Monday, March 7, 2011

Beaufort, South Carolina

Strange how things fall into place sometimes when you're traveling. Hubby and I NEVER eat at chains when traveling. We like to see, feel, and taste local color when we can. Walking down the water front area in historic Beaufort, South Carolina we came upon Luther's. It looked most inviting. Our table faced the water front, so even though it was a bit cool (Jan-Feb) when we were there we could still see the water. They have a nice outside area that is probably very popular once the weather warms up. We had great Bloody Mary's as it was brunch time, and we like doing that on vacation. Hubby had some good sea food, I had a wonderful hamburger. Nothing ordinary about it, truly it was good. Near our table was the above picture over the old mantel. I love history, love old buildings which this most definitely is and wondered who the couple was. As I got close enough I realized it was Mr. and Mrs. Luther. Presumably the original owners of the establishment. What a nice looking couple they were. After lunch, we preceded with our walking tour of the fabulous area.
At days end we toured St. Helena's Episcopal Church and Graveyard. I didn't walk by every grave; but...oddly enough I happened to come across Mr. and Mrs. Luther's grave. Charles and Julie buried in this very historic churchyard, the couple who's establishment I had been to earlier in the day. You can see by the flag, Charles was a Veteran. He served in The Spanish American War. I was intrigued to learn a bit more about this couple who had crossed my path twice in one day.

Checking on line at Ancestry.com I learned the following. Charles's middle name is Gillespie, he was born in New York Oct 27th, 1876 and his nick name Doc in parenthesis had real meaning. You see, he was a druggist according to the 1920 and 1930 census. His wife Julie (listed Julius on the census) Jernigan was born in South Carolina July 22nd, 1888. The couple had 3 children listed on the 1930 census:
DeAngie who was 21, therefore born 1909
Charless who was 11, therefore born in 1919
Charles G. who was 10, therefore born in 1920.

The 1920 census indicated Charles Gillespie owned his own home on Worth Street and worked at 124 Bay Street at the time. Luther's is currently located at 910 Bay Street, it's open to the water side (where we entered) and open to Bay Street where to this day you see the original store front of a pharmacy. Luther's Drugs established 1909 reads the sign. Here's a link to their facebook page where you can see the 2 very distinctive entrances. We would not have gone there for lunch had we seen Bay Street entrance first, thinking it was a drug store. But, it is on our list of places to return to as it has lots of character, good food and drinks. Click here for facebook page.

Additionally, I've created a memorial page to this fine couple, please feel free to visit, and or leave virtual flowers.
Charles, click Here, while on his page there's a link to Julie's memorial.
Add to Technorati Favorites
Bookmark and Share

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful area!! Lots of history! I've been there several times, but not able to see too many things - went with hubby to different Air Shows that he attended for his company!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was not a coincidence you came across with the Luther's in one day. They are a great couple. You surely can be a professional historian. Just saying. :)

    Have a great day my wonderful friend! :D

    South Carolina is a nice place as I learned from your trip. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi!
    I liked your blog and because is related to tourism I was wandering if you would place it in your list:
    'Linky Love'.

    Here is the address and hope you like it:

    http://nzbrtours.com/about_new_zealand/

    Thank you!
    Flavio

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Ollie and June appreciate your thoughtful comments. We're anxious to go back to the area, much to see and do.

    June like you, I don't think it was coincidence, sometimes I believe we are guided. I've had several similar situation and it makes one a belief.

    New Zeland, thanks for the visit. Please refrain from adding a link in the body of your comment. That's considered spam and normally ends up in spam with the filters. Your name and title is a link therefore there is no need for you to add a link in the body of the comment. When you do that it appears you're only trying to add link to get credit from someone else's page rank, which is the blogging world is frowned upon. Hope to see you again.

    ReplyDelete

ALL comments left with name and url will be returned. NO PROFILE links please!