I got a phone call Saturday morning telling me that I should go down to the dock of Palmer’s Point and take a look across the creek.  You can imagine my surprise when I saw a plane pulled up at Leland Marine next to the typical array of of yachts, house boats, shrimp boats, and barges.  McClellanville’s local librarian, Pat Gross shared a few more pictures of the plane actually cruising down the creek and taking off and the heart-touching story behind the pilot.

She said that pilot is a gentleman from Florida and accompanied only by his cocker spaniel.  He loves flying but has had bone cancer three times and is afraid that if it returns he won’t be able to pass the flight physical any more.  So he is just out enjoying life to the fullest.  He was taking a flight along the coast when he realized that the closest place for a pontoon plane to land was 60 miles inland on one of the lakes, so he took his 1949 Aeronca Sedan down on the Intracoastal Waterway and cruised into Jeremy Creek to the Marina.  She added that he loves McClellanville as much as we all do and plans to return again soon.  Well sir, from all of McClellanville, we hope to see you soon and wish you a healthy recovery and full remission.

Lights, Camera, Action!

More than two years after the filming of The New Daughter in McClellanville it has finally been released on DVD after witnessing brief and very limited theater screenings.  I got a copy over the weekend and while I’m not going to become a movie critic here, I will tell you that I enjoyed it.  Having met the two child actors that play Costner’s children, I have to say what a great job they both did.  Ivana Baquero, who speaks with no noticeable accent despite English being her second language, should definitely be admired for her title role.  Kevin Costner never disappoints (I even liked Waterworld) but I don’t think that the script gave any of the characters much depth.   The Wedge and it’s surroundings, where most of the movie was filmed, are quite scenic but and also creepy at night. In case you’re not aware, let me just warn everyone that this isn’t Dances with Wolves, it’s a horror movie.  Here’s the official trailer. Note that Costner says “Real-a-tor”, a pet peeve of all Realtors®, since it’s not a real word.

If scary movie’s aren’t your cup of tea, then you won’t enjoy this movie despite your love of seeing McClellanville on the big screen TV.  So if it’s not something for you, I thought I’d share a few shots of McClellanville from the film with you so that you don’t feel like you missed out.  Like most movies a lot of shots wound up on the cutting room floor. I didn’t spot anyone from McClellanville although I’m told that one of the dead bodies is Emmy Bronson (but correct me if I’m wrong) I also didn’t see any shots of the Arts Council which was supposed to have been transformed into the police station (see photo above), but here is what I did noticed:

Mercy looks a lot like McClellanville

The Wedge - looks great in the daylight.

Lower the lights and add some fog and it's a different story

Ivana Baquero totally ignores McClellanville out her window

Costner and Mathis enjoying dinner at T.W.Grahams

Costner picking up supplies in Bulls Bay Hardware

Copyright © 2009 Gold Circle Films LLC

514 Romain Road – $940,000

First up is a brand new listing just added this week.  It’s a gorgeous 4 bedroom, 4 bath waterfront home with over 150 feet of frontage on Jeremy Creek and a large deep-water dock.  It’s the prettiest lot in all of McClellanville with 4 massive live oaks on a spacious lot.  The nearly 2800 square feet feel much more spacious with a very open floor plan that will accommodate any number of needs.  I’ve been managing this house as a vacation rental for the last 3 years and would be happy to continue for new owner.

8 Mouzons Bluff – $69,500

Looking for an affordable lot to build you home in McClellanville?  This lot is build-ready and is the cheapest 1+ acre lot in McClellanville town limits.   Amazingly, it is also located in Mouzons Bluff community which entitles it to use of the future community dock on the Intracoastal Waterway and park on Otter Creek, just walking distance from this lot.  Now that’s value!

22 Mouzons Bluff – $100,000

This is the lowest priced waterfront lot in the McClellanville and Awendaw real estate market.  It’s 3/4 of an acre and has over 100 feet of frontage on Otter Creek.  You can watch wildlife and launch a kayak from your own back yard.  Just like 8 Mouzons Bluff, this lot will also have access to the future community dock on the Intracoastal Waterway.  So for just $30k more you’re upgrading to waterfront!

3 Romain Road – $480,000

Waterfront lots are a commodity in McClellanville and this one is the lowest priced lot on deep-water in McClellanville.  It has a view of the Intracoastal Waterway, Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Romain lighthouse.  In addition to being on Jeremy Creek, this lot is also bounded on one side by Otter Creek.  If you’ve been waiting for affordable waterfront property with immediate access to prime fishing and boating grounds, this is your chance.

Please feel free to call me for a private tour of any or all of these beautiful properties – Daniel Bates -  843-606-0622

Disclosure: Agent is Related to Seller of 3 Romain, 22 Mouzons Bluff, and 514 Romain

As a child, the Shrimp Festival was always a reminder to me that Mother’s Day was coming soon and I’d better find something nice for mom because I wouldn’t get another chance to go to town.  When I was off in college it was a chance to go back home and cut loose McClellanville-style.  And now it’s a time when my in-laws come visit and brighten my wife’s day.  They just love the down-home feel of McClellanville, our perfect climate, and all that the Shrimp Festival has to offer.  Last year they got to ride out on one of the shrimp boats during the blessing (while I filmed from across the creek) and had a blast.

It’s sometimes hard to remember that all this fun is for two great causes.  First, the event is put on by and benefits Archibald Rutledge Academy.  And while some people may think of the blessing as just a small part of the whole days events,  it’s truly the most important part.  It’s sometimes hard for those of us that aren’t in the shrimping business to remember the struggles of McClellanville’s biggest industry.  But by taking a moment to bless the fleet as they start off a new season of hard work and long hours spent away from family to bring us home those tasty crustaceans and try to make a living, we are giving them our prayers and best wishes for a successful and prosperous year.  So Just Say No to Imported Shrimp!

Let me know if you want to make a weekend of it and need a place to stay in beautiful McClellanville.

Past Shrimp Festival Articles:
31st Lowcountry Shrimp Festival
32nd Lowcountry Shrimp Festival
33rd Lowcountry Shrimp Festival

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.