Beaufort, South Carolina, is a small but delightful coastal town about 50 miles east of Savannah, GA, and is probably most known for being the home of the Marine Corps Air Naval Station and training facility, where new Marines go for Boot Camp Training.
(My cousin Tommy, from Richmond, Virginia, went there, many years ago.)
The Old Town Historic district sits on the Beaufort River, so many opportunities abound because of that, both for water sports and also for various scenic vistas. The Henry Chambers Waterfront Park is very similar to Savannah’s Rousakis Plaza; both are popular with tourists and home to various weekend festivals.
A very walkable venue.
As is the Old Town District itself.
Beaufort hosts a Waterfront Festival in July every year, with Arts and Crafts vendors, water sports, bands and other evening activities. It’s a well-attended family-oriented event; and we always try to go, if schedules permit.
Sometimes, however, it’s just too hot! So then we pass. Reluctantly.
Beaufort’s Historic District is spread across a dozen or so blocks, and is centered on the main commercial district on the first block north of the waterfront park; the old residential district lies just north of that. Some of those stately older homes date from the 1800’s, pre-dating the American Civil War. Some of the original businesses downtown have been there for generations.
My family’s (now-defunct) wholesale hardware business (1895—1983) had two very good longtime retail hardware stores as customers in “downtown” Beaufort.
One of which stemmed from I believe the 1940’s, A.D. Fordham and Sons, a two-story building on the corner of the main highway going out to the islands, and the downtown shopping district..
Angus Fordham served as Beaufort’s mayor at one point, and was a well-respected merchant and citizen.
Beaufort Hardware was a smaller and newer business in a one-story building at the other end of the block; it was started by a retired Marine, Paul Schwartz. That business eventually closed, probably when Mr. Schwartz decided to retire, and the building then housed a beachwear business.
Interestingly, the Pier District on St. Simons Island, just east of Brunswick, GA, had a very similar pair of customers there: J.C. Strother Hardware & Lumber Co. was a two-story building (although in the middle of the block, not the corner), and St. Simons Hardware was a smaller, one-story building across the street, also run, as I recall, by a retired Marine. When it closed, a beachwear business took over its space, just as with Beaufort Hardware. What an unusual coincidence!
Beaufort’s Old Town District has a lot of history. My wife and I have visited many times. One time we found a chocolate shop around the corner from Fordham’s, and discovered 3” chocolate “Rotary wheels”! That is, the Rotary club symbol in chocolate. I was so surprised. I had never seen one before.
I wound up going back there, on a subsequent visit, and bought one to take back to a chocolate shop in Richmond Hill, and asked the owner if he could get them or make them. In a few weeks he told me he had found the mold (online) and could now make them! And ever since then, I have bought various quantities for various Rotary Club events. But that’s another story.
But it all started with that one visit to Beaufort.
My wife once had another connection to the town. Beaufort Memorial Hospital is a wonderful new facility, “around the corner on Bluff Drive.”
Several years ago, it was looking for a “Development Director,” or whatever the title was; it really meant “Head Fund Raiser.”
By that time my wife had worked for both Doctors Hospital in Augusta and the Memorial Health Foundation as a fundraiser, and knew the ropes pretty well. When she got the call-back to interview for the Beaufort position, we were initially excited. But when they chose an internal candidate, we were OK with that. It would have meant a major adjustment to our lives I was not really sure we were ready to make; living in two different places for a bit, etc..
But it is still a very nice town; and we do enjoy occasional weekend day trips there. You should go too! It will be a day well worth spent.
Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of (“the original”) Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife, both long-time Rotarians, live in eastern Liberty County with their passel of rescue cats. He writes on a variety of topics, and may be reached at rafe_semmes@yahoo.com.