip or if you’ve lived on the Island for the last fifteen years. That sensation never goes away!

KL

Tell me about your life here.

LD

I’m always discovering something new. I have two dogs and they have walked every inch of this island. It’s just fun to explore. Everybody on Kiawah is an amateur

photographer because you never know what you’re going to see—birds, an alligator, a bobcat, the marsh at high tide, or the dolphins moving through the water... it’s addictive.

KL

You’ve been here a long time!

LD

Nineteen years. I’ve lived in West Beach, East Beach, and Vanderhorst Plantation…but I love West Beach. I’m really excited about the new developments. It’s amazing to see how much has changed but also how much has not changed. The owners of the Island have been good stewards. They’ve always believed that less is more, to focus on quality rather than quantity. It’s amazing to see it all unfold.

KL

What kind of people do you think Kiawah attracts?

LD

All sorts! Kiawah is so family-oriented, but I also have a lot of clients who are empty nesters. This is a chance to rekindle their relationship. It’s like a second honeymoon. And it’s such a friendly community!

There’s always something going on.

KL

What do you enjoy about your work?

LD

It’s so much fun to experience the Island through my client’s eyes. It’s exciting to hear their stories, to hear about the things they see when they’re out kayaking or golfing. Also, I have clients whose kids were toddlers when I met them, and now their kids are getting married here. It’s fun to see that next generation start to buy.

E A S T E R C A R N I VA L

FO O L’ S C U P

D E R BY O N T H E D EC K

B E H I N D T H E LI N E

RHY THM ON THE RIVER

P RO I N V ITATI O N A L

D E R BY O N T H E D EC K

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RHY THM ON THE RIVER

ON AND ABOUT

KIAWAH Throughout the year, Kiawah hosts dozens of soirees, outings, and activities.

It was a fantastic spring!

PHOTOG R APHY by CHAR LOTTE ZACHAR KIW

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K I AWA H I S L A N D C LU B B OAT

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B E E R TA S TI N G

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K I AWA H I S L A N D C LU B B OAT

D E R BY O N T H E D EC K

FO O L’ S C U P

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T H E O C E A N PA R K T R E E H O U S E

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N E W LY W E D GA M E

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FO O L’ S C U P

MEET THE A RTIST

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J O E WA L T E R S Joe Walters’s installation at the Beach Club’s new B-Liner is a breathtaking tangle of plants and animals, seemingly suspended in motion. Up close, each element is delicate and detailed, with plants, birds, insects, and fish frozen in time.

Step back and the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts—a dance of nature.

Though Walters lives locally, this is his first major commission in South Carolina—his sculptures and drawings can be found in prestigious collections around the world. For over thirty years he has created unique wall installations, focusing largely on the interplay of ecosystems. His art is process oriented, his materials dictating the overall feel and flow of the work.

Sculptures like the one at the B-Liner take months to construct. Walters starts with a metal armature, and each form has a kind of refined stick figure skeleton made out of steel rod. Next, he forms aluminum mesh around the skeleton to bulk out the piece. Walters then models polymer clay onto the form and layers that with heavy glue with sand pressed into it to create texture. Next, he paints each form with a black enamel and various applications of red and yellow oxide paints. The final patina alludes to a lovely, rusted impression.

I wanted to show the flora and fauna of the island. I portrayed various plants and animals from the marsh, the ocean, and the maritime forest. It is sort of a narrative.

The composition is very dynamic; I’m trying to get a lot of movement into it, to overlap and integrate the elements by various means, and by the use of scale discrepancy. A tree frog can be as big as a sea turtle. It’s a metaphor for the interdependence of species, the ecosystem.

I’ve always been interested in archaeology and artifacts. I used the rust to suggest that the individual elements are frozen in motion, a kind of a Pompeii situation. It lends itself to arrested motion.

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ADVERTISER INDEX

ANGLIN SMITH FINE ART...................................94 AQUA BLUE POOLS..............................................19 BUFFINGTON HOMES L.P.............................FIC, 1 CHARLESTON MEDICAL SPA.............................20 CROGHAN’S JEWELERS....................................158 FERGUSON...........................................................61 GDC HOMES..........................................................13 KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT..............136, 143 KIAWAH ISLAND REAL ESTATE..............2, 3, BIC KINGSWOOD CUSTOM HOMES...........................9 MARGARET DONALDSON INTERIORS............137 McDONALD ARCHITECTS.................................159 M. DUMAS AND SONS.........................................17 MOORE & GILES..................................................BC MUHLER................................................................15 RTW.......................................................................95 STEVEN SHELL LIVING.......................................11 THE STEADMAN AGENCY...................................21 THOMAS & HUTTON...........................................60 TIMBERS KIAWAH.............................................6, 7 VAULT INSURANCE..............................................59 WATTS BUILDERS................................................58

END NOTES

Photo by Gordon Keiter

THE LOWCOUNTRY of South Carolina The western border of the South Carolina Lowcountry is a region of windblown, unconsolidated sand known today as the Sandhills. Formally the ancient sea coast, this region spans the entirety of the state and forms the fall line, the meeting point of coastal plain and upland region.

Everything northwest of the Sandhills is considered the “Upstate” or “Upcountry.” The “Low Country” includes everything southeast of the fall line. The South Carolina Lowcountry is utterly unique, its marsh and sea islands hosting a spectacular and distinct array of flora and fauna.

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Photo: Newport653

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Obtain the Property Report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal or State agency has endorsed or judged the merits of value, if any, of this property. This is not intended to be an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offer to buy real estate in any jurisdiction where prohibited by law. This offer is made pursuant to the New York State Department of Law’s Simplified Procedure for Homeowners Associations with a De Minimis Cooperative Interest (CPS-7).The CPS-7 application (File No. HO16-0007) and related documents may be obtained from the sponsor. This project is registered with the State of New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Real Estate Commission.

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