Travel: Beaufort (South Carolina)

It's been a rather long and dry year for me in terms of exploring and seeing the sights. One thing to miss about living in Utah is being surrounded by picturesque mountains and deserts. In Georgia, there's little to see other than trees and urban build-up (at least where I'm currently living). But I was certain there were beautiful sights around--I just had to take the time off to go out and find it.

Looking over Google Maps one day, I looked for a possible place to visit and came across Beaufort SC by chance. I might as well have thrown a dart on a map. It's listed as one of the oldest towns in the state, and I figured it would have some distinctive buildings and history worth exploring. My parents and I drove and stayed there for four nights, and here's everything we found worthwhile.

All About Beaufort

This town rests on an island among the marshes, quite close to some rivers and within driving distance to the Atlantic. It's in between Charleston and Savannah, and is much smaller than both towns. Historically, it is said that Beaufort is where most of American history begins. It was the first to dissent over England's taxation of the colonies, which led to the Revolution. It was also one of the first--if not the first--to join the Confederacy during the Civil War. The town swung hard between wealth and poverty--a volatile combination of historic wars, dealing with pirates, and economic hardships that drove different groups (such as the Carpetbaggers) in and out of the region.

Your typical Antebellum house.

There are communities of old homes all along the riverfront--many in the style of the Antebellum eras and Victorian age. They are all distinctive, colorful, and nestled among strange sprawling trees with Spanish Moss hanging off of them. These streets are quite atmospheric--a horse-drawn tour can carry you around these neighborhoods while a guide describes the history of the area. A few museums in the area shed even more light on the town's significance and struggles throughout the years.

Down Bay Street, you can find most restaurants and shops near the riverfront, and you can't go wrong with any choice. If you ask the locals where to eat, they will even say that all the restaurants are good. You're bound to find some decent seafood at these places--shrimp and grits, crab cakes, lowcountry boil, and more! Placed by the waterfront, most of these places offer a relaxed atmosphere. There are bookstores, gift shops, art galleries, and more. We were even lucky enough to visit a shop that specialized in lavender goods on the second day they were open--how cool is that?

All along the southern side of the island, you can walk by the marina to see numerous boats at rest. A walking path leads to the drawbridge, with a number of bench swings along the way where anybody can stop and take a rest. Located so close to Bay Street, you could grab ice cream nearby, sit, and enjoy the balmy breeze and watch the water.

Beaufort has been used as the shooting locations for films like The Big Chill and Forrest Gump. Incidentally, The Chocolate Tree is one of Tom Hanks' favorite (if not his top favorite) chocolatiers. We visited the place and walked out with quite a haul of truffles, and they were wonderful.

Surrounding Sights

Beaufort is within spitting distance of other islands which offer other things to see--museums, maritime centers, water sports, and other towns.

We drove to Hunting Island one day--it is a state park with a beach. Even though it was overcast and rainy, the water was surprisingly warm and pleasant. Somebody told us that a rainy day on the beach was better than any other day, and I'm inclined to see why. The island also boasts a lighthouse that you can climb. Parts of the island are inaccessible due to storm damage from previous years, but near the lighthouse is a sprawl of fallen trees and driftwood, which is quite distinctive and makes for some eerie-looking pictures. This is one of the possible places where sea turtles nest--we didn't see any on this trip, but we did listen to someone talking about the turtles and efforts to help protect them.

To the west is the area of Port Royal. We drove that way to see a maritime museum, which was free to visit. It contained some tanks to view fish, crabs, and baby alligators, and many displays of photographs and information that painted a picture of the industry of the past.

To the north, there is the ruins of Shelton Church tucked away in the woods. It's pretty much four ruined brick walls and some columns. Makes for great photos, and walking among this ruin gave me as much solidarity as it did visiting the various ruined abbeys and castles in England--only this ruin is buggier and surrounded by Spanish moss. Makes for a good, quick stop on the way home.

In a few hours, it would be feasible to see Charleston or Savannah as well. We opted not to go that far, since we've found enough to do around the local areas without tiring ourselves.

Inspirations

I've come to learn that Beaufort is the home for author Pat Conroy, who wrote The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. All books I've heard about but haven't read yet. I am compelled to read them (or at least see their film adaptations) to see how they fare. There is a place in the town dedicated to Conroy--an exhibit of some kind--but we did not visit it. Through various adverts and pamphlets, we noticed that there are opportunities around for Southern writers to gather in workshops and panels and such, and often times Conroy will partake in them as well. It's a community in itself--I haven't really found any such community in Augusta, but for a few hours drive a conference here and there should be plausible and worthwhile.

I am interested to check out some Southern writing to see what makes it stand out as its own thing. In one of the bookstores, I picked up The Secret Life of Bees. I have a feeling that books like these will capture a certain something in the region's culture and atmosphere you probably won't find anywhere else.

Personally, this kind of fiction is not what I usually strive for or enjoy--my mind will always bend back towards the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and perhaps horror. Since I've been experimenting a lot with the tropes of cosmic horror, I've taken quite a liking towards the 2018 film Annihilation (itself an adaptation of the Southern Reach trilogy of novels, which I vow to read someday). If you haven't seen the film, it's basically about a meteor hitting a lighthouse and causing a freaky alien force field to expand and mutate the land around it. Unnatural abominations happen. And guess what? I got to take a picture at Hunting Island that pretty much represents this very thing--a lighthouse wreathed in all this dead wood, looking like Lovecraftian tentacles and abominations. That was my inspiration for all these pictures--the driftwood was just a tangle of organic mass, and surrounded by sand and water, it looked somewhat alien in nature. Capture that in black-and-white, do some fixes with Corel, and I created photos from another dimension. It's exactly the kind of environment I can see my own characters in my own cosmic horror adventure traversing through.

At the lighthouse of madness! Could there be an alien beyond this sprawl?

Final Impression

My brief stay in Beaufort offered a relaxing and laid-back respite, just as a vacation in the deep south should. There are nice buildings, food, shopping, and sights to experience. I managed to buy some cool things, take decent photos, learn stuff. The only thing I didn't really do was writing. Regardless, it was a trip worth taking. It shares much in common with Charleston, but is much smaller and there's not nearly as much traffic or crowds. It's a decent destination for a quick getaway or a brief pass-through. I'm not sure if I'm inclined to see it again, but I wouldn't say "no" to seeing/hearing Pat Conroy talk about writing. Or the chance to sit on a swing by the river again. Or the chance to visit Tom Hanks' favorite chocolate store.