Charleston Currents – 2017

Archive for September, 2017

COMMENTARY, Brack: My, how things have changed over 100 years

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | One hundred years ago yesterday, my great-grandfather, weakened by the flu, died of what’s believed to have been a ruptured appendix. He was 38 years old. The season’s cash crop, cotton, was about ready to pop in the fields.

Charles Columbus Brack left a 31-year-old widow and six children, aged 1 to 10. They lived in rural middle Georgia in an unpainted house five miles from the nearest town. It was only a mile from their Baptist church where a family reunion of sorts occurred yesterday.

Tables in the church hall showcased just about every sort of Southern food – from fried chicken and roast beef to at least four kinds of beans, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, rice salad, and plain salad salad. The dessert table was almost as long with the 16-layer chocolate cake being the talk of the room.

by Andy Brack · 09/18/2017 · 2 comments · Andy Brack, Views

TODAY’S FOCUS: Charleston’s bus evacuation system wasn’t ready for storm

By William J. Hamilton | Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit became aware that the Lowcountry’s Emergency Bus Evacuation System, another almost entirely separate transit system from Tri County Link and CARTA, wasn’t ready for a major hurricane on Sept. 5. We blogged the issue and informed local officials with a positively focused post on the Daily Kos, a national news site titled Power and Efficiency of Public Transit can save Low country lives before and after a Hurricane.

Hamilton
Neither CARTA bus drivers nor the public had any detailed knowledge of this alternative bus route system. Maps and schedules could have been handed out to transit riders, who often come from households without private cars and communities where cars are less available.

by Charleston Currents · 09/18/2017 · 3 comments · Focus, Good news

REAL ESTATE: A lot more attention for the Charleston area

By Doug Holmes, contributing editor | The total eclipse brought a lot more national attention to Charleston. Not that we really needed it. Being voted the number one city in the United States so many times has taken care of that.

Our real estate market has responded by building new homes all over the tri-county area. New construction is certainly a favorite among buyers. Currently one third of the homes under contract are new construction. In certain areas, that percentage is well over 50 percent. Year to date in 2017, we are up 6.8 percent in number of transactions over the same time period of 2016. It looks like we may sell 18,000 homes for the first time in our history.

by Doug Holmes · 09/18/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Real estate, Views

MYSTERY PHOTO: Locating another mystery downtown

The recent mystery photo of a downtown inspired us to find a photo of another downtown in the Lowcountry. Where is this one? Send your best guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com — and make sure to include the name of the town in which you live. Please also write “Mystery Photo” in the subject line.

by Charleston Currents · 09/18/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Colleton County

S.C. Encyclopedia | First visited by Robert Sandford in 1666 while he was reconnoitering the southeastern seaboard of North America for Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, Colleton County was one of three original counties organized in the English province of Carolina in 1682. However, Colleton was divided into three parishes by 1730 (St. Bartholomew’s, St. Paul’s, and St. John’s Colleton), which took over most county responsibilities, including oversight of elections.

by Charleston Currents · 09/18/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

A wave laps at a porch on Murray Boulevard opposite of the Battery along the Ashley River.

Post or share an Irma photo

With lots of flooding across Charleston County, we’d like to share your favorite or best photo of what’s happening in your neighborhood during the rainy and windy conditions from what is now known as Tropical Storm Irma.

Either send your photos to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com or post to our Facebook page here. Please let us know a little bit about the picture (when and where it was taken) as well as your name and hometown.

As we collect pictures, we’ll share them on this page and on social media.

by Andy Brack · 09/11/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Photos

REVIEW: Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community

Reviewed by Marianne Cawley | The splendid reputation of this book is completely well deserved. Published in 1984, Down by the Riverside was one of a new wave of works of history that looked at a specific defined community over an extended period in the hope that better understanding of the parts would bring greater knowledge of the whole history of a wider region.

by Charleston Currents · 09/11/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Features, Reviews

CALENDAR, Sept. 11+: Great food, plays, Fam Jam ahead

Charleston Restaurant Week: Through Sept. 17, around the area. The Greater Charleston Restaurant Association presents the annual event to allow people to enjoy world-renowned cuisine at prices a little lower than usual. More.

“An Act of God:” Various times, Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, Footlight Players Theatre, 20 Queen St., Charleston. The Footlight Players will perform this clever, one-act comedy that’s based on a satirical book and Twitter account. Shows are at 8 p.m., except for Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults. More.

Love Potion No. 9: Various times, Sept. 15 to Nov. 11, 200 Meeting St., Charleston. The post-apocalyptic doo-wop musical will be presented by 34 West Theater Company at various times on Tuesdays, and Thursdays through Sundays with tickets at $35. More.

Children’s Museum Fam Jam: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sept. 16, Marion Square, Charleston. The free festival, held in conjunction with more than 30 partners, celebrates family, community togetherness and the power of play as Marion Square is transformed into an engaging, innovative playscape. Free.

by Charleston Currents · 09/11/2017 · Comments are Disabled · calendar

PALMETTO POEM: Carolina Umbra

By Marjory Wentworth, S.C. poet laureate

Boats fly out of the Atlantic
and moor themselves in my backyard
where tiny flowers, forgotten
by the wind, toss their astral heads
from side to side. Mouths ablaze, open,
and filling with rain.

After the hurricane, you can see
the snapped open drawbridge slide
beneath the waves on the evening news.
You go cold imagining
such enormous fingers of wind
that split a steel hinge until
its jaw opens toward heaven.

by Palmetto Poem · 09/11/2017 · 2 comments · Features, Palmetto Poem

State emergency management officials hunkered down Friday to plan for Irma's impact. Photo provided.

BRACK: What government gets right and what needs more work

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With a storm breathing down the state’s neck, people turn to state and local governments for leadership, safety and solutions. While government gets scrutiny year-round, maybe we should look at what’s working so we appreciate it more – and examine what may need some help so that it works better.

by Andy Brack · 09/11/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views