Private Chef in McClellanville, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Plans are finally in motion to replace the old Lincoln High School with a brand new school in McClellanville.

It's been nearly a decade since Lincoln High closed. At a board meeting Wednesday night, there was finally talk of what a new school would bring the community.

Charleston County School District leaders presented a slideshow detailing the future of the new high school and middle school in northern Charleston County.

Since the closure of Lincoln High School, kids are waking up earlier to make the bell at Wando High and returning home late because of the long drive.

The constituent school board said a new school will bring relief to the people living in Awendaw and it will provide help to the schools already reaching capacity.

The district is looking at attendance lines within the area while looking at creating a magnet program.

"I do believe a partial magnet or magnet program of some kind might be within the programming options and given that it's going to have a size of 1,000 students it will probably need to pull in some areas other than just the McClellanville and Awendaw area," said Pamela Jouan-Goldman, Chair of the District 2 Constituent School Board.

Scenarios of possible zoning were shown during the meeting.

The methodology was based off the fiscal year 2022 data.

Parents voiced their concerns of drawing the line further down into Mount Pleasant.

"You do not want to force a family who is living right next door to a school go up the road to another school if at all possible so that's why were looking at the magnet as an opportunity to attract families that want to go there despite any increase in distance then they would have," Chief Operating Officer of CCSD Jeff Borowy said.

The district's goal is to get 500 students in both the middle and high school.

Thomas Colleton, Chair of the District 1 Constituent Board, said the school will need to offer something enticing.

“It is important to this build the school but at the same time let's figure out what were going to be doing inside. The curriculum means a lot," Colleton said.

“I don't know how much it would make sense to drive by Wando High School to get on (Highway) 17 to go up to Awendaw, but it does sound like they are going to have different specific programs at their school. So for example if they have got a great art program and my daughter is really into art, that sounds like a nice option to have," said Jonathan Mars, a parent of students at Carolina Park.

Colleton said it's crucial everyone is transparent throughout this process.

Their next steps will be to develop a blue-ribbon committee to review these options and create a draft to be presented to the constituent boards in October.

"I'm hopeful this blue ribbon commission will ease some of this tension, and let people know going to another school, which would be a state of the art school, why wouldn't you want your child to go there," Colleton said.

The Kaiser Farm Tract property was leased in December of 2021 to the former owner to be used as a hay farm.

The three-year lease agreement is able to be terminated at any time with a 90-day notice.

It's also possible a park and library could be built on the property in the future.

7 of the Most Unique Towns in South Carolina

Known for its lovely weather, sandy beaches, and refreshing natural activities, South Carolina is an amazing state filled with particular towns featuring amazing historical, cultural, and natural sights. Aisles of delightful pastel-colored houses, mesmerizing waterfront views, and the delectable classic Southern supper shape the soul of these welcoming communities. The "Palmetto State" has settlements of all shapes and sizes, from harbor towns to mountain hamlets to modern villages. If you seek a relaxing stroll through a green natural park, like Trailblazer Park in Travelers Rest, an adrenaline-rich paddleboarding adventure on Prestwood Lake near Hartsville, or a limitless Oktoberfest celebration in Walhalla, these unique South Carolina villages got you covered. So, take a moment to behold this all-American land laden with green natural scenery and festivals — South Carolina is waiting for you!

McClellanville

Turning your back to the Atlantic Ocean, McClellanville is where fishing, oystering, and shrimping are not just business but a way of life. The dense Francis Marion National Forest surrounds this small fishing town and grants a misty landscape usually found only in fairy tales. McClellanville has traditionally relied on the Atlantic Ocean and the coastal marshes for seafood provisions, which play a dominant role in the town's economy. The first store opened soon after the Civil War. Today, one can find many behind the ship masts. If one seeks to taste the fruit of the fishers' labor, T W Graham & Co provides a great selection of seafood dishes spanning from muscles to fried shrimps paired with scallops and french fries.

Travelers Rest

Travelers Rest enjoys the southern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina's magnificent Upcountry region. This cozy getaway once served as a hiding spot for the Lowcountry travelers who traveled through the highlands from the hot summer days. Those journeymen did not use highways but instead walked along iconic trails like the unique Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve loop. Surrounded by the green forest, this trail still feels like a blast from the past, stepping where those journeymen once walked, and is popular with many tourists. Visitors to Travelers Rest can spend quality time at Trailblazer Park, where the green space is replete with fun attractions like a live music stage, food gazebos, car shows, and occasional movie projections.

Landrum

Amidst the rolling hills and pastureland near the North Carolina border, Landrum boasts breathtaking natural wonders. Landrum ensures a warm and inviting atmosphere that will enhance your visit to this town. The nearby Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve provides many hiking trails, charming waterfalls, and stunning vistas belonging to story books. Spanning across Beaverdam Creek, the iconic Campbell's Covered Bridge with its red-colored wood goes in pendant with the fall foliage of the surrounding trees. Hikers will find the Palmetto Trail at the 575-acre Blue Wall Preserve very stimulating, with its scenic paths along Lanny's Falls past the twin ponds. Staying in town, downtown Landrum has plenty of artsy shops, boutiques, welcoming eateries, and antique shops like Landrum Eclectics, a Beautiful home full of antique and vintage pieces that warmly welcomes every customer.

York

York combines urban charm and small-town tranquility, where the nearby James Ross Wildlife Reservation forest quietly infiltrates the settlement. The town maintains a deep reverence for its history, which is showcased through its beautifully preserved historic district. One can admire the splendidly unique 19th-century buildings in the downtown area or explore one of the many museums. For example, the Museum of York County is a heritage museum that grants a naturalist center with hands-on programs and tells the story of York County. Moreover, York boasts a collection of historical landmarks highlighting its importance in American history. Among these is the McCelvey Center, an esteemed establishment listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nearby Kings Mountain State Park provides the perfect setting for activities such as camping, hiking, or simply enjoying the natural heaven that surrounds you.

Walhalla

Walhalla overlooks the reaching shores of Lake Keowee near the Georgia border. Home to 4,072 hard-working people, Walhalla's community is known for its incredible natural scenery and its German heritage. German immigrants who sought refuge from the German revolutions of the mid-1800s settled here and named the town after "Valhalla" from Norse Mythology. Thanks to the prevalent German culture, the town also holds a massive annual Oktoberfest celebration with thousands of beer pints.

Besides the town's German history, there is a lot more to discover at places such as the Museum of Cherokee. This museum showcases South Carolina's Cherokee Native American heritage through artifacts, pottery, and texts. One of the most popular attractions is Issaqueena Falls, a beautiful rocky waterfall. The view of this amazing cascade is accessible only by its namesake trail and is one of the most unique sites to visit in the state! Visiting Walhalla will be just like entering the Nordic heaven.

Georgetown

Georgetown is the third oldest city in the state of South Carolina and the second-largest seaport. Part of what makes Georgetown unique is its beautiful historic homes, adorned with gracious porches, shaded, live-oak canopies, and sparkling waterways. Georgetown is easy on the eyes and provides distinct natural beauty. Georgetown has over 50 antebellum mansions in and around its downtown district, with some rumored to be haunted by ghosts, demons, and other entities. If you are into spooky tours, feel free to join the unique Ghosts of Georgetown lantern tour for a shivering experience through town.

For nature lovers, the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Center grants visitors an eye-watering 24,000 acres of pristine nature and hosts hundreds of animals, including American alligators and loggerhead sea turtles. Strolling along the town's scenic Harborwalk, one might find some of Georgetown's fine eateries. For example, Soco Grille delights customers with its juicy brisket and wide selection of seafood offerings.

Hartsville

Prestwood Lake bounds the small town of Hartsville, creating a fantastic ambiance. Hartsville combines a collection of cultural attractions and a wide range of natural wonders. When it comes to nature, Hartsville houses many gorgeous gardens and parks filled with scenic views, such as the Kalmia Gardens, which displays 30 acres of floral biodiversity and is a great place to start your Hartsville journey. Another must-see attraction is the Hartsville Museum, an old 1930s post office that has been repurposed into a home for history and art. This museum also boasts historical movie exhibits, a sculpture garden, and a mural featuring the town's first commercial studio. For outdoor lovers, the nearby Prestwood Lake grants 280 acres of water sports fun, a perfect setting for swimming, kayaking, or even paddleboarding. For a more relaxing experience, the Hartsville Memorial Library is a great place to relax and wind down. This library was established in 1920 and has hundreds of books on display, as well as magazines and even historic newspaper prints.

South Carolina is a stronghold of that unique old-school American charm, and its small towns are proof that pairing natural beauty with historical legacy is an excellent match. From the small fishing town of McClellanville with its ever-crowded port to the splendidly restored 19th-century buildings in downtown York or the sweeping Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center Heritage Center with its free wildlife near Georgetown, South Carolina's communities are eager to show their peculiarity and charm with travelers of all origins. Each of these towns serves as a refuge of curiosities and provides a peaceful ambiance in their unique way.

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MCCLELLANVILLE — Larry Mcclellan can look from the porch of his century old farmhouse out across Jeremy Creek where the shrimp boats rock under their hanging nets.

Mcclellan captains one of the boats there and his son captains another. The creek, which leads to the rich Bulls Bay shellfish waters, is his livelihood and his life. The hub of it all, where the boats are moored, is the Carolina Seafood dock.

That's how integral Carolina Seafood owner Rutledge Leland's business is to McClellanville, the modest fishing village north of Charleston.

The seafood dock is the cultural heart of the place. And it could be lost.

Mcclellan was among a roomful of town residents who turned out at a Charleston County Greenbelt meeting last week to support an East Cooper Land Trust request for funding to conserve the Carolina Seafood dock as an open space and cultural heritage worth protecting with sales tax dollars, but also as a business.

The support "is almost unanimous in this town," Mcclellan said.

Traditional commercial fishing docks like Leland's are disappearing across the state because of the niche nature of the business in an international market, as well as development pressures on the lucrative waterfront properties.

But in a region where tasty fresh shrimp, oysters and finfish are sought-after delicacies, commercial dock space is critical for offloading, fueling, taking on ice and provisions and conducting general maintenance.

Saving the docks has become a priority for local groups such as the East Cooper trust, which is working with Leland and other McClellanville residents to pay Leland $1.3 million to put the space under a conservation easement.

Mixing business and nature isn't a conventional project for conservation groups. But they are turning more to public-private community efforts to conserve the traditions of a place as growth and expansion is seeing the region become more urban. The move has drawn criticism as costing the public too much money in relation to conserving less urban tracts.

Catherine Main, the East Cooper trust director, points to other private-public waterfront conservations seen in Okracoke, North Carolina, and Portland, Maine.

"It has been done before and has been done before successfully," she said. "We look at culture and history as important to protect the natural and scenic character of the community."

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The trust's proposal is to put into conservation easement the dock's 2 acres while opening 1 acre as a community park with a sort of riverwalk working waterfront and restricting commercial use of the other acre to fishing. The Greenbelt committee asked them to resubmit the proposal with more emphasis on the conservation.

The trust plans to go back to the committee with more details and a park design that would include open spaces under live oaks and spots to view wildlife such as dolphins and pelicans.

Leland would add $337,000 to the effort. The conservation payment wouldn't be a windfall for him, he said. The dock needs to be rebuilt, the seafood house renovated with more advanced equipment.

Carolina Seafood handles 70 percent of the shrimp that comes into Charleston County, which is 30 percent of the shrimp that comes into South Carolina, according to state figures. It is one of the last of a handful of seafood houses left in the state.

The dock is the main mooring for the local commercial boats. A second commercial dock in town has been sold and its seafood house is operating on a lease. The expectation is the property eventually will be developed residentially.

Already the shellfish boats motor down Jeremy Creek past waterfront home docks that cost more than the boat captains' houses. They pass yacht-size sports fishing boats docked where commercial fishing boats used to tie off.

Leland is 75 years old. He has made a life at the dock since his father brought him down there as a toddler in a life jacket nearly as big as he was.

Running a seafood house, negotiating prices for varying catches in a market that constantly shifts with supply and demand "is not an easy job to put anybody in," he said.

"I've wanted for years to do something to commit this property to local fishermen. I never could come up with a plan," he said. "There are a lot of people in town who depend on this dock for a paycheck."

Leland has talked with the captains about forming a community co-op to run the place and hopes the conservation of the property will help them do it.

He, like everyone else in McClellanville, sees the massive growth in the Charleston area and new homes going up in town.

"It's a reality. You have to deal with realities," Leland said. "I would like to see this place set aside for commercial fishing. I'd just hate to see that go away, and I'm going to do everything I can to help keep it."

Shallow redfish rule in McClellanville’s vast backwater areas

Winter has set in, and many anglers have retired their boats until spring. But along the South Carolina coastline, fishing opportunities are far from over. The shallows make the McClellanville area a redfish hot spot.

Anglers know where the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge is and will head to this relatively desolate area to take the wide-open spaces. One is Matt Burke of Skinny Water Guide Service. He spends as much time in the area midway between Georgetown and Charleston, chasing redfish in super-shallow water.

“Redfish congregate in schools over the winter in shallow water about as skinny as they can get it,” said Burke (843-340-6705). “They choose shallow water for thermal warmth and to avoid predators.”

Cape Romain and Bulls Bay offer a wealth of habitat in the super skinny category. The scattered islands and shallow marsh is pristine and a perfect situation for harboring a wintering population of redfish. They congregate in groups in shallow flats back in the bays and along the shallow margins along the ICW.

Redfish travel in groups from 15 to 100. Burke doesn’t think the size of the school is as important as its level of activity.

“The size of the school really doesn’t matter. I prefer active fish. I like to see some fish movement of some sort. It can be the fish pushing around or even just with bait flipping,” he said.

“I look for mid-day low tides between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The exposed mud will heat up with the sun that warms up the water as it rises. When the water warms up, the fish are a little happier.”

Burke approaches a school carefully and makes deliberate casts.

“I prefer to cast nearly weightless flies in the winter to have the lightest presentation as possible,” he said. He prefers No. 4 flies that could be a small shrimp, minnow or crab. It’s the gentle presentation that will get a red’s attention. He also uses spinning tackle and small scented soft plastics on a light jighead.

Apart from duck hunters and some transient traffic along the ICW, most saltwater estuaries are void of traffic due to the chilly conditions. But for anglers looking to have a little wintertime fun, McClellanville is a redfish hot spot. It can be epic and well worth the price of admission.

As the floodwater rose, Elizabeth Young hoisted her two grandsons, ages 3 and 4, on top of a refrigerator, and said a silent prayer that they would survive Hurricane Hugo.

The electricity in Lincoln High School in McClellanville had gone out hours before as the killer storm descended on South Carolina Sept. 21 and 22, 1989.

Now, Young and hundreds of other residents who had sought shelter in the Charleston County school huddled and cried in the dark as the north side of the eyewall passed over.

The water in the school kept inching higher and higher.

To their knees.

Then, their waists.

Then, their chests.

State and local officials had directed residents of the tiny fishing village, population 400, to seek shelter at the school as the storm moved in.

“(The school) never should have been a shelter, but no one knew that then,” said Young recently. “The water took over the building. We thought we were going to die. We knew we were trapped and couldn’t get out.”

With every door sealed tight by the rising water, evacuees climbed on top of tables, chairs, a stage in the cafeteria. One man in a wheelchair was lifted onto a table.

Young and her pregnant daughter, Sharon Brown, then 27, remained standing in the school’s home economics room so they could take turns holding Brown’s squirming boys on top of the refrigerator. The warm water inching up their chests, the two women prayed as small fish, crabs and bits of sea shells floated by.

“Miss Young,” said a friend standing nearby. “We came over here to drown.”

McClellanville — just 30 miles from where Hugo made landfall — was one of South Carolina’s hardest hit spots. And the stories that came out of Lincoln High School are some of the most harrowing.

With no major hurricane directly hitting South Carolina in about 30 years, many S.C. coastal residents chose not to evacuate.

But Hugo would be a different storm. A storm that South Carolina will never forget.

At Lincoln High, some tired of being overcrowded and elected to swim around in the water, clinging to buoyant belongings.

Jaynian White and 14 other members of her family floated near the ceiling of the band room, according to reporting by The State in September 1989. White tied her 1-year-old son to her while someone else lifter her 5-year-old son of top of a shelf. Her 82-year-old grandmother was held afloat by two other family members.

Even emergency personnel stationed at the shelter were caught off guard and rendered as helpless as the evacuees.

As paramedic George Metts wrote later: “The enormity of our situation was staggering. We were totally trapped. The tidal surge had risen so rapidly that we had no time to call for help. My walkie-talkie had gotten wet earlier and now it had fallen into the inky darkness. We were on our own. The water was still rising and those that could were packed like sardines on the stage.”

A few men managed to climb out a window and climb to the school’s roof. They had escaped the floodwater but were now buffeted by ferocious winds and flying debris, including terracotta shingles being ripped from the school’s roof.

Then, the water stopped rising. Perhaps two or three hours after the floodwater penetrated Lincoln High School, it began to seep out, the storm having moved inland, toward Columbia and Sumter.

“It was horrible but it was also a miracle,” Sharon Brown recently told The State. “Not one soul, not one person drowned.”

Daylight soon came, and people exited the building to inspect Hugo’s toll.

Homes were blown off their foundations. Cars had floated every which way, too, some deposited on top of each other. Coffins lay in the streets, washed out of their graves in nearby cemeteries.

As South Carolina picked up the pieces in the months to come, officials learned that a mistake had been made when Lincoln High was designated a storm shelter. The school, just a quarter-mile from the Intracoastal Waterway, was wrongly thought to stand at a much higher elevation.

These days, the school is closed — shut down in 2016. Outside its darkened cafeteria is a plaque, mounted slightly above eye level, marking the high water line of the storm surge.

Young, now 82, doesn’t need to see the plaque to remember.

“When I hear about a storm coming, Hugo comes back on me — all the memories of it, everything flashes right back on me,” she said. “It was bad but it also gave us courage. To be able to survive anything.”

Editor’s Note: This story includes 2014 reporting by writer Jason Ryan. Reporter Cody Dulaney contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 21, 2019, 5:00 AM.