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By Molly Ingram

The editorial staff of The Island News spent seven hours driving around Beaufort proper over last weekend in search of the best patriotically decorated homes to share with our readers. We drove up and down The Point, all around the Historic District, Pigeon Point, all the streets behind Bay Street up to Ribaut Road, the Mint Point area, Picket Fences, Mossy Oaks, and lots of undefined areas of houses.

What we found made us head to the nearest bar. Less than 5% of houses were displaying the American Flag. Granted that was based on me doing the counting but it was hard to find a flag. If anything, the 5% is on the high side.

One house and one business displayed the American Flag with the State of South Carolina Flag. One! Beaufort is an historic town, or at least that’s what people tell us. A town that should be incredibly proud of its American heritage. But we sure didn’t show it this past 4th of July weekend.

On the good side, we did find one house that took decorating to a new level. The Taub House which is the 4th oldest house in Beaufort and is located on New Street in the Historic District. This was a house that wanted the world to know it got 100% behind the red, white and blue. Now, do we expect every house to look like the Taub House? Certainly not. We found two blocks where the residents all put in some effort and most all of the houses displayed both flags and bunting. And it looked great and made you feel proud. So thanks to all of the families who did manage to wave the flag so to speak and if we missed your house, let us know and we’ll make sure it is on our list of must-see for next year. In 2016, I’m advocating for a parade too!

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