The William Levin Building in Beaufort, SC

Sugar and I are out for a stroll in Beaufort when we see this sign.

  

Contributing to the building 

boom after The Great Fire of

1907, the Levin Building housed

the Levin law offices and that of

Sheriff J. E. McTeer, who 1924-

1963, used voodoo in keeping

the law in Beaufort County. 

Do you remember Agnes and Daniel Mann who owned and lived in the Saltus house before the Civil War? One of their sons was sheriff before McTeer. 

Here are a few more shots of the Mann/Saltus house. I love this house. I want to marry it. 

   
    
 
Of course, Sugar has a connection to McTeer. Sugar’s father knew him. 

Straight from the Tree

Sugar has been wanting apples. 

Not just any apples. He wants apples from the orchard, like the kind of local apples from a roadside stand. 

Since we are not in Western North Carolina or North Georgia, this has no real chance of happening. 

He was determined. He checked every bag at the grocery store. Nope.  Washington. 

The health food store. Nope. 

We took to trawling through the phone book, which is his standby. He thinks much knowledge can be found in advertising, which failed him this time. 

Now, there are farmers markets round about, but of course they are local fall-ish crops. Not apples. 

I reminded him that the apple festival in Hendersonville, NC, was probably weeks ago. He clung to a slim thread that he could find fresh apples. 

We even called some restaurants that advertise local foods, of which apples are not. But, you know. The situation was desperate. 

When I googled farmers markets, we saw that there was one in Columbia, but since that city just had a thousand-year flood, that choice was out. I told him to just drive up the interstate and get some. Five hours up, five hours back. Problem solved. Except for getting through Columbia. 

He seemed to think that some enterprising person should do that, just not him. Drive upstate with a truck and trailer, load up, head home, and sell the apples at a profit. I told him, “Well, that’s just a great idea,” while rolling my eyes. Because what I really mean, if it’s such a great idea, why don’t YOU do it?

Last hope of hopes was the Savannah market. We drive over and find that the produce stand has some pumpkins, some jars of honey, some random veggies, and some forlorn apples. 

  
He told the people what he wanted, and they said there was a truck coming in soon, like in two days, with a load of apples, STRAIGHT FROM THE TREE. Both our heads snapped around at that. 

He could hardly wait. That was all he could talk about. Wonderful, fresh, crunchy apples. STRAIGHT FROM THE TREE. 

The day came. 

   
   
He bought a 1/2 box of Gala apples. They felt rather soft-ish. 

We got them to the van, and he scraped the skin of one with the edge of a scissors blade. 

Wax. 

Now, who waxes their apples straight from the tree?

The Gold Mine in the Closet: the Charleston Tornadoes of 1938

Sugar has a gold mine in the closet. He started pulling out nuggets a year ago to share with me. He knew that I’d share them with you out in the big world. 

His parents lived in Charleston during the 1930s. The subject of this particular nugget is 1938 when they lived in a place called The Confederate Home. There’s a good bit about the Home out there on the Internet. Apparently it began as one thing and became another, as in a home for widows and children of Confederate soldiers, and became apartments in later years. 

At any rate, Sugar’s Mom and Dad lived there, and had retired for the night when they heard a noise that they described like a freight  train that tore the roof off the building. 

Sugar’s father was a shutterbug with the Kodak Brownie, and they went about the next day to see the sights. 

 

This was most probably made from the porch of the Confederate Home. There’s St. Michael’s, and to the right is City Hall and a memorial obelisk. Much help was given in identifying these photos by a FaceBook group Charleston History Before 1945.

 

City Hall 1938

  
 

The Confederate Home 1938

 
 

Confederate Home 1938

 

Gate in yard after the tornado, 1938

  
 

“Our house after storm 1938”

 
 

The inscription says “Chalmers” which is a street in Charleston.

 

Broad Street after storm 1938

 

The Timrod Hotel, 1938

   
 

Washington Park after the storm, 1938

 

68 Broad Street, Charleston, S.C., after the storm in 1938

  
 

From the Sunday morning paper after the storm, 1938.

From the newspaper, Sunday morning, October 2, 1938:

Cleanup Crews Take Out Wrecked Trees in City Hall Park

Rehabilitation work went forward yesterday throughout Charleston, and workmen here are shown moving the last damaged elm tree from Washington Square. This park back of the city hall was wrecked by the tornadoes which struck scattered sections of the city Thursday. The statue of William Pitt, one arm shot off during the Revolutionary war, escaped unharmed. Trees which were not blown down were weakened and had to be removed. In the background is the three-story residence of Daniel Ravenel, Jr., recently renovated, which was damaged slightly. The house to the left, in the yard, lost its roof. (Staff photo by Peck.)

 

An unidentified photo.

  
 

This is Sugar’s father. He thinks this might have been taken at the Confederate Home.

And to close out this series, here’s a photo of Sugar’s father on the porch of the Confederate Home, before the storm. You can see the spire of St. Michael’s, the City Hall, and the obelisk in the background, very faintly. 

He never knew where this photo was taken, just somewhere in Charleston. When he put the photo in with all the other Charleston photos, suddenly he KNEW.

 

Richard Humphreys Bateson, circa 1938

  
Breakthrough. 

Out and About: The Savannah Wildlife Refuge

Sugar wants to go for some research. 

We drive by this place every time we go to Savannah. Today is a happenin’ thing, and we’re stopping in.  There’s a welcome center with a diorama. 

    
   J
  
   
    
 
One of the most interesting things was on the wall in the hallway. 

   

Sugar points to a plantation area that was owned by his great-grandfather, William Seabrook Lawton.

   
You see we can’t go anywhere without Sugar finding a family connection. 

   
   
There’s a short trail that leads right down to the edge of the swamp. 

   
    
 
There’s also a driving tour that goes through the refuge. And that’s  for another day.

Feral Cat Day, 2015

I missed it. 

It was last week. 

But we celebrated today. 

  
Trap. Neuter. Return. 

Another Knitted Hat

Because the blog is my scrapbook. 

And I can’t remember details of projects. 

This knitted hat is knitted from the brim to the crown on a 16″ #9 circular. I used an acrylic worsted yarn throughout and added an eyelash yarn for the body. 

Cast on 64; join being careful not to twist. Work in ribbing K2, P2 for 1 1/4″. 

Add the eyelash yarn and knit in stockinette stitch, holding both yarns as one, until entire piece measures about 6″. 

Drop the eyelash yarn and knit one plain round, knitting the first two stitches together to reduce the stitch count to 63. 

Place a marker at the beginning of the round, and use Elizabeth Zimmermann’s swirled decrease, which will have 7 areas of decreasing as follows:

Knit 7, knit 2 together. 

Knit a plain round. 

Knit 6, knit 2 together. 

Knit a plain round. 

Knit 5, knit 2 together. 

At this point you will have 49 stitches on the circular (or double-points if you have switched over). This is the magic number you need on the needle(s) to start decreasing EVERY round. In other words, leave out the plain row, and continue knitting until you have 7 stitches left. 

Break the yarn, leaving maybe 6″ to draw through the 7 stitches, pull it up tightly, and secure the end on the inside by weaving it in. 

Weave in the yarn tail at the start of the hat, and clip all the yarn tails short. 

This should fit an older child’s head. 

At least, that’s the plan. 

   
 

The SugarBabies Come to Call

Sugar has some SugarBabies. 

They are ages 6ish, 4ish, and 2 1/2ish. 

They try to come for a week every year at Sugar’s birthday. There are restaurants, parks, playgrounds, and beaches that they try to always go, but sometimes they run out of time. 

So here are some SugarBaby photos. Feel free to go read someone else’s blog, but I really need to unload some photos from the iPhone. Because more photo opportunity is around every bend, and I’m out of storage space.

   
    
    
    
    
 
   

    
    
    
Here’s to all the moms and dads who made this trip possible! This is the stuff of childhood memories. 

    
 

Joel Chandler Harris Making the News

On the way back to the car from Tondee’s Tavern, Sugar insisted we cross busy Bay Street to look at a historical marker. At this point my left knee was locking up a bit, but I managed a Lowcountry hustle, Festus-style. 

  
I’ll bet he would have been a great blogger. Or how about if his wife were the blogger?

Mrs. J. C. H. :  (hollering) Joel! Joel Chandler! Joel Chandler Harris! Put that rabbit down and come to supper!

Tondee’s Tavern

Who can guess who’s related to Peter Tondee?

(Hands waving wildly all over the Internet.)

Apparently y’all have read this blog and know that Sugar is related to EVERYONE. Except me. 

Thank goodness. 

There’s a modern restaurant named Tondee’s Tavern which is vaguely near the original location of Tondee’s Tavern where the Sons of Liberty met in the Long Room. 

So it looks like we need a little photo opportunity. 

   

Why do I have 2 photos of the same thing?

  

It’s the coffeefox.com.

  

Thank you, Peter Tondee! I named an orphan kitten for him once. (Orphan? Peter Tondee? Look it up.)

 

The House at 34 South Battery

Sugar’s mother was a Lawton from Savannah. 

Her sister Leslie married a Read, and they lived in Charleston at the corner of Battery and King. 

They had one child named Margaret, and they divorced. Margaret never married. 

Sugar found these photos in his mother’s photo album, which was more in the old scrapbook style where one glued the photos and momentoes to the pages. He’s identified the back garden and carriage house at Aunt Les’s at 34 South Battery. Margaret is in the hammock, Aunt Les is in a chair, and perhaps Sugar’s mother is the other person. We can’t be sure, but she’s not facing the camera, and that was her habit to turn away from the camera. 

This looks like a spring day. The irises are blooming, and the trees are not in full leaf. 

Sugar remembers that his Aunt Les was not a happy person. Is that a child’s memory? Or was she bitter about being divorced, and that attitude became her signature? Maybe she just needed a Sugar of her own. 

   
    

The garden and the carriage house are gone. 

The people are gone.  

The memories are gone. 

All we have left are these charming photos. 

Sleep well, everyone. We’re thinking about you.