Winter Is Upon Us
December 21, 2020
By Tom Poland As I write it’s 38 degrees and rain is falling. We always seem to be just a few degrees away from snow. This winter a light…
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If Another Earth Exists
December 16, 2020
By Tom Poland There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility…
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Shifting Gears, End Of The Road
December 10, 2020
By Tom Poland Driving a straight means real driving. Need to pass a slowpoke? Down shift to third and hit it. By 5th gear he’s in the rearview mirror.…
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Two local businesses hosting socially distanced visits with Santa
December 7, 2020Sitting on Santa’s lap and sharing a Christmas wish list is just one of the many activities that has been impacted by the coronavirus this year. With a number of…
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Amazon announces 2020’s Best Books of the Year
December 3, 2020
On November 19, Amazon announced 2020’s Best Books of the Year, selecting Brittany K. Barnett’s “A Knock at Midnight” as the top pick. The inspiring true story is a brilliant…
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Nature’s Engineers
December 3, 2020
By Tom Poland Back when I worked in wildlife cinematography, I tried to film the beavers on an old woodland pond back home. I’d get up before dark and…
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Healthy Holiday Travel, Fun Starts With You (Literally)
November 23, 2020
By Dr. Cynthia Feldman, PharmD, MBA As fall blurs into a long holiday season, lots of things can make us feel pretty icky, and we pharmacists are trained to be…
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The Sad Ballad Of Moses Corley
November 23, 2020
By Tom Poland Each Thanksgiving, I Remember Moses We all cross paths with a person we can’t forget. And so, a man by the beautiful name of Moses Corley…
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Where Big Trees, History, and Preservation Live
November 19, 2020
By Tom Poland October 26 found me on a history adventure courtesy of Ralph Scurry. Ralph and I met at a book talk in Edgefield several years ago. Ralph…
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South Carolina’s Hammock Coast gears up for festive holiday season
November 17, 2020
The “Most Wonderful Time of Year” is nearly upon us and while Christmas celebrations in 2020 will be different, they will be no less special along South Carolina’s Hammock Coast.…
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When The Apothecary Worked Magic
November 10, 2020
By Tom Poland Remember the old drugstores? Most have faded into the night. They retreated to a place called “Obscurity” but I recall them with fondness and I feel…
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A Page Right Out Of Americana
November 4, 2020
By Tom Poland My excursions along backroads always reveal two nostalgic sights: the rusting tin and decaying wood of crumbling barns and old pickup trucks beneath sheds. They’re going…
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Things That Scare Us
October 29, 2020
By Tammy Davis Halloween has always been a stress-free holiday. Until 2020. To trick or treat or not? That is the question. Like most 2020 issues, there is no…
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Black Cats, Bad Luck, & Worse Luck
October 29, 2020
By Tom Poland Was it left to right, or right to left? When a black cat crossed the highway in front of Dad, he made a sweeping “X” movement…
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All Kinds of Heroes
October 22, 2020
By Tammy Davis Part Three of a Series on the Life of American Hero Major James Capers, Jr. Part Two here. He finally convinced the girl of his dreams…
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The Epitome Of Elegance
October 12, 2020
By Tom Poland Not that many years ago I wrote about Cape Romain Refuge in Aida Roger’s original trend-setting volume, State of the Heart South Carolina Writers on the…
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Down South – Sheltering Along The Back Roads
October 8, 2020
By Tom Poland March 13, 2020 seems an eternity ago. That day my niece, Benton, got an unwelcome big 4-O birthday gift—a national emergency courtesy of COVID-19. “How lucky…
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Shelter Rock, Rock of Ages
September 30, 2020
By Tom Poland DATELINE NORTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY—Boulders loom over land, gray and long like sperm whales. One, like some stallion’s back, seems ready for a colossal saddle. Massive rocks…
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Trident United Way working to inform Tri-County high cost of living
September 28, 2020Self Sufficiency Standard study highlights our region as one of the highest costs of living areas in S.C., further emphasizing the vital work Trident United Way does to improve…
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An Atlantis Of Our Own
September 10, 2020
By Tom Poland Atlantis sank into the sea around 380 B.C. So said Plato. Its founders were half god and half human. Its lush islands contained gold and silver…
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A Hero On and Off The Battlefields
September 2, 2020
By Tammy Davis Part Two of a Series About Bishopville, SC Native, Major James Capers, Jr. In the 1970s, he was the face of the Marines. Literally. The…
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Highway 79, A Historic Route
September 1, 2020
By Tom Poland Driving north on Highway 79 you see beautiful country in a region rich with history yet a tad poor looking. Don’t let the lack of development…
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Home Town Heroes
August 27, 2020
By Tom Poland Ware Shoals, SC Has One I wish every small town had a hero, someone who walks onto the national stage and stays untarnished by changing…
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Major James Capers, Jr. – An American Hero, Part One
August 24, 2020
By Tammy Davis He had no birth certificate. When he needed security clearance to join the Marines, the FBI made up a birth date for him – August 25,…
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Mr. Clifford’s Wild Turkey Heaven
August 19, 2020
By Tom Poland In a place called Childhood, Georgia, I worked for a country store grocer, Clifford M. Goolsby, who loved to hunt turkeys. Each spring the small town…
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The Roadside Stand
August 13, 2020
By Tom Poland Two words say it all. “Delicious simplicity.” No register. Cash and carry. Paper bags to hold jewels polished by the farmer’s hands. A friendly face. Produce…
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The Mystery of Huguenot, Georgia
August 6, 2020
By Tom Poland I grew up unlettered as Huguenots go. That changed much later after I moved to South Carolina. There I drove along Huger and Gervais Street and…
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First-ever, free Drive-Through S.C. State Fair to be held Oct. 20-21, 2020
July 29, 2020
In an effort to give back to the community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit South Carolina State Fair will host its first-ever free, Drive-Through S.C. State Fair…
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Tallulah Point Outlook, Part One
July 23, 2020
By Tom Poland An Enduring Icon Endures No More In that precious time of boyhood summers, our family would drive from Lincoln County, Georgia, to the North Carolina…
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Ghost Stories
July 14, 2020
By Tom Poland Great Aunt Annie, long buried in some graveyard up Asheville way, told me ghost stories when I was a boy. I’d sit by a hissing wood…
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A Defense Against Wine Snobbery
July 8, 2020
By Thomas H. George Founder, Bacchus & Books Ah, the wine snob. We all know one (or more!). In my view they give wine a bad name, because wine should…
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Saws, Maters, & Men Long Gone
July 8, 2020
By Tom Poland Growing up in eastern Georgia deep in pines, I wakened to the wail of chainsaws six days a week. Yellow McCullochs and red Poulans sliced through…
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Fried Green Tomatoes
July 2, 2020
By Tom Poland My back-road explorations take me to little eateries tucked neatly in the middle of nowhere, whistle-stop places. Country folks run these deep-fried, lonely roadside stops so…
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The Outhouse Flower
June 25, 2020
By Tom Poland I remember Mom talked of a flower with a strange name, hollyhocks. She talked flowers a lot mentioning dahlias, Cape jasmines, which go by jasmines, gardenia,…
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What Makes a Party Unforgettable? (It takes a village…and plenty of SPF)
June 23, 2020
By Mitchell Crosby Founder, JMC Charleston When it comes to event design and production, I have always been passionate about creating “a one in a lifetime event.” Designing an experience…
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The Language of Wine
June 17, 2020
By Thomas H. George Founder, Bacchus & Books Wine, like many subjects, has its own terminology, vernacular, and technical jargon. To wit, terms such as: “batonnage, foudre, lees, and Geneva…
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Grace Will Lead Us Home: A Compelling Guide to Understanding the Emanuel Church shootings
June 17, 2020
By Reba Hull Campbell Rarely does a book appeal to all my “reading” senses – well written, important message, compelling story and human connections. “Grace Will Lead Us Home”…
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A Childhood, The Biography of a Place
June 17, 2020
By Tom Poland The book is 9.25 inches long, 6.5 inches wide, and less than an inch thick. Its 182 pages present a world well-fed folks can only guess…
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Charleston Equity initiative announces guest speakers for Charleston Equity Concert
June 15, 2020Charleston Equity Initiative announced the guest speakers for the Charleston Equity Concert, a virtual benefit concert featuring local black artists and local black community guest speakers. The concert will be…
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Fun Run and Race scheduled in Summerville to benefit Alzheimer’s family support services – August 22
June 15, 2020The ARK, Alzheimer’s family support services, announces that early bird registration for its 21st Annual McElveen Race For The ARK is now open through August 20. The race is planned for August…
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Just One Great Adventure
June 11, 2020
By Tom Poland On my way back I crossed Clarks Hill Lake twice. In soft early evening light, the water lay like a mirror. Smooth as glass as we…
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Woods, Waters, and Flowers
June 3, 2020
By Tom Poland A botanical superstar lives in the South. It’s exquisite, ephemeral, and periled, in that much of its habitat lies beneath lakes. I’m writing about the rocky…
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Quarantine Heartbreak
May 25, 2020
By Tammy Davis Part Ten of The Corona Chronicles Part Nine here Part Eight here Part Seven here Part Six here Part Five here Part Four here Part Three here Part Two here Part One here After…
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If At First You Don’t Succeed
May 25, 2020
By Tom Poland Among my father’s passions were birds and woodworking. He made bluebird boxes in his workshop and mounted them around home. He loved hummingbirds and looked for…
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Junkyard Beauty
May 18, 2020
By Tom Poland One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. It’s true. We live in a throwaway society and junkyard junkies seek bargains. Making use of discards is frugal.…
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The Pull Of Beauty
May 13, 2020
By Tom Poland Over the last five years, I’ve developed two traditions I plan to never break. Come March and come May, I drop everything and head to three…
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Buzzard Luck
May 6, 2020
By Tom Poland A searing, sweaty summer day … just as my friend leaned over to pick up his dropped keys, his glasses slid onto the asphalt and cracked.…
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Had Harry Sat Here
April 30, 2020
By Tom Poland Rain, rain, and more rain. It hasn’t been a biblical forty days and forty nights but sure seems like it. A record sopping-wet winter has creeks…
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Buddy bear.
April 30, 2020By Cathy Rigg Monetti There are a thousand reasons, I suppose, we are obsessed with the bear. He’s beautiful, for one. Big, and healthy, with a full shiny coat…
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High As A Georgia Pine
April 16, 2020
By Tom Poland The South and its vernacular, love it and never lose it. Seems to me, we have the finest, most colorful expressions. Yes, Southerners have a flair…
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