Would Mount Pleasant have an array of roundabouts, a law protecting trees and the financial advantage of development impact fees if Mac Burdette had decided to put down roots elsewhere? Would Patriots Point be struggling to survive today if it were still trying to make it as a 20th-century museum in a 21st-century world? We’ll never know the answers to those hypothetical … [Read more...]

Long before Ellen Stoecker put down roots on Sullivan’s Island, she recognized it as a special place fertile with history to be revered and shared with future generations. A resident of downtown Charleston before she relocated to the beach, Stoecker spent many sunny afternoons in the 1980s riding her bicycle over the Ben Sawyer Bridge to enjoy a peaceful moment of natural … [Read more...]

In the Lowcountry, when the first notes of a Hootie & The Blowfish or Darius Rucker song stream through the air, look around and you’ll see people bobbing their heads or singing along. It’s been that way since 1994, when “Cracked Rear View” debuted, and Rucker and the rest of his then-Columbia-based band played themselves into the hearts of every South Carolinian who owned a … [Read more...]

The Lowcountry is a region richly steeped in American history, and, for those who are dedicated to honoring this history, there are certain special places to visit and take in the past in order to better understand the present. One such location is Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant. A historic plantation that hosts thousands of visitors each year who desire to learn the … [Read more...]

Sitting in the late morning light in the Dewberry’s living room, Gretta Kruesi looks nearly editorial wearing a graceful white blouse, patent pumps and chunky, drop earrings in a bold cerulean. But the artist sports a casual pony of straw-blonde hair, her cheeks are covered in freckles from sun, and, when she smiles, she beams. You can tell that this woman lives by and for the … [Read more...]

For Mount Pleasant Academy Elementary School Principal Kim Jackson, being an educator is in her DNA. She recalled as a first grader bringing home stacks of worksheets and books from class and “forcing” her friends to play school in her parents’ garage. “So I’ve been a teacher since then,” proclaimed Jackson. “I’ve never thought of being anything else.” After earning … [Read more...]

Once a year, 100 or so teenagers from affluent families in China gather on the hallowed grounds of New York Military Academy, located beneath Storm King Mountain in the heart of the Hudson Valley. For three grueling weeks, they live a Spartan existence, learning how to fight, to survive and to lead, and doing it all without the distraction of cellphones, computers or … [Read more...]

Noah Leask, a student who performed little better than average in high school, excelled as a cyber warrior in the Navy and as a civilian did contract work for the U.S. government at a level so clandestine that he’s not at liberty to discuss the details or anything else about it. He has started one company since his military career ended, and at least two others have benefited … [Read more...]

It’s a diagnosis nobody wants and a journey that many don’t survive: cancer. This September and October – awareness months for prostate and breast cancer, respectively – people across the country will celebrate the survivors and honor those who lost their battles. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime, … [Read more...]