Completed projects

What Was The Beaufort Three-Century Project?

By Deborah S. Johnson
B3C Project Coordinator

MISSION

In recognition of the 300th anniversary of the City of Beaufort’s charter, the Beaufort Three-Century Project will tap our community’s cultural memory through a three-year process of exploration, studies, and special events that honor the past to better chart the future, culminating with the tricentennial celebration on January 17, 2011.

THE BEGINNING

On January 17, 1711, or 1.17.1711 if one (not 1) is inclined towards numerology, the Lord Proprietors a great distance away across the Atlantic Ocean in England decreed the following: “…We therefore being desirous to render the province of Carolina as useful as may be to this Her Majesty’s Kingdom of Great Britain and also considering what great tracts of sand are lying upon the said River of Port Royal which may afford great quantities of Naval Stores have given directions for the building of a Town called Beaufort Town…”

Fast forward 297 years to the autumn of 2007 as a dozen or so people sat around Billy Keyserling’s living room on this side of the Atlantic Ocean in this now seasoned town of Beaufort and pondered the notion of what a 300th anniversary of this charter might mean to a city such as ours. Billy was not mayor then, nor was he in any elected office and the anniversary was more than three years away. However, he did not want to let such an important occasion slip up on us without the community being prepared for this exceptional event. He had called together our informal group of journalists, historians, educators, librarians and community leaders to consider this. There was talk of newcomers loving Beaufort and volunteering for service on commissions and committees, but often looking to where they came from for solutions and models. Why didn’t people first look to Beaufort’s history and past experiences? Perhaps, because they did not know of its rich traditions, innovations, culture and historical significance? There was also talk of long-time Beaufortonians and how to tap their knowledge and experiences and document this living history in some manner similar to the award-winning Downtown as a Classroom projects led by Margaret Rushton in the Beaufort County schools. Billy said “hometown” a lot. Others spoke of favorite memories. The word “future” crept into the conversation as a complement to the word “past” and before we knew it, there was a project in the works.

The group grew to nearly 20 and gathered for several meetings at Billy’s Ribaut Road home. We sipped beverages and gazed out the east livingroom window at boats bobbing in the aforeto mentioned naval stores laden Beaufort River, the downtown roofscape and the Woods Memorial Bridge in the distance. No one needed convincing that this was important. Billy offered to put up seed money and secure project funding, I was asked to be the part-time coordinator, and all in the room agreed to serve on the Steering Committee to vet ideas and keep the project on track, whatever that track might turn out to be. Models were considered, a mission statement was written, and the Steering Committee was formalized to include a few more members. On a cold and drizzly January 17, 2008, the Beaufort Three-Century Project was launched at a warm and lively reception in the historic Anchorage House. Then and there we made a three-year commitment—funds would be raised, volunteers would be recruited, and projects within the project would be created. The people of Beaufort would craft a very special birthday gift for our town—Beaufort Town.

From the onset, B3C as it affectionately came to be known, was intended to be as inclusive as possible to engage people in learning about and caring about our history while using this knowledge to help frame the future. We knew some tangible items would result to create an archive of what was learned, but the underlying goal was to involve as many people and as diverse a group of people as we could muster. And, there was a defined beginning—January 17, 2008—and a defined ending—January 17, 2011.

THE MIDDLE

Speeches were made to Rotary clubs, leadership groups and garden clubs. Meetings were held with city and county officials. Members of the Chamber of Commerce, Main Street, Historic Beaufort Foundation, Beaufort County Historical Society, University of South Carolina Beaufort, Technical College of the Lowcountry, Beaufort County schools, and anyone else who would listen, were invited to become part of it. Grant applications were written and a charitable fund was established at the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. Generous people let us use meeting rooms, event facilities, and donated office space. A logo was designed and a website was created through more community largesse.

The people of Beaufort embraced the concept and project ideas flowed like a full moon spring tide—sometimes fast and hard and a bit overwhelming, other times halting or slowly reversing direction. Over the course of three years, numerous projects were initiated and an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people of varied ages, backgrounds, and interests actively participated. As a volunteer-based initiative, understandably not everything planned was implemented or completed, but new projects sprouted from interesting places and dedicated people. Most events were free or fees were kept to a minimum and anyone who could not pay was invited to come anyway. Looking back—the mantra for the B3C—an astonishing array of 42 unique events and endeavors took place. There were lectures, forums, films, symposia, oral histories, books, exhibitions, and archives. There were local experts, internationally renowned experts, multi-year intensive projects and short, just-for-fun projects. These included the following:

300 Years, 300 Stories—An Oral History Archive: The goal of this project was to collect audio digitally recorded stories from 300 residents willing to share their memories of Beaufort. B3C volunteers conducted the interviews at the Charles Street and Port Republic Street offices and in some cases, visited the homes of those interviewees unable to travel or special sites relative to the content. Oral history training sessions were conducted as part of the project. The volunteers worked on the premise that “you don’t have to be famous for your life to be history.” An archive was created, audio recordings were posted on the B3C website, and interviewees were given CDs of their recordings.

Participants: 300 interviewees (still in progress through 1/17/2011), 9 interviewers, 1 dedicated editor/documenter, 2 appointment schedulers, lots (unknown number) of listeners

300 Places to See in Beaufort Before You Die: This project was an ongoing interactive list of people’s favorite places and events in Beaufort. People added to the list at events & festivals, in the office, via email & snail mail, and through the website.

Participants: An estimated 75-100 people

Ancestors to Future Generations—Look Back, Look Forward Forum on Business, Industry and Commerce: This topic-based public forum included panelists York Glover, Agriculture Agent, Beaufort County Cooperative Extension Service, Clemson University; Amber Von Harten, Marine Fisheries Specialist, South Carolina Sea Grant Extension Program; Col. John R. Snider, USMC, Commanding Officer of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort; Carlotta Ungaro, President & CEO, Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce; Larry Holman, President, Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce; LaNelle Fabian, Executive Director, Main Street Beaufort USA; Allen Patterson, President, Homebuilders Association of the Lowcountry and moderator Jeff Kidd, Editor, Beaufort Gazette & Island Packet. The panelists made brief presentations about their areas of expertise relative to Beaufort’s past, present, and future and participated in a Q&A session. Audience members broke out into facilitated groups and reconvened for a wrap-up conversation about this topic and our future. The forum was video documented for the archive.

Participants: 43 audience/discussion attendees including 10 event volunteers; 8 presenters/moderator.

Ancestors to Future Generations— Look Back, Look Forward Forum on Religion and Spiritual Life: This topic-based public forum included film clips from Carolina Stories: In This Sacred Place, by SCETV with segments on First African Baptist Church, Tabernacle Baptist Church, the Baptist Church of Beaufort, The Parish Church of St. Helena (Episcopal), Edding’s Point Praise House and others; historical overviews by Bob Barrett (The Parish Church of St. Helena) and Sy Commanday (Beth-Israel Synagogue); musical transition pieces by Deacon William Lacombe of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Latin; Sy Commanday of Beth-Israel Synagogue in Hebrew; and Jan Spencer in a Call & Response tradition; and discussion moderated by Susan Shaffer, Adjunct Professor of Religion, USCB. Audience members were engaged in a conversation about this topic and our future. The forum was video documented for the archive.

Participants: 75 audience/discussion attendees including 10 event volunteers; 6 program presenters/moderator; 15 religious-community advisory planning committee members.

Ancestors to Future Generations—Look Back, Look Forward Forum on the Environment: This topic-based public forum included speakers & panelists Dean Moss, General Manager of Beaufort Water & Sewer Authority on “Water”; Amanda Flake, Natural Resources Planner, Beaufort County on “Land”; Russell Berry, Regional Director, SC-DHEC Region 8 on “Air”; moderator Jeff Kidd, Editor, Beaufort Gazette & Island Packet; and an introductory film clip from Ring Them Bells!,by Palmetto Bluff. Audience members were engaged in a conversation about this topic and our future. The forum was video documented for the archive.

Participants: 38 audience/discussion attendees including 8 event volunteers; 4 program presenters/moderator.

Ancestors to Future Generation— Look Back, Look Forward Final Forum: This public forum included presentations on varied topics (health care, recreation, the arts) by Thomas C. Barnwell, Jr. & Roland J. “Al” Gardner on Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Service’s history; a committee of the Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron on the history of boating in Beaufort; and Teresa Bruce on the history of the Byrne Miller Dance Theatre in Beaufort with moderator Jeff Kidd, Editor, Beaufort Gazette & Island Packet leading a discussion on all topics of the B3C project. Audience members were engaged in a conversation about these and other topics and our future. The forum was video documented for the archive.

Participants: 146 audience/discussion attendees including 8 event volunteers; 6 presenters/moderator.

Anniversary Event, January 17, 2008: This event launched the B3C project with a reception and presentations by Billy Keyserling, B3C Founder; Larry Rowland, Historian & B3C Steering Committee member; Randy Wall, Beaufort County Schools; and Deborah Johnson, B3C Project Coordinator. Visual displays were created by Margaret Rushton and music provided by Bill Barnwell. The event was video documented for the archive.

Participants: 120 attendees including 10 event volunteers; 5 program presenters.

Anniversary Event, January 17, 2009: This event included a reception and presentation with film clips from Carolina Stories: In this Sacred Place, courtesy of SCETV; The Lowcountry: America’s Beginning, courtesy of Robert Gibbes McDowell; Skeet Von Harten Tribute, courtesy of Beaufort County-The County Channel; The Melody Makers—The Band That Brought Us Together, courtesy of Jeff Evans. Also stories of life in Beaufort were told by Harry Chakides, Charlotte Pazant Brown, Ervena Faulkner, and H.H. “Bubba” Von Harten, Jr.

Participants: 285 attendees including 10 event volunteers; 8 presenters or presentation creators.

Anniversary Event, January 17, 2010: This event included a reception and presentation with project highlights from the Beaufort Chronicles Portfolio, USCB; Beaufort Through the Ages, Gloria Singleton & four readers; 300 Years, 300 Stories film clip of an interview with Carl Alston & Monroe Keyserling by Richard Brooks; People of the Light, an original play by Suzanne Larson with music presentations by Quentin Bell & Dennis Adams; Beaufort Fourth-Century Fund, by Denise Spencer, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. This event was video-documented for the archive.

Participants: 450 attendees including 12 event volunteers; 14 presenters.

Beaufort Chronicles Portfolio: This partnership project with USCB Art Department employed a semester-long course to create a limited edition fine art portfolio of 16 original prints based on Beaufort’s history. The exhibition opening was held in conjunction with the January 17, 2010 Anniversary Event with an estimated 1,000 people viewing the project during the month-long exhibition in the USCB Gallery as it was also in situ during three of the 2010 Tricentennial Lecture Series events. One of the limited edition portfolios is in the project archive.

Participants: 8 student and guest artists; 2 faculty members; 2 resource advisors; 2 special B3C donors.

Beaufort’s Live Oak Tree Symposium: This day-long event involved presentations by Michael Murphy on his research findings related to Beaufort’s oldest trees; Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories’ Dr. Kelby Fite on large tree preservation; Liz Gilland of the SC Forestry Commission on community forestry; Clemson Extension’s Laura Lee Rose on planting trees; and nationally renowned dedrochronology expert Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer speaking on the science of tree rings and the value of old and historic trees in the U.S. There were also three tours—The Beaufort Tree Walk (a walking tour of trees in Beaufort’s National Landmark Historic District developed by the Lady’s Island Garden Club); Canopy Roads of Beaufort County (self-guided driving tour created by Beaufort County); and Trees of Note from “Beaufort’s Oldest Trees Documentation Project” which included sites on private property not normally accessible to the public. This event was video-documented for the archive.

Participants: 152 attendees including elected officials, board & commission members, arborists and the general public; 5 presenters; 13 event volunteers.

Beaufort’s Oldest Trees Documentation Project: Master arborist, Michael Murphy of Preservation Tree Care and his staff spent a year locating, measuring, photographing and documenting the largest and oldest live oak trees in the greater Beaufort County area, creating a database of 148 individual trees for the B3C archive. One tree was documented to be older than Charleston’s legendary “Angel Oak.” The database is in the project archive.

Participants: 5 volunteer project staff members, 150+ tree spotters & property owners

Beaufort Middle School—Nine Projects: A book – Our mammas always said, “Beaufort’s history is like a pot of Frogmore Stew, it’s a generous mixture of numerous points of view”; a book— Beaufort Then & Now by 2010 Lowcountry Living Students, and a website—www.bmsb3c.org represent compilations of nine B3C projects undertaken by the school during the three years of the project. These included documenting memories of Hurricane Gracie; an art project—Doorways of Beaufort; the Hunting Island Lighthouse anniversary event; Porch Poems; Lowcountry Living interviews with locals; “River of Words” environmental projects; Lowcountry Recipes; a Women of Beaufort art and interview project over two years; and Voices of Beaufort’s Future. Copies of the books are in the project archive.

Participants: 11 teachers/principal/fine arts coordinator; 66 students; 50 community members

Beaufort Through The Ages: This book self-published by author Gloria E. Singleton and supported/made part of B3C included essays on 50 Beaufortonians of different ages from their 40’s through 100. In addition to the introduction of the book at the January 17, 2010 Anniversary Event and readings there by 4 contributors and/or their delegates, a book signing event was held at the B3C office in January 30, 2010. Copies of the book are in the project archive.

Participants: 73 attendees at book signing; 1 author; 50 contributors of personal stories.

Beaufortthreecentury.org: The interactive B3C project website including a timeline, project highlights, photographs, oral histories and a homegrown video created to introduce the project was designed, created, and maintained by the Beaufort Gazette staff and several B3C volunteers. It was launched on January 17, 2010 and will remain active as a resource throughout 2011.

Participants: 9 volunteers and in-kind support staff; average of 147 unique visitors per week in 2010 with 50%-60% as new visitors logged each week (cumulative weekly totals of 6,626 discrete individuals as website visitors over 2010; approximately 4,000 separate individuals)

Boating History—The Heart and Soul of Beaufort: This research project documented boating history in Beaufort and was conducted by a committee of the Beaufort Sail and Power Squadron. They presented a PowerPoint summary of their research at the final B3C forum, but also displayed this project in a photo exhibition in the Lipsitz Department Store window during Water Festival 2010 and shared the presentation with other boating groups along the coast. (See Ancestors to Future Generations: Look Back, Look Forward Final Forum for documentation of this project.)

Participants: 10 committee members; 6 photograph and background providers/contributors.

Books-Books-Books: This event introduced and showcased the seven book projects that were part of B3C including a reception, presentation, readings, and book signing. Books included: Frogmore Stew, by Beaufort Middle School; What Were We Thinking?! by B3C and Beaufort County School District; Old Commons—House, Home, Community by a B3C committee; Beaufort Through the Ages by Gloria E. Singleton; Mulberry Wine by Amy Jenkins Bassett; Hands by Sandy Dimke and Little Geech—A Shrimper’s Story by H.H. Bubba Von Harten Jr. The event was video-documented for the archive.

Participants: 150+ attendees; 15 presenters/readers/authors; 6 event volunteers.

Expo 2011: The Future Form Of Historic Beaufort: This partnership project of Beaufort County, the City of Beaufort, Historic Beaufort Foundation, and B3C involved an architectural design competition focused on three project sites in Beaufort’s historic district as a precursor to future form-based code considerations. There was an opening, a three-week exhibition, and an awards ceremony with three $1,000 cash prizes. The events were video-documented for the archive.

Participants: 300 attendees (175 on opening day; 50 at awards ceremony; 75 others throughout exhibition); 5 project planners & partners’ staff; 7 architectural firms & educational institutions (15-20 individuals); 5 exhibition docents/volunteers; 6 jurors; 6 event volunteers; 4 presenters at the awards ceremony.

Hands Across Beaufort: This photography project & exhibition involved award-winning photographer Sandy Dimke spending six-months photographing the hands of 100+ people of Beaufort at work and play in the Lowcountry. She wrote poetry and prose to accompany the photographs. B3C sponsored the mounting/framing of the photographs and the inaugural exhibition. The photographs were introduced at an opening reception/exhibition at TCL before the final forum, followed by a month-long show at the Beaufort County Library. Sandy went on to independently publish and market a book of the photographs and show the images in other venues. Copies of the book are in the project archive.

Participants: 175 attendees at the B3C opening; 75+ others who saw the exhibition at the library; 1 photographer; 106 “hands” subjects.

Hobbs Photo Studio Archive: This project was started when the Beaufort Memorial Hospital donated eight boxes of hundreds of old photographs and negatives to B3C from the closed Hobbs Photo studio. The photographs were reviewed and generally categorized by B3C volunteers, but no further work was completed on the archive.

Participants: 2 volunteers

Hunting Island 150th Lighthouse Anniversary Celebration: This partnership project was led by the Friends of Hunting Island and the Hunting Island State Park, with B3C as the third key sponsor. It involved a year-long planning effort for a weekend celebration that included an art exhibition opening at the Beaufort Art Association Gallery, student art exhibition, original play (People of the Light, by Suzanne Larson), sand-sculpting competition, paddlefest, 5-K run, oyster roast, US Coast Guard demonstrations, US Postal Service commemorate envelope/postmark and commemorative ceremony. The commemorative ceremony was video documented for the archive and included a number of elected officials, state representatives, and special guests.

Participants: 20 member committee; 500+ students in tours of Hunting Island learning the history/environment/and participating in the art exhibition; 6 B3C event volunteers; 15 presenters and special guests at the grand ceremony; 350 attendees at the historical play; 400 attendees at the art awards ceremony; 1,000 – 2,000 park visitors at events in the park on the day of the commemorative ceremony sponsored in part by B3C.

Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears: This three-event project was created around the presentation of a special Beaufort preview of a yet-to-be-released feature documentary on native son/heavy weight champion/Olympic gold medal winner Joe Frazier. It included a matinee preview screening at Whale Branch Early College High School, an evening screening at USCB Center for the Arts, and an after-preview party at the Firehouse.

Participants: 150+ attendees (30 at Whale Branch, 120 at USCB approximately 50 of whom attended the post preview party); 2 filmmakers from England; 10 special guests who appeared in the film or were family members; 22 event volunteers; 10 in-kind sponsors.

Lipsitz Department Store—Treasures in the Attic: This photography exhibition of 20 images by professional photographers Paul Nurnberg and Susan DeLoach resulted from a two day photo shoot in Lipsitz’s legendary second floor before the 100+ year old store on Bay Street closed. The exhibition reception and opening was held at Lipsitz Shoe Store on a Sunday afternoon and the show then moved to Shoofly Kitchen for a longer run.

Participants: 175 attendees at the opening; 2 photographers; 4 family members, 7 event volunteers.

Little Geech—A Shrimper’s Story: This memoir project in pre-publication by H.H. “Bubba” Von Harten was assisted by B3C with editing and book layout for this self-published book due out in 2011. Von Harten did a reading at the Books-Books-Books event.

Participants: 1 writer, 2 family member assistants, 1 editor, 1 graphic designer

Memory Cards: This was an ongoing, three-year project where photographs were taken of people and printed on the spot and they then wrote something on the back that they always wanted to remember about Beaufort. These were done at festivals around town, in the office and at special events. The cards were hung on clotheslines in the B3C office and at B3C events, as well as posted on the website. (still in progress through 1/17/2011) Digital and hard copies of the cards are in project archive.

Participants: 300+ card makers; 5 volunteers who helped with the card project at events.

Mulberry Wine: A Selection of Poems About Growing Up in the South: This self-published book of 25 original poems created by teacher, playwright and poet Amy Jenkins Bassett with illustrations by Alex Foltz was part of the B3C project. The book was released in late 2010. Copies of the book are in the project archive.

Participants: 2 creators

Old Commons—House, Home, Community: One of the earliest initiated projects of B3C, this book was created by a committee about what makes the houses in the diverse Old Commons Neighborhood of Beaufort’s historic district special as homes to the residents. Copies of the book are in the project archive.

Participants: 65 people photographed and/or interviewed about the 60 properties included in the book; 11 committee members and book creation contributors (interviewers, writers, editors, designers).

Pre-B3C Oral History Archive and Digitization: This project created an archive and digitized 85 sound recordings of previously taped oral history interviews conducted as part of the Beaufort County schools’ Downtown as a Classroom projects. It created a finding aid of various interviews from this and other pre-B3C oral histories.

Participants: 3 volunteers

Photograph Digitization Project: This undertaking scanned old and historic photographs from personal collections in a digital format to make them accessible for future research and enjoyment. Also, an interactive area of the website allowed people to upload historic photographs themselves.
Participants: 2 volunteers, 40+ contributors

Sailing History of Beaufort: This film project was not completed by the conclusion of B3C, but may be finished in the future. Mary Ragsdale, with her able assistant Bernie Ragsdale, interviewed people, gathered historic photographs and researched Beaufort’s rich sailing history. Audio files from this project have been included in the 300 Years, 300 Stories oral history archive.

Participants: 2 project volunteers, 3 collaborators, 4 interviewees

Tribute to James J. Davis: This was a partnership project with Beaufort County School District, Beaufort County—The County Channel, and B3C. In 2009, when the James J. Davis Elementary School was being closed and transitioned to an Early Childhood Learning Center, a short film was produced documenting the history of the school’s namesake and what he meant to the community. This project was seen as a potential template for other schools that had been named for individuals—a policy discontinued by the school board in 2009. A DVD of this film is in the archive.

Participants: 6 students; 10 contributors & interviewees; 3 film crew & school district coordinator

Tricentennial Lecture Series: Four Fridays in February (2009): This partnership event with the USCB Continuing Education Department was an eight-hour lecture series presented over four evenings on Beaufort’s history from the early European settlers to the present by historians Dr. Lawrence S. Rowland, Dr. Stephen R. Wise, and Dr. John M. McCardell, Jr. Larry Rowland also conducted a follow-up Q&A seminar with 8 of the 62 teachers who participated. Attendees of all four lectures received a DVD set of the presentations and DVDs of the lectures were donated to the media centers of all public schools in Beaufort County. DVDs of the lectures are in the project archive.

Participants: 500+ attendees (most attended all four lectures, but some only came to specific lectures adding to the total number of individuals involved, 487 seats were available at each lecture and some SRO on the first night). Participants also included 62 public school teachers whose free registration was sponsored by B3C; 3 lecturers, 8 event volunteers.

Tricentennial Lecture Series—Take Two (2010): A repeat of the original lecture series for those who were turned away in 2009 (more than 200 were turned away from the sold-out event the first evening in 2009) and others who missed the first lecture series or wanted a refresher course. Larry Rowland conducted a Q&A session with 2 teachers who participated. No DVDs were distributed in 2010. The lectures were video documented for the archive.

Participants: 600+ attendees (475 seats at each lecture, some attended all four, others selected individual lectures) including 25 teachers whose free registration was sponsored by B3C; 3 lecturers, 10 event volunteers.

What Where We Thinking?!: This book published by B3C included poems and writings of 62 middle school and high school students about what was on their minds at this time in Beaufort’s history.

Participants: 62 student contributors; approximately 50 additional students who did writings & drawings that were not selected for the book; 10 project coordinators & teachers.

THE ENDING

One of the original tenets of the Beaufort Three-Century Project was that by exploring our past and talking about what we value, a vision might be formed to guide our future—not a city planning document sort of vision with goals and objectives, but a shared community understanding that would serve as a framework for decision-making. It was thought that the Ancestors to Future Generations forum series would lay the groundwork and to some degree that occurred. Many topic-based concepts came from those forums and are documented in the archival videos and written summaries.

An aftermath of B3C might include a B4C group reviewing and massaging the information from those forums to create a clearer understanding of what was shared and how it might be used in the future. Our attempts to do this mostly resulted in those around the table adding their own thoughts and there was just not enough time left in our self-mandated lifespan or resources to adequately and thoughtfully complete this complex undertaking.

However, it is my belief that the vision derived from the three-years of exploration is blatantly woven in the common threads that run through many of the projects, interviews, creative endeavors, as well as the formal discussions. Most of the people interviewed for the 300 stories project or those who participated in the forum dialogues echoed the same five common elements that define Beaufort:

• The water…it surrounds us and supports us.

• The beauty…it is rare and stunning and pervasive.

• The people…they are caring and friendly and inclusive in a way that is hard to describe, but is different than other places.

• The history…it is rich and diverse.

• The culture…it is distinctive and we have long been a place of the arts and learning.

In every future decision, we might ask ourselves, “Will this adversely affect the characteristics that make Beaufort special?” If the answer is “yes,” then don’t do it!

We might also ask, “Will this protect and advance the characteristics that make Beaufort wonderfully unlike other places?” If the answer is “yes,” then go forth with speed and determination!

On December 31, 2010, the City of Beaufort’s Tricentennial commemoration began a year-long celebration of activities and events planned by a city committee, and B3C’s public role ended. Officially concluding on January 17, 2011 with the 300th-year marking of the City’s charter, a quiet passing of the archive to the Beaufort District Collection at the Beaufort County Library will be the final act of the Beaufort Three-Century Project. However, the website will remain as a community resource throughout 2011 and the legacy of the hundreds of people who worked on this project will live on not only in the archive, but in the hearts and minds of all who participated—those who learned more about this incredible place we call home, shared ideas about what our past means for our future, and engaged in a community conversation about the incredible sense of place that defines us.