McClellanville Transformed into a Winter Wonderland…for a Brief Moment
February 13th, 2010 McClellanville News Daniel Bates Comments
As we walked out of T.W. Graham’s restaurant Friday night the snow had just began to fall in McClellanville. By 9pm the power had gone out and the snow had started to accumulate. We passed the time reading books by candlelight and awoke to a cold house (still no power) and a blanket of snow covering everything. This was the first real snow since the Christmas after Hugo in 1989, so this was quite a rarity.
We built a quick snowman and went to explore the village. A few children and adults were venturing out. Snowmen spotted the land but by the afternoon they were nearly all that remained; a brief reminder of the snow that was. We spent the day with my parents playing Scrabble and talking around the fire and were actually a little dissappointed when the power finally returned in the late afternoon and our excuse to hangout melted away.
Here are just a few of the pictures that I took around McClellanville. The parade of snowmen is at the end. Which is your favorite? If I missed yours and you want to have it included you can email it to daniel (at) mymcclellanville.net
McClellanville Rallies Behind Idea of New Environmental Charter School for the Area
February 12th, 2010 McClellanville News Daniel Bates Comments
Last night, an impromptu group of more than 50 people crowded into McClellanville’s Town Hall to hear more details on what it would take to create a new charter school in the area. McClellanville and Awendaw, at the northern tip of Charleston County, make up public school district 1, being a rural area with lower student numbers they are served by only a public elementary and high school (McClellanville Middle School closed last year) both with traditionally low test scores that Charleston County school district has failed to improve. Attendance at the local private and public school has diminished in recent years as many parents have transfered their children across district lines to Mount Pleasant schools in an effort to save money and provide the best education possible.
Those parents showed last night that they still desire a strong local school and that a charter school is the most likely candidate to achieve their goals. Charter schools are publicly funded and free to attend. They are open to everyone and are required to meet the same test standards as a public school, but are allowed to be managed by a committee of community leaders and parents rather than the county school district board. Charter rules can also include details such as more strict behavior policy, requirements for parental involvement, and an educational focus or specialty. All of these topics will be on the plate during the planning phase of the charter school, but the idea of school have an environmental aspect that would be incorporated into its curriculum seems to be appealing to many considering the vast and rich natural resources in the area.
Charter school funding is based on the number of students that attend the school and is traditionally paid by the county school district, but state funding has also become available from the South Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools. A charter funded with state money also has the benefit of be able to accept children from other counties, an important feature with Georgetown and Berkeley counties just 10 to 15 miles away. A future site for school has not yet been decided though the vacant McClellanville Middle School in the center of town seems a likely candidate if it could be purchased, leased, or borrowed from Charleston County.
As it stands now, public support is the most important thing to start the ball rolling for this cause. Last night was the first of many public meetings aimed at educating the public and gauging support. Next Thursday, February 18th, the group will meet at the Awendaw Town Hall at 7pm to hopefully garner their much needed support. If you are interested in having your child attend this school if created, participating on the steering committee, or offering some other skills, you are asked to visit the Cape Romain Environmental Charter School’s website at CapeRomainSchool.com and fill out the contact form or print out this questionnaire and mail it in. The deadline for the charter school application is May 1st and there needs to be support from the entire McClellanville/Awendaw community in the next month in order to proceed. Results from the application could be known in as little as 60 days and the school could be ready for students the following the school year. This is an important cause for the future of the entire area, because without good educational opportunity current families may leave the area and new owns will not consider it, hurting the economy of the area.
Village Holiday Art Walk 2009
December 4th, 2009 McClellanville Events Daniel Bates Comments
Quick Post here: Village Artists and Craftsmen Group would like to welcome you to the Village Holiday Art Walk
Friday, December 4 (Tonight) from 5 p.m. -8 pm
Saturday, December 5 from 10 a.m. – 5 pm
Enjoy holiday shopping, dining and visiting artist’s studios along Pinckney Street in the Historic District of McClellanville. Find original reasonably priced treasures including antiques, collectables, paintings, drawings, woodcut prints, jewelry, pottery, photography, books by local authors, handmade baby fashions, sculpture and much more…Participating Shops, Restaurants , Artists and other Venues
Aaron Baldwin Studio
Another Time – Vintage Kitchen Ware
Cassena Studios: John McWilliams and Nancy Marshall
Elizabeth Bronson Studio
Grillmaster Barbecue
Lee Arthur Studio
McClellanville Art Center
Pinckney Street Kitchen with Sarah Scott and Sheila McClellan
Pluff Mud
Sassafras – A Creative Department Store
The Yellow Shop – Art and Antiques
Thornhill Farm- Our Local Foods and Adaptive Gardens
T.W. Graham Seafood Restaurant
Village Museum
And many more McClellanville Artists & Craftsmen
Directions: from Mt. Pleasant on Hwy 17 North, turn right onto Hwy 45- follow the curve to the LEFT where it becomes Pinckney Street. Keep left and proceed to the Historic District.
“Deerhead Oak” copyright 2009, McWilliams & Marshall
November means Oysters in McClellanville
November 4th, 2009 McClellanville Events, McClellanville News Daniel Bates Comments
I’ll go ahead and say it. I don’t like seafood. Yes, I grew up in McClellanville, “the seafood capital of the world”, but the taste of crabs, clams, shrimp, fish, and oysters has never really been that appealing to me. I try not to open with this point, because most seafood lovers write me off as crazy, but I can’t help my taste buds.
All that aside, I’ve got to say that I love a good oyster roast. It’s such a great excuse to get bundled up, go out and see friends you haven’t seen in a while. There are also, of course, OYSTERS and if you enjoy those slimy boogers (yes, I said it) then you’ve got a lot to look forward to this weekend.
In addition to the Village Museum’s Annual Oyster Roast, which is always a blast, Thornhill Farms will also be holding “Local Music on the Farm” benefit with oysters. No need to choose, because they’re on different days. The Village Museum Oyster Roast which is held under the Town Hall is Saturday, November 7th at 6pm and also includes great home-made deserts, soups, and chilis (which I usually consume a dozen or so bowls of). It’s free to museum members or $20 donation at the door. BYOB and BYOOK – that’s Bring Your Own Oyster Knives for those that haven’t been to many roasts.
Thornhill Farms event will be Sunday, November 8th from 12-5pm and feature live music, barbercue and oysters. Proceeds go to benefit the Adaptive Gardens of the Lowcountry and the cost is $25 for adults and $10 for children. All the details are on the images and you can click them to see a bigger picture. If I can kick this nasty cold, I’ll see you there.
For those of you that weren’t “born and raised”, oyster season couldn’t be easier to remember. The rule of thumb is that oysters are only harvested (and therefore consumed fresh) in months with an “R” in them, so starting around SeptembeR and going to ApRil oysters are typically harvested. Small batches of oysters can be cooked on a baking sheet in the oven or broiler until the pop open. The preferred local method, however, is to wait until the weather gets a little colder for a good excuse to break the cabin fever. Build a rip roarin’ fire (outside) until you’ve got a nice stock pile of coals and then place a sheet of metal (a rusted sheet of tin or slab o’ steel work well) over the coals. Shovel on the oysters and cover with a dampened burlap sack or towel and cook for around 15-20 minutes or until they’ve all popped open. Around here you don’t even have to send out invitations, people just wander from out of the woods with oyster knives in hand.
It doesn’t matter if you harvest them yourself, have them delivered, buy them at a market, or pay a professional as long as you’re getting local Bull’s Bay Oysters and enjoying them with friends, it can’t go wrong.
The Election that Never Was and an Important One You Can’t Control
November 2nd, 2009 McClellanville News Daniel Bates Comments
This is a reminder NOT to go out and vote this November 3rd if you live in McClellanville. No I’m not encourage you to avoid your civil duties, just trying to save you some time. You see no one is opposing our current mayor or four council member and there are no referendums to be voted on so after checking with the appropriate governmental agencies, the Town has decided to skip a costly election process that wouldn’t have resulted in anything anyway.
While I’m happy that McClellanville’s politics are politics as usual. I’m hoping for a great turnout and a turnover of the incumbent mayor in the Awendaw election. Even though McClellanville residents can’t vote, we all have something at stake in the results. With the Charleston Metro area sprawling wildly and a new stop light emerging on the Northern outskirts of Mount Pleasant on a weekly basis, Awendaw has emerged as a barrier between McClellanville and this growth. It’s also a natural connection between the wildlife that calls the Francis Marion National Forest and Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge home.
With these important features, Awendaw’s take on growth is crucial, and the voting record of the mayor and the two more seasoned council members have indicated that not only do they support the rampant growth and over development of the area but they seek to silence any opposition and shape the racial composition of the town through selective annexation. So I’ll still be watching the polling results next Tuesday and I hope that if elected the new council members and mayor will serve their constituents and those effected by decisions well.
5 Simple Things That You Can Do in McClellanville to Help Save the Earth
October 15th, 2009 Buyers Daniel Bates Comments
Happy Blog Action Day Everybody!
Blagwhatsitnow? Blog Action Day! That’s right it’s the 3rd annual celebration where bloggers all over the world unite to write about a single great cause in order to promote a conversation and in turn hopefully prove that one person can make a difference and bring about change. The first blog action day was about the environment and I laid out my love of nature and urged for a recycling movement in McClellanville. So this time I’ll get right down to it. The topic is “Climate Change” and I’m not going to argue whether this planet is getting warming…or colder or the sea levels are rising or that it’s all just a cyclical change, because I’m no scientist. There is no denying, however, that since our time on the earth and specifically since we entered into a modern industrial age we have had a hugely significant impact on everything around us.
I certainly don’t have all the answers. If this is something that you feel passionate about or would like to learn more you may want to attend a meeting of McClellanville’s Kitchen Table Climate Study Group or at least have a word with group leader David Stoney. I know that somehow people keep throwing religion and politics into the mix and causing major divides, but the truth is that the regardless of your core beliefs everyone needs to start thinking forward more than just five minutes into the future. Thinking about making sure that not only their grandchildren will have the same or better experience on this planet, but also our great, great, great grandchildren. McClellanville sits about 5-15 feet above sea level. The recent anniversary of Hurrican Hugo should remind us all what the powers of the sea is capable of. I can’t say with any certainty whether my house will be underwater in , but enough very smart scientist who have gone to school far more years than I have and studied this subject more years than I’ve been around feel that it is a very good possibility and that’s good enough for me to listen to what they have to say. I’m going to leave the big questions up to the leaders of the countries and simply implore you as a citizen of the planet to consider these 5 simple changes in your daily life schedule to possibly change the path of human civilization.
1) Give your Car a Break
Walking is a great family activity that none of us do any enough anymore. I have “bad knees” but I still very much enjoy the opportunities when I’m able to walk around “the loop” over on Mouzons Bluff with my wife and son. We’re still the only house over here so there’s lot of nature and I love the little talks I get to have to with him and getting to catch up with my wife. It’s also the perfect time of year RIGHT NOW while the chill in the air is waving goodbye to the mosquitoes (I sure hope so at least) but it’s not too cold to have to bundle up.
So this weekend walk to Pete & Claudia’s or Pinckney Street Kitchen h yeah, and if you live more than a walk away from the restaurant an electric golf cart isn’t a bad way to travel if you have one, but you do have to keep in mind that unless you’ve got a solar panel on your roof or a windmill in your yard than that power is probably being produced by a coal plant at least until the State decides to put those giant wind turbines off the coat…but that’s another story I’m not going to get into here.
2) Recycle
I really don’t understand how people can not recycle in this modern age. Yes it’s a hassle in McClellanville because you have to take it to the dump yourself. If you’re a senior you can talk to someone from Presbyterian Churches Men’s Group and see about having them pick it up a for you. I know they provide this great service to a lot of the elderly around town. I’ve been trying for years now to convince the town to add recycling pickup, but the council has not felt so moved to make an action yet. Maybe if it were more than just me asking than they’d take more action (hint hint..HINT HINT). But consider this when you think that it’s too much work. Every weekend I not only round up the recycling from my house, but also from the two rental properties that I manage. At our local recycling center, you can recycle plastics #1 (soda and water bottles) and #2 (milk cartons), steel (soup) and aluminum (soda’s) cans, glass bottles, cardboard, newspapers, junk mail, magazines and paperboard (cereal boxes). Separating the recycling from our trash has cut our output in half. I just found out that you can get free blue recycling bins at the Mount Pleasant DMV. We have a bin under our sink next to the trashcan that we put all the cans and bottles in and a paper grocery bag next to it that we put our paper board into. We dump it into full size trashcan when they get full.
3) Switch to Fluorescent Light Bulbs
I’m slowly going through the house and doing this. These bulbs cost a little bit more but will lower your energy consumption as will unplugging unused electronics like TV’s and Computers. While you’re at it why don’t you replace all your appliances with more energy efficient ones. My friend over at Green Earth Equities is an eco-friendly house flipper that offers free classes and lots of great information on how you can make your house more environmentally friendly and get that money back when you go to sell. Now us East Coasters don’t have the same hippy movement going on here, but in a place like McClellanville I can’t help but think that we’re going to be one the firsts to embrace such a movement. I’ve already talked with several interested buyers who want to build green homes.
4) Compost
This is something that the Bates’ household has yet to do…in an organized fashion. Being that we have miles of woods in all directions of our house, we actually partake in the ultra-chic, super-sophisticated “Chunk the rotten food into the woods from my back porch” composting philosophy. Say what you will but my squishy tomatoes and stale bread aren’t ending up in a landfill and are being quickly returned to Mother Earth. The birds and squirrels are happy and who knows I might have some peach-apple-tomato hybrid sprouting up next year. If you live in the Historic District, your neighbors probably won’t appreciate your rotting fruit in their yard so, like me, you need to get or make a compost bin and start turn those coffee grounds and eggshells into to gold.
5) Plant a Tree
Isn’t Mother Nature amazing? You see how I was just talking about composting as a way to reduce waste and hear this beautiful byproduct will help fertilize your garden or plants. My mom is the gardener in my family. Maybe someday I’ll get organized enough to do that…but it’s doubtful. So in the mean time we’re simply trying to grow grass (it’s hard than you’d think when you’re working with pure sand). Seriously though. McClellanville is a proud member of Tree City USA (7 years running) and we have our very own Tree Committee to watch over our prize Oaks and help people just like you that want to plant a tree. So give them a call today if you need a little help with this one, but we need as many trees as possible to offset the growing human population.
What Other Bloggers Are Writing About
One last mention. I know most of you have probably heard about Twitter on the news and written it off as a meaningless tool…and I would agree with you to a large point, but this is what is really cool about it. Here is a LIVE feed of everyone in the WORLD talking about Blog Action Day and leaving links to the posts that they have written. You have to admit that’s a pretty amazing.
McClellanville: 20 Years after Hurricane Hugo
September 21st, 2009 Featured, McClellanville News Daniel Bates Comments
Hurricane Hugo - September 21st, 1989
It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since Hurricane Hugo muddied McClellanville’s timeline. The town has made an amazing comeback and it’s finally to the point that you don’t hear that four-letter word in everyday communication now. I certainly couldn’t say that 10 years ago. Time was still measured in terms of “before Hugo” and “after Hugo”, but that past is becoming more and more distant. This anniversary will come and go and my phone will cease to ring from reporters who read my first article about Hugo looking for an interview, maybe a before and after article or a “Where are They Now” piece to catch America up on what the little Village that could has been up to. They want me to point them in the direction of the best scoop, the biggest tear-jerker, or most triumphant return from despair. Well the truth is that’s the whole Village, that’s McClellanville.
A grim reminder of those who lost their lives in Hugo.
Everywhere you look there is someone with a story to tell, though you may not hear it if you shove a microphone in their face. No, they aren’t all stories to be told on the evening news; they’re meant to be told around dining room tables and shared with the intimacy of friends who will understand why you still tear up just thinking about it or why your face turns stiff with stoicism. People who did not evacuate survived through the fears of night by clinging to loved ones even as the water rose around them and praying only to have day break on the fear of the well being of other friends and family and the sadness of the destruction. There were no phone line (or cell phones for that matter), no water, and no power – trees and debris littered the land as far as one could see and a layer of mud and dead fish covered everything. People walked everywhere and passed along news of survival to those they met in the street. No one rested until they knew that everyone was OK and through the grace of God just one life was lost in McClellanville.
Much of the McClellanville shrimp boat fleet was grounded when the water receded
People didn’t just lose their house though, they lost their boats and in turn their livelihood, but the thing that brought them to tears that morning as the sun rose was seeing their wedding album infused with saltwater and mud. It wasn’t that their coffee table was missing it was that their great-grandmother’s coffee table was missing. I was nine at the time and I remember things through the eyes of child, but I grew up more in those few months following the storm than many people do in a lifetime. It sounds odd to say that we (my family and I) were spared because the water only came up to the baseboards in our house and a tree only fell on our boat, but when I looked at others that had seen the water rise to the baseboards of their second floor and trees fall on their houses, I realized that we were. We, like many others, made our house livable and began helping others who were far worse off.
A young Daniel Bates helps out at the ARA gym
Now on the verge of the 20 year anniversary, Hugo is a distant but indelible memory to many but with the flash of a picture, mention of a word, or a certain smell in the air comes a flood thoughts and the emotions that were associated with it at the time. Oddly as I’ve poured over these images and clips of our ravaged town I held myself together, but found myself in tears when thinking about the amazing love poured out by thousands of volunteers that put their own lives on hold to travel across the US and give of themselves. After spending a day throwing half of your worldly possessions on to a garbage pile in your front yard or mopping pound after pound of mud out of your house a smile and a warm bowl of soup was the most precious gift you could receive. Absolute strangers gave and gave until massive 18-wheeler trailers were filled and one after another they arrived with food, clothing, supplies, and volunteers to aid in the rebuilding efforts until the Archibald Rutledge Academy Gymnasium was literally about to burst at it’s seams. Some of these people still stay in touch and care greatly for the people they helped and return to visit the town that they met on it’s worst day and I know that their generosity has humbled us all to see the care and selflessness that our fellow man can give when moved to do so. I’d like to offer a special thanks to the residents of Ocean County, NJ for the gracious outpouring of supplies and volunteers, the West Virginia coal miners who cleared the roads, the town of Beaufort, and the many, many others who worked along their side.
Thank You to all those who volunteered in the months and years following Hurricane Hugo
And still to many more who have moved here since the Hugo, it is just a word, because they have no true knowledge of the events that transpired during and after Hugo in this sleepy village and that, to me, is the most important reason that we memorialize these events, so they will not be forgotten but live on as an important part of the history of McClellanville. Camera’s weren’t as prevalent as they are now and most people had their hands too covered in mud to worry about taking pictures, but the ones that did snap a few shots give us a wonderful ability to look back at these events through eyes not blurred with tears and share our stories with those around us. The following images were taken by my late grandfather, William Baldwin, and McClellanville resident Jim Yergin.
If you haven’t already visited the Town Hall to see Hugo:The Storm in Black in White by the Village Museum you should go. Bud Hill has put together a great collection of images from the storm and opened up his scrapbook of Hugo newspaper clippings to the public and it is truly worth your time. SCETV has also been rerunning their old Hurricane Hugo pieces and a new one entitled The Big Picture: Hurricane Hugo – 20 Years Later with past scenes of McClellanville and interviews of a few residents. Please feel free to pass this along to all you know and love and leave your comments.
* Legal Notice – Copyright 2009 by MyMcClellanville.net – You are free to republish portions or in entirety with credit given to individual photographers noted on the slides and MyMcClellanville.net (link must be included if published on the web).
2009 Hurricane Season Begins…and I need your help
June 1st, 2009 Headline, McClellanville Events, Ramblings Daniel Bates Comments
Hurricane season is once again upon us and this year will mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo which devastated McClellanville on September 21st (and well into the 22nd) of 1989. Amazingly there was no loss of life within the town, but the path of destruction was the worst left by a hurricane at it’s time and McClellanville was ground zero. Anyone that lived here at the time knows that there are many reasons to not want to relive the agony and loss experienced. However, I’d like to propose that after 20 years we are due for an “I Survived Hurricane Hugo” celebration and remembrance.
I’ll be posting more about Hurricane Hugo and hurricane preparedness later, but to prepare for the coming anniversary I would like to gather pictures of the village after Hugo in order to prepare a slideshow. Fallen trees, muddy floors and streets, damaged homes and boats, volunteers, National Guard, cleanup efforts, whatever you have that will add to the story.
If you have a scanner you can scan and email your photos to me. Otherwise I will be scanning pictures. You can submit them at our office and I will scan them and get them back to you as soon as possible. Be sure to mark them with your information so nothing gets mixed and they are returned to the right place. You can submit individual pictures or packages and I will sort through them and choose the best. Through this effort, we will be preserving these images forever. If we get enough images I will even prepare a slideshow presentation for the town and make CD’s available. All credit will be given to the original photographers, so please feel free to submit your best images.
We have a whole new population in the village that didn’t live through this experience that forever reshaped the way we viewed life. Many have seen scrapbooks from one person or another, but few know the whole story. An event like this can pull us together as a stronger community as we share our past experiences. As the eyes of the nation fall on us again I propose that we present an image fitting the way that we banded together after Hugo to repair the Village.
There is no denying that it was a horrible experience. A decade later, we still used “before Hugo” and “after Hugo” as the major time indicator. I know some suffered enormous financial loss, but I dare say that McClellanville is a better place because of those tragedies because of what we learned about ourselves in the rebuilding process. We learned the generosity of the human race as volunteers poured in to help a small town they had never heard of but saw only glimpses of on the news. FEMA was probably less helpful than their dreadful performance in New Orleans after Katrina, but nobody gave up and begged for a handout. We rebuilt.
If you ask most people you’ll find that the biggest tragedy wasn’t the shrimpboat in their front yard, 6 inches of mud in their house, or even their missing roof…it was that grandma’s quilt was missing or the ruined wedding album. These are the things that we lost that we’ll never get back. I was only 9 at the time of Hugo and couldn’t grasp that at the time (it was a big adventure for me, since there was no school for weeks and weeks and tons of new things to see) but I realize this now.
So dust off your scrap books and share your stories as we remember a part of our history that helped make us the town we are today…Who’s with me?
Update: These picture provided were used to create a gallery in my McClellanville: 20 Years after Hurricane Hugo posts
Shrimpboat picture courtesy of Mike Burton.
McClellanville Mother’s Day Wrap-up
May 10th, 2009 McClellanville Events, Neighborhoods Daniel Bates Comments
My Mother’s day in McClellanville was spent watching my little one to give mom a well deserved break. We wrapped up the day by going to the Town Hall to the “Mothers Who Love Puppies Benefit Concert” to benefit Helping Hand Animal Rescue & Rehab Therapy to hear Kathy Livingston (the one from Nature Adventures Outfitters) sing. She had a great voice, singing a great mix of kids songs, folk songs, beach songs, and contemporary and all of her record sales go to charity.
Ken Burger had a great article in the Post and Courier about being “Raised by a Hundred Mothers“, a feeling I can definitely relate to having grown up in McClellanville. I’ve written about the it-takes-a-village mentality before, but Burger puts it best with this line, “Looking back, there were truly super women. They worked full time, sang in the choir, volunteered at the school, taught us to dance, held our families together and somehow found time to raise a village full of children.”
The Post and Courier also reported on one of our own this weekend, St. James Santee Episcople Churches minister, Jennie Olbrych. I adore Jennie. She is an amazing woman who is passionate about God’s word and always willing to help members of the community despite not living in McClellanville. You can spot her in the videos on my most recent Shrimp Festival article as she has been responsible for blessing the fleet the past few years…come rain or shine.
Finally, I’d be remiss to not take a moment to acknowledge the two mom’s that make my everyday life possible. My Mom, Susan Bates, lives just around the corner from me. I can literally see her house through the woods (do I get credit for not being a momma’s boy if I told you that I lived away from home for 8 years?). My mom is a strong, confident, and beautiful woman. My wife and I both have a great relationship with her (and my dad) and eat dinner with them almost every week (Thursday’s are Survivor night at the Bates house). She’s also been a Godsend the past two years watching our son while we work and even allowing the occasional date night and I’m so happy he has someone like her to take him out in the garden, tromping in the woods, and crabbing.
My wife, Josie is my rock! We were friends before dating and as a result know each other very well and compliment each others weaknesses. She is an amazing mother with the perfect amount of discipline and love for our son. She keeps me grounded but always supports me a rare thing to find. She works hard and always has a smile on her beautiful face. I definitely couldn’t do all the things I do without the help from these two great women and I often call upon them to review my articles, so my website wouldn’t be the same without them either.
PS – Charleston Painter, Katherine Muschick, wrote a great article about the McClellanville Arts Council’s Youth Art Show, so please check that out and leave a comment on her site. Congratulations to the great local artists as well!
Strawberry Picking at Patriots Farms
May 7th, 2009 McClellanville Events Daniel Bates Comments
Patriots Farms
10970 A N. Hwy 17
843-887-4010
Pre-picked Bucket: $10
U-pick Bucket: $7.50
A few miles north of McClellanville on Highway 17 you’ll find Patriots Farms, or as it is more commonly known, “the strawberry farm”. The strawberries have just ripened and will only be in season for another month or so, so be sure to go get some soon. You may want to give them a call and listen to the answering machine message for their times as it may change depending on the availability of the crop. If you’re picking your own ($7.50 per bucket), I’d recommend the morning while it’s still cool. You can easily fill a bucket in twenty or thirty minutes worth of picking…even with a 2-year-old robbing a few. Or you can pick up a bucket of freshly picked strawberries for just $10. They also have strawberry jams and honey.
Not only is strawberry picking a great summer activity, but they’re of course a tasty treat that can be prepared many ways. They’re great as a snack all by themselves or on cereal or shortbread with whipped cream or baked into a cobbler. I personally love to cut the tops off and lay them on a baking sheet and freeze them. From there you transfer them to zip lock bags and keep them year round. Use them like ice cubes, a cold treat, or blend them up in daiquiris!
