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Along the Ashley River at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, outside Charleston, S.C.

GOOD NEWS: Magnolia Gardens to undergo $3.2 million habitat restoration

Staff reports | Ducks Unlimited has received a $1 million federal grant to launch a habitat enhancement and restoration project at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, according to a press release. The goal is to improve the flow of water through the various impoundments and ponds on the 500-acre Magnolia property to raise the diversity of plants and animals.

Funding from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) will be combined with $2.2 million in matching funds from federal, non-profit, state and private sources, said James A. Rader, manager of conservation programs in Ducks Unlimited’s South Atlantic Field Office in Charleston. The first phase of the two-year project will begin in the spring.

by Charleston Currents · 10/30/2017 · 1 comment · Good news, News briefs

MYSTERY PHOTO: Great fall view

Boy, is this an out-of-this-world view, or what? But where is the guy in the picture standing? Send your best guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com – and please make sure to include your name and hometown. In the subject line, write: “Mystery Photo guess.”

The mystery photo in the last issue, snapped by Courtenay Brack, could have been any joint on a river in the Southeast, but several photo sleuths correctly identified it as a building at Bowen’s Island Restaurant on the Folly River near Folly Beach.

by Charleston Currents · 10/30/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

SC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Marjory Wentworth, poet laureate

Editor’s Note: For the last five weeks, we’ve profiled South Carolina’s past poet laureates. Here is a look at our current poet laureate, who also is a contributing editor to Charleston Currents. Wentworth curates a monthly South Carolina-related poem in our Palmetto Poem section. S.C. Encyclopedia | Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on June 3, 1958, Marjory Heath Wentworth is the […]

by Charleston Currents · 10/30/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

CALENDAR, Oct. 23+: Verse, festivals, more

Free Verse Festival: Charleston’s first poetry extravaganza will continue to run with lots of cool events through the end of the month. View events online at FreeVerseFestival.com.

Harvest Festival: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 4, Johns Island County Park. A foot-stompin’ showcase of Charleston’s bluegrass talent, this year’s lineup will feature local performers Blue Plantation, YeeHaw Junction, Southern Flavor Bluegrass, Marshgrass Mamas and Boss Hawg. Plenty of food will be available for purchase. There will be hay rides, a stick pony corral, pumpkin decorating, penny diving and more. Tickets are $8 per person; kids under 13 are free. More: CharlestonCountyParks.com

Take a walk on the Wild Side: 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Nov. 4, Hobcaw Barony, Georgetown, S.C. The S.C. Environmental Law Project will hold its 8th Annual Wild Side with special guest, naturalist Rudy Mancke, scheduled to be the featured speaker. Great event with boat tours, food, drinks, live music and more. For ticket prices and more information on the nonprofit benefit, click here.

by Charleston Currents · 10/23/2017 · Comments are Disabled · calendar

Rev. Joseph A. De Laine Sr., center, sits next to Eleanor Roosevelt (in white) at a New York civil rights rally in 1955. Photo from the University

FOCUS, Elliott: Time to recognize De Laine with a monument

By Carl Elliott, republished with permission of the author | If you look closely at Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 school desegregation decision, you’ll see that Brown wasn’t a single case. It was five cases consolidated into one. Briggs v. Elliott, the first of them, took place in my home state, South Carolina.

Briggs came about after the Rev. Joseph De Laine organized a group of black parents in Clarendon County to petition for equal educational facilities. The man who stood fast against that request — the Elliott of Briggs v. Elliott — was the chairman of the school board, Roderick Miles Elliott. Or as he was known in my family, Uncle Roddy.

by Charleston Currents · 10/23/2017 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news

GOOD NEWS: From trick-or-treating to a referendum

Staff reports | With Halloween just around the corner, the health experts at Envolve, an integrated health care solutions company sent along these five tips to make sure you and your goblins have a safe night of trick-or-treating next week:

Travel together. Before your little ones head out for the big night, make sure there’s a plan in place for an adult or two to supervise the festivities. It can be challenging to identify young ones in the dark wearing similar looking costumes. Make sure there’s an established plan beforehand to meet at a familiar location in case your child or someone under your supervision somehow strays from the group during the trick-or-treat trek.

by Charleston Currents · 10/23/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

MYSTERY PHOTO: Beautiful sunset

This beautiful sunset could be almost anywhere, but look closely and it might look familiar. Where is it? Send your best guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com – and please make sure to include your name and hometown. In the subject line, write: “Mystery Photo guess.”

by Charleston Currents · 10/23/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Mystery Photo, Photos

HISTORY: Bennie Lee Sinclair, poet laureate

S.C. Encyclopedia | Bennie Lee Sinclair was born on April 15, 1939, in Greenville to Graham Sinclair and Bennie Ward. While she was in the first grade, her first published poem appeared in a teachers’ magazine. Overwhelmed by the attention she received, she stopped writing poetry and returned to it only after the deaths of her father and her brother. A 1956 graduate of Greenville High School, Sinclair entered Furman University, where she received her B.A. in English and later received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996. In 1957 she married Thomas Donald Lewis.

by Charleston Currents · 10/23/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

CALENDAR, Oct. 16+: Verse, drama and music — all this week!

Free Verse Festival: Charleston’s first poetry extravaganza will continue to run with lots of cool events through the end of the month. View events online at FreeVerseFestival.com.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Various times, Oct. 18 to Nov. 5, Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St., Charleston. Charleston Stage will perform a stage version of the literary classic by Harper Lee over two weeks in what is set to be an exciting performance. Nineteen cast members perform in the show, which offers tickets from $31 to $64 for adults. Purchase tickets here.

Colour of Music Festival: Oct. 18-22, Charleston. The fifth annual festival will offer an array of classical music to showcase the impact and historical significance of black classical composers and performers. More.

by Charleston Currents · 10/16/2017 · Comments are Disabled · calendar

FOCUS: New local Livability PAC taps three for Charleston council

Staff reports | A new local political action committee focusing on livability in the Lowcountry has endorsed three candidates in three of the six races on the ballot for November’s council elections.

The new Lowcountry Livability PAC (LLPAC), a group founded by Charleston residents committed to advocating livability as a governing principle, said each of the endorsed candidates demonstrated a commitment to livability issues, protecting our community, and balancing the needs of a diverse community where people live, work and play.

Endorsed were incumbent Rodney Williams (District 2), and challengers Amy Brennan (District 6) and Carol Jackson (District 12).

by Charleston Currents · 10/16/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news