The “Beau” in Beaufort SC sounds like those same letters in
“beautiful; this contrasts with the sound of those same letters in Beaufort NC,
which is pronounced like “bow” in bow and arrow. But if you mispronounce their
city, the residents, very friendly, will patiently just correct you. Beaufort,
population 12,000, in the 2010 census, according to the reference librarian at
the county library,
is the county seat of Beaufort County, population 162,000,
most of them being on Hilton Head, which is in the same county and has vastly
surpassed the historic town.
We spent and enjoyed two nights and one full day here, at the
Downtown Marina (ILENE toward the left).
It is a small marina, friendly and efficient, operated by the
municipality. Its only problem is a strong current running up and down the
Beaufort River. They put us on the outside dock but close to boats in front and
behind us. Ilene brought us to the dock skillfully, letting the wind blow us
on, and we used a springline to get our bow away from the dock and from the
stern of the boat in front of us, in departing. The marina provided free wifi,
that works, but I went to a nearby coffee shop to get a super strong signal for
uploading the photos for the Savannah posting.
They call it the Downtown Marina because it is one short block, through a lovely municipal park from the main drag: Lene, here on one of about 20 municipal swinging benches facing the sea and the men's afternoon lawn bowling league (or is it Bocci?) with the chains of one of those swings in the background:
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Bay Street is the main street in town, with lots of restaurants,
art galleries and other shops.We had good food in Plums for lunch and Saltus for a more "fine dining" dinner, a rare two meals off the boat for us in one day. We enjoyed the local shrimp, mussels, scallops, clams and oysters in addition to swordfish.
We took a guided tour of town with Buck, and his mistress:
Buck knows the way, which is why the driver spent so
much time facing back and narrating.
We saw lovely old homes
How do you like these Spanish moss laden live oak trees?
This is a large bowl made of a hollow limb of a dead live oak, open
at both ends. I was very tempted to
purchase it ($200) because of its natural beauty; but where would we keep it.
The bricks in this wall were used as ballast in British ships and then repurposed once the ships were on this side of the puddle.
We passed the first Black Church in town, with a bust of Robert
Smalls, a native son who escaped slavery during the civil war by commandeering the
confederate ship on which he had been working and was later elected to
Congress, and we saw the local Synagogue
Altogether a very pretty little town. Lene said: “I could
live here.” But I don’t think so.
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