Category Archives: Arts

Don’t Miss Southern BBQ and Bluegrass at Hobcaw Barony!

Posted on by

BBQ and Bluegrass at Baruch

Celebrate fall with a barbeque and bluegrass concert at Hobcaw Barony,

the Baruch Plantation at the tip end of the Waccamaw Neck on Saturday,

November 17. Party participants can enjoy the sunset from the dock, a

cold beer, a handful of boiled peanuts and a plate full of pork. Inside

the lodge, around the fire pit or at the screen porch, the Southern

sounds of music make you happy to be in the Lowcountry. SAWGRASS, one

of the premiere bluegrass bands on the Grand Strand, brings its

“AcoustiLectricBlueGrass” to Hobcaw’s Pond Pavilion with acoustic and

electric guitars, banjo, dobro, mandolin, keyboard and amazing

harmonizing vocals.

 

Impressing former Pawleys Island Festival of Music and Art concert

goers and among many venues, loyal customers at Pawleys Island Tavern,

SAWGRASS has opened for the bands Acoustic Syndicate, Leftover Salmon,

Blueground Undergrass,The Nashville Bluegrass Band and The Marshal

Tucker Band. Sawgrass has been joined on-stage by SC’s own Mark Bryan

from Hootie and the Blowfish. They put on a show that creates a

Southern memory.

 

Bluegrass is a form of “American roots music,” inspired by Appalachia’s

18th century Scottish, Irish, and English traditions andinfluenced by

African-American jazz. Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe describes

bluegrass as “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’, blues and jazz.

It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist!”

 

Just as the music reflects a diverse culture, your library plans to build

The Library Center-Waccamaw, a larger facility and a heritage center,

which reaches out to our diverse community. Join us on Saturday, Nov.

17 from 3:30pm to dusk for BBQ and Bluegrass at Baruch. Families

welcome to this fundraiser.

 

Tickets, $50 adults/$15 children under 16,

go are on sale and should be bought ahead of time through The

Library Center atTLCWaccamaw@gmail.com or call 843-979-0561.

 

Upcoming Atalaya Festival Makes Ocean Home Magazine!

Posted on by

Local Realtor, Troi Kaz frequently blogs about her fabulous neighborhood, Debordieu and other local interests.  Her love of our area shines through in her writing.  Ocean Home Magazine obviously loves it, too!

You can read more of Troi’s blogs at http://www.coastalschomes.com/

South Carolina’s Finest to be Displayed at Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival

Some of the finest art in the South Carolina Lowcountry will be on display, and available for purchase, this weekend at the Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

Just north of Pawleys Island, Atalaya, the ocean front castle, located in Huntington Beach State Park is the former home of the world renowned sculptor….read more at  http://oceanhomemag.com/atalaya/

Plantation Tours Series – Estherville Plantation

Posted on by

This post is part  of a series I’m doing on the 65th Annual Plantation Tours sponsored by the Episcopal Church Women of Prince George Winyah Parrish.  These posts will be interspersed with our regular eclectic offerings. 

Each year  plantations and town houses (most privately owned) are graciously shared with the public. A different group of homes is on tour each day.  As part of the tour of pre-Revolutionary and antebellum churches, town houses and plantations, visitors are invited to the Winyah Indigo Society Hall for tea each afternoon.

The dates for the 66th Annual Plantation Tours are March 22 and 23, 2013.

Estherville Plantation

I arrived at Estherville Plantation just as rain was threatening. The misty light was wonderful and imparted a fairy tale feel to the gardens.  It was one of the many times I wished I were a painter.  Or at least a better photographer who doesn’t rely on a blackberry to take all her photos.  Some of these may have been taken with my actual camera.  I tend to switch back and forth depending on battery charge.

Estherville has incredible wrap around marsh views.

The combination of azaleas and Spanish moss draped live oaks is breathtaking!

Add marsh view and my heart stops!

Photographs aren’t allowed inside the houses so all photos will be of the gardens.  The interior of the house is amazing with a screened in pool, big game trophies and lots of books. It’s beautiful and lived in and loved.

Here’s what the Plantation Tours brochure says about Estherville Plantation.

“On June 18, 1711, Winyah Barony, containing 12,000 acres, was granted to Landgrave Robert Daniel, who sold it the following day to the second Landgrave Thomas Smith.  Nothing is known of the history of his grant until 1732 when Landgrave Thomas Smith laid out a part of this barony as a second town.  From 1732 until his death in 1738, he tried to sell lots in the town, but was unsuccessful.  Georgetown was already growing, and two towns on Winyah Bay were not needed.  Subsequently, a portion of these lands came into the hands of Archibald Johnstone, who married Esther Allston in 1745.  It is she for whom the place is named.  Their great grandson Francis Withers Johnstone, planted Estherville in 1850, and records show that in that year he had ninety slaves who helped him harvest 300,000 pounds of rice.  Estherville remained in the Johnstone family until 1918.

Historically, Estherville is interesting as the probable site of the first experiment in tidal cultivation of rice.  Tidal fresh water presumably was brought from Minim Creek, a branch of the Santee River, through a large irrigation ditch or canal.  After the success of this experiment, this method of agriculture spread in all directions, vastly increasing the rice production potential of the South Carolina Coast.

The origianl house burned and the present dwelling was constructed on the old foundation in the early 1900′s.  Estherville is owned by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Lucas Lumpkin, Jr. and Captain & Mrs. R. Parker Lumpkin.”

After the tour through the house we came out to beautiful sunshine!

Butterflies also enjoyed the azaleas and sunshine!

And for the finale, a rainbow!

 

Sweet Grass Baskets – Weaving Another Story

Posted on by

We have a guest writer, today.  Bob Ciminel has shared one of his memories of the lowcountry with us.  This story is from a few years ago, so you probably won’t find Bea at one of the many basket stands that decorate our roadways, but you may find her daughter!  Thank you Bob for sharing your story!

 

The South Carolina Low Country is home to an art form that is quite unique in the United States.  I’m referring to the woven sweet grass baskets made by people living along U.S. Highway 17, the “Ocean Highway,” north of Charleston.  Many of the basket weavers are descendants of slaves who brought their weaving skills from Africa.  The slaves made large woven baskets to hold their babies while they worked in the fields.

 

One weaver of whom we are quite familiar is Bea Coxum.  Bea lives in Mount Pleasant, across the Cooper River from Charleston.  I spent five years in Charleston and never bought a sweet grass basket.  My priorities were different then; centering on Scotch and women, in that order.  I remember seeing the basket stands along the highway, but the thought of buying one never crossed my mind.  Driving home after an all-nighter in Charleston required all the attention I could muster to keep the car centered on the two lane bridge between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island.  Once, I dozed off momentarily and almost wound up as crab bait.  No, sweet grass baskets were not on my A-list in 1967.

 

My wife and I visit Bea’s basket stand every year during our vacations to Pawleys Island.  Every day except Sunday, you can usually find Bea sitting at the Original Pawleys Island Hammock Shops where she spends the better part of the day in the heat and humidity selling her beautiful baskets.

Bea creates her baskets (build and assemble just don’t seem to fit) from sweet grass, pine needles, and palmetto fronds.  You can spot one of her baskets by the pattern and tightness of the weave.  Sometimes Bea travels as far south as Savannah to gather her materials.  This was the case last year when the Carolina Low Country was plagued by drought and wildfires. Unable to replenish her raw materials, Bea was really limited in what she could weave over the winter.  Bea was also ill, which further affected her productivity.  That probably explains why she had so few items on display when we stopped by to see her this year.

 

Bea doesn’t sign her work.  People familiar with the art form immediately recognize one of Bea’s baskets.  So I was surprised when I saw one or two baskets at her stand that didn’t look like Bea’s handiwork.  We asked her about the differences in the baskets.  She said she is teaching her daughter how to weave.  It is a long apprenticeship.  Try to picture Van Gogh teaching someone how to paint the world as he saw it, or Ansel Adams explaining to an understudy how to capture the beauty and grandeur of the American West on black and white film.

 

Sweet grass basket-making is a dying art.  The younger generation doesn’t want to spend their mornings in the woods collecting materials, or their afternoons sitting in the sun selling baskets, or their humid evenings weaving items that may sell for less than $50 after the tourists whine about how expensive they are for things made of grass.  The younger generation can make more money working in an air-conditioned McDonald’s or Burger King.

Broaching the Subject

Posted on by

Thanks to Cindy Kinder, Directory of The Kaminski House Museum for this blog post!

Several years ago, an astonishing find was uncovered at the Kaminski House Museum. This find is still talked about today; in fact it is one of the favorite stories told by the docents at the Museum. This astonishing find was just a simple, but elegant broach.

In 1996, the Museum received a grant from the Institute of Museum Services to hire a Registrar, a temporary position. A registrar’s job is to catalog the artifacts in a museum. This means numbering and writing a description of an artifact for inventory purposes. In 1997, Michelle Parks, the registrar at the Museum was cataloging the artifacts in Julia Kaminski’s Bedroom, specifically the dressing table located in that room. In order to catalog this dressing table correctly, Michelle had to take the skirting off of the table and when she did, pinned to the underside of the skirting was a dusty brooch. Michelle dusted it off, examined it and concluded that is had to be just a piece of costume jewelry that Mrs. Kaminski had hidden behind the skirting.

This brooch was in the Museum for about a week. The staff at the time enjoyed wearing it, and wondered where it came from. Finally, Michelle brought it down to the jewelers to have it cleaned. While she was at the store, she called up the then Director of the Museum, Ralph Calhoun, and told him that they might have a problem with the brooch. As it turned out, this brooch was made up of 13 old mine cut diamonds, each being a different karat weight totaling 13 karats with the biggest diamond being 2.55 karats. To top it off, the diamonds were set in 14-karat white gold. The problem was, what would the Museum do with such a beautiful and one of a kind piece?

The Kaminski House Museum kept the brooch; it had no choice. When Julia Kaminski died in 1972, she left her house, the contents and the grounds to the City of Georgetown to be a Museum in honor of her late husband, Harold and his mother, Rose. Her will is very specific about how her gift to the City was to be used and who the governing body should be. It also states that if the City of Georgetown wanted to sell any piece from the collection, the proceeds from the sale would go to the Seeing Eye Dog Foundation. This means that the Kaminski House Museum had to think about how to secure the brooch since it could not sell it.

Julia and Harold

Today, “the pin”, as it is called, is in a secure place and only comes out for very special occasions. When it does come out in public it is well guarded by Georgetown’s finest.

This brooch brought up another question. Where did it come from? When the brooch was first found there were all sorts of stories about how Julia Kaminski attained the brooch. All of the stories, although juicy, were not true. The brooch, like most of the antiques in the Museum, came from Julia’s mother-in-law, Rose Kaminski.

When this story is told during the tours of the Kaminski House Museum, the next question that is usually asked is how did the Kaminskis acquire their money to afford such jewelry and antiques? The answer to this question is simple: the American way, through hard work.

It all started with Harold Kaminski’s father, Heiman Kaminski. Heiman Kaminski was born in Posen, Prussia, which is now Poland, in 1839. He emigrated from Prussia in 1854 to Charleston where he worked in a mercantile house. During the Civil War, Heiman served in the Confederate Army. After the War ended Heiman came to Georgetown and started working in a local hardware store. In 1867, Heiman started the H. Kaminski and Company Hardware Store. This store was very successful and expanded into dry goods. He later was able to expand his holdings into about five other businesses, including a shipping company.

In the late 1800’s the country was in the mist of a major recession, especially in the south. Along with this recession, Georgetown County was suffering the beginning of the loss of the rice culture that had made this county extremely wealthy. It is believed that Heiman Kaminski would extend credit to these one-time wealthy rice planters excepting furniture for payment of the supplies they needed. This is how the Kaminskis amassed such a fine collection of priceless antiques and incredible wealth.

The only way to see these antiques and to hear many more stories about the Kaminskis, is to take a tour. The Kaminski House Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM the guided tours are $10.00 per person. Call for tour times. The Kaminski House Museum is located at 1003 Front Street in historic Georgetown. For more information call toll free 843-546-7706.

 

Slavery and Rice on the Santee

Posted on by

Historians agree South Carolina’s rice economy was the product of Anglo-American
entrepreneurship coupled with African-American know-how and labor. Simply put, the coastal
rice economy could not have survived without the knowledge of rice culture that African slaves
brought with them from rice-growing regions of coastal West Africa.
In his book, Black Majority, historian Peter Wood marvels: “Literally hundreds of black
immigrants were more familiar with the planting, hoeing, processing, and cooking of rice than
were the European settlers who purchased them.”
Almost as quickly as tidal rice became profitable, planters recognized the agricultural skill in
West African slaves. They showed great preference in buying these slaves. As one Charleston
slave merchant, Henry Laurens, remarked “Slaves from the River Gambia are preferr’d to all
others.”
Rice slavery on the South Carolina coast was truly a remarkable institution. Slaves brought their
own skills for rice cultivations that, as Peter Woods notes, differed very little from their methods
in Africa. “When New World slaves planted rice in the spring by pressing a hole with the heel
and covering the seeds with the foot, the motion used was demonstrably similar to that employed
in West Africa. In summer, when Carolina blacks moved through the rice fields in a row, hoeing
in unison to work songs, the pattern of cultivation was not one imposed by European owners but
rather one retained from West African forebears.
Peter Wood further notes that even the wide sweet grass baskets used in the fall to separate the
grain from the chaff were “a purely African design.” The design has changed little while
generations of African Americans have passed down the craft.


Even more unique to rice slavery was the “task system.” Rice slaves negotiated with their
overseer through a “driver” slave. Once the driver and overseer agreed on a reasonable amount
of work for a given week, the slaves set out on the task. After completing the work, any
remaining time belonged to the slaves. During this period, they were free to work their own
gardens, fish, and some even hunted wild game – though hunting was very rare. In contrast,
cotton plantations employed the “gang system” with no concept of free time.
The pens adjacent to the slave cabins indicate slaves kept their own livestock. Fossil evidence
from swine found around the slave cabins further suggests that Hopsewee’s slave population
supplemented their diet by raising their own animals.


Rice slavery was unique in two particular ways: the African influence and the task system. The
task system and slave’s own skills encouraged a degree of responsibility among slaves in
managing rice cultivation. This air of autonomy is further reflected in expressions of West
African culture. For example, the high roof with cypress shakes closely follows the high thatched
African style. The pattern follows the African tradition and serves a practical function by
reducing heat in the summer months.Slave’s responsibility for rice production is further expressed by those with important positions.
Head driver slaves negotiated the slaves’ weekly work and served as a foreman on work crews.
Other slaves were given the important responsibility of “trunkmaster.” Trunkmasters oversaw the
in and out tidal flow of water in the marshy rice fields. Proper control of water flow during the
growing season was essential to successful crops. Improper trunkminding could lead to salt water
in the fields, which would ruin the crop.


Freedman’s Bureau contracts between former slaves and masters in the post-Civil War period
kept many of the same arrangements as they had during slavery. Furthermore, these
arrangements provide an idea about slave life and labor expectations on a Santee Rice plantation.
Contracts, for example, included arrangements for handing out farming implements. As during
slavery, planters kept a close watch on their farming tools. Slaves sometimes purposefully lost or
destroyed tools as a means of “passive” resistance.
For more on these topics see:
Coclanis, Peter A. “Rice,” in The South Carolina Encyclopedia. Ed. Walter Edgar. Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 2006.
Littlefield, Daniel C. Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina. Urbana and
Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1981.
Wood, Peter. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion. New
York: Knopf, 1974.
Thanks to David Dangerfield, Southern Studies Graduate Student, College of Charleston

And thanks to www.Hopsewee.com!

Make Plans Now to Attend the Winyah Bay Heritage Festival

Posted on by

Some years ago in Georgetown, there was a festival in January celebrating Winyah Bay.  My family attended the first two and had a wonderful time. We missed a few years due to weather but now it’s back and at a much more reasonable time of year!

Now in it’s fifth year on March 2, 3, and 4,  the festival is a celebration of the rich heritage of Winyah Bay and the surrounding area. It honors the traditions rooted here, in the rice fields, uplands and marshes.

This year, the festival will take place at the Bobby Alford Recreation Center located in Georgetown.  The many activities hark back to the time when hunting and fishing were a necessity, rather than pastimes of avid sportsmen and a way to develop conservationists of tomorrow.

The Palmetto Dock Dogs will be on site this year demonstrating how dogs jump and retrieve.   Fishing guides will be on hand to talk about some of the best fishing spots, share tactics and teach techniques for the perfect throw with a cast net.   The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources brings their fishing simulator and shooting range which are huge hits with children.

Children's decoy painting at a previous Winyah Bay Heritage Festival

Additional activities for the young and young at heart include the Birds of Prey, decoy painting and the youth duck calling clinic, a new event last year.  New this year, and suited for all ages, will be a demonstration called “Snakes in Your Own Back Yard.”

Numerous exhibitors bring many items for sale.  If you are looking for the perfect call, decoy or painting, you’re in luck.  Please support the exhibitors as they, too, are an integral part of the festival.

“View of Chicora Wood Plantation”, oil by Joseph Cave

The featured artist for this year’s Winyah Bay Heritage Festival is local artist Joseph Cave. The painting titled “ View of Chicora Wood Plantation” was unveiled in November at a special reception held at the historic Stewart Parker house in Georgetown and will be auctioned at the sponsors party on March 2. It is currently on display at the Georgetown County Museum at 632 Prince Street, Georgetown SC.

All proceeds from ticket sales and sponsors benefit the Georgetown County Historical Society, which in turn supports the Georgetown County Museum, a 501 (c) (3) entity.  In addition to festival activities, many museums and tours in the area are available to further your knowledge of this special place.  Your visit will make you want to live here, and you’ll certainly understand why pluff mud sticks to our boots and to our roots.

Information contained in this article is in part from http://www.winyahbayfestival.org/index.htm.  Please visit the site for much more extensive information!

 

Local Artist, Maria Delaney

Posted on by

Artist Maria Delaney traveled extensively throughout her government career. Since her retirement, she now calls Pawleys Island home. Her love of photography began at an early age and she started as an amateur photographer at 14 . Since then, she has taken her photography to a professional level and is featured in galleries through out the lowcountry of South Carolina.  The beauty of Pawleys Island and the surrounding areas have inspired Maria to capture the variety of wild life, ocean habitats and especially the beloved Loggerhead and Green turtles. Her photographs depict glorious nature scenes, wildlife, and of course, beach residents in their natural setting, the dolphins, turtles, sea urchins, star fish, and crabs. Most of her South Carolina photos have been taken throughout the Low Country in Pawleys Island, Huntington State Beach, Murrells Inlet, Seabrook Island, and Charleston, as well as many of the local rookeries.

Delaney’s passion is sharing her images and once in a life time shots with everyone who loves and visits the Low Country.  Maria says, ” I especially love the early morning hours as nature awakens and all the beach residents and wildlife greet the new day-especially the various species of birds that call the Low Country home or are visiting during their migration. I enjoy capturing the intense colors just before the sun peeks out and brightens the beach and marshes as well as the beautiful sunrises. After enjoying my Low Country days, I prefer nothing more than capturing the amazing sunsets over the ocean, marshes, and waterways.”

Having grown up in a city, Maria now appreciates the time spent outdoors watching and learning about her wildlife subjects and listening to all the sounds of nature. She is active in the South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts (SCUTE), a group of volunteers dedicated to Sea Turtle Conservation. A portion of the proceeds from the turtle photos, giclées, and note cards are donated to the South Carolina Turtle Hospital and support the adoption of an injured turtle.  Maria says, “I understand how fragile the environment is and how important it is to protect wildlife for future enjoyment.”

Maria Delaney entered her first exhibition in October 2009 and won 1st Place for photography in the Seacoast Artist Guild Sixth Annual Fall Judged Art Show. Since that time she has won several 1st and 2nd place awards, including 3rd place for Professional Landscapes for the 2011 Magnolia Plantation Photo Contest.

Maria is a member of the Carolina’s Nature Photographers Association, on the Board of Directors for Seacoast Artist Guild, and the Director of the Seacoast Mall Gallery located at the Inlet Square Mall across from Stein Mart, Murrells Inlet.

You can visit her website at http://www.mariadelaney.com/ to view and purchase her extensive collection of photos and note cards.  You can also view and purchase her work at Applewood House of Pancakes in Pawleys Island (yes, this restaurant DOES have an amazing collection of local artwork!), Brookgreen Gardens, Crazy Sister’s Marina in Murrells Inlet, and Winyah Bay Mercantile in Georgetown.

Elowcountry has some exciting contests coming up, featuring Maria’s art.  Look for them on Facebook and Twitter so make sure you follow us on both. https://www.facebook.com/ and  https://twitter.com/#!/elowcountry.

Torsemide

Treasures of the Sea

Posted on by

This unique, handcrafted collection of jewelry is a work of art.  Each fresh water pearl has been hand selected in the pearl markets of Bangkok and Hong Kong.  Brought back to Pawleys Island by John Henry Whitmire, where he blended them with sterling silver here in his studio to create his Treasures of the Sea collection.

Owner of Whitmire Fine Jewelry, John Henry Whitmire, has been designing and crafting jewelry in the Pawley’s Island and greater Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area since 1972.

John Henry Whitmire gets his design inspiration from nature and the many places he has lived over the years, which has given him the freedom to create without boundaries.  Some local, South Carolina native places of inspriation include: Brookgreen Gardens, where he obtains inspiration from the many sculpture gardens; Huntington Beach where pristine natural beauty abounds; Pawley’s Island, where John Henry Whitmire enjoys long walks on beach, clamming, fishing and creeking in the saltwater creeks; Myrtle Beach, with its wide sandy beaches which continue to draw people there today; and North Myrtle Beach, with the liveliness and energy of the residents. 

Throughout his career, John Henry Whitmire has been fortunate to create custom awards for multiple nationally recognized events.  John Henry Whitmire custom handcrafted two Grammy awards: a Ladder Back Rocking Chair award cast in Sterling Silver for the 1981 Grammy Awards for the Gospel Singer of the Year and a Continental Trailways Bus award cast in Sterling Silver for the 1982 Grammy Awards for the Gospel Singer of the Year.

This season’s Treasures of the Sea Collection is an inspired blend of his many experiences.   John Henry’s popular “flounder”,  is enhanced with diamonds and precious stones for extra sparkle this year.

The handpicked, large baroque, fresh water pears are the perfect complement to his cast starfish and sand dollars.

Treasure of the Sea make wonderful Christmas presents for the ladies who love the beach and long walks along the water’s edge.  You can see John Henry Whitmire’s collections at Whitmire Fine Jewelry in Pawleys Island.

Wonderful Things!

Posted on by

Everywhere you looked, through every nook and cranny, there were beautiful pieces.

Atalaya is the perfect setting for every medium. Treasures are hidden in the mazes of corridors and rooms inside and spread throughout the lovely courtyards. Here are some of my favorite booths and pieces, in no particular order. 

Ann Wallin Pottery

Her use of Raku is wonderful and adds to the shape and form, rater than detracts.  She is also delightful to talk with.  You can visit her website http://annwallinpottery.com/home.html  to learn about her techniques.

Nancy Adams

 What this lady can do with a simple gourd is unbelievable!  You can check out more of her work at http://nancypadams.com/

Graham  Lawing

Jamie Wickliffe

There’s a glimpse of my first day.  As my 7 year old son said, “There are so many beautiful things to see”!