By David Taub
The mid-1960s saw too many of Beaufort’s finest historic properties dying, vanishing to be lost forever. All too common, many were unoccupied, rendered derelict from neglect, weeds growing up through the floor and rotted wood exteriors. Many of Beaufort’s residential areas were, by all indications, depressed dejected neighborhoods.
Sick at heart because of this obliteration, a cadre of heroic citizens dedicated themselves in 1965 to preserving and conserving what was left of Beaufort’s historic and cultural heritages. They created the Historic Beaufort Foundation (HBF), a truly dynamic organization, whose mission is to support the preservation and protection of sites and artifacts of historic, architectural and cultural value throughout Beaufort County.
Half a century after its founding, HBF has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of its visionary creators. Many “contributing” structures exist today, filled with families and businesses that otherwise would not even exist but for the undying dedication of HBF to keep every important edifice alive and well.
I have lived for 44 years in the fourth oldest house remaining. It was a decrepit heap of rot when it was revitalized back to life in the 1960s, a miracle in itself, thanks to the HBF.
Architectural historians Carl Feiss and Russell Wright conducted Beaufort’s first inventory of historic properties and noted: “It is a remarkable fact that these neighboring three communities, developing simultaneously, should have each so successfully created their own high quality, individual architectural design.”
Understanding the uniqueness of Beaufort’s historical character, HBF’s first goal was the creation of a federally recognized historic district. Working jointly with the City of Beaufort, HBF did the heavy lifting, organizing, writing, researching and submitting the application for recognition to the Interior Department. In 1973, Beaufort was awarded its coveted prize as a National Historic Landmark District (NHLD), one of only four in all of South Carolina: Beaufort, Penn Center, Charleston and Graniteville.
Our NHLD is one of a kind, encompassing the downtown central business district and several surrounding residential neighborhoods such as The Point, The Northwest Quadrant, The Old Commons and The Bluff. Beaufort’s NHLD encompasses more than 304 acres and contains more than 500 “contributing” structures.
Our NHLD is nationally recognized and acknowledged for its rich and varied history, reflected in a coastal environment defined as much by its stately mansions as it is by its modest cottages, revealing a history covering four centuries — 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st. This lineage of diversity, age and exceptional designs, reflects the rich history as well as the cultural and economic diversity of Beaufort’s lengthy antiquity. Our NHLD’s contributing buildings exhibit many of the principled historic styles of American architecture from the Colonial period to the modern.
South Carolina’s General Assembly passed enabling legislation establishing Historic Review Boards (HRB), with the authority and mission of protecting the State’s historic legacy, created in 1994. Beaufort’s City Council adopted the first zoning ordinance in 1972, which included an ordinance establishing its own historic review board (aka BOAR, ARB or HDRB).
In their supreme wisdom, Beaufort’s Mayor/Council authorized by ordinance that one of the five members of the HRB would always be an HBF appointee. For almost a half-century, Beaufort’s ordinance has obligated the appointment of one HBF member to the HRB.
But, on September 12, 2023, Beaufort’s Mayor and two city councilmen, voted to eliminate that hallowed requirement that places one HBF member on the HDRB. Three men changed a half-century of dedicated protection and preservation of our irreplaceable historical lineage. What possessed three members of City Hall to eliminate the guaranteed HBF seat on the Historic District Review Board that had existed for a half-century? One out of five; 20% representation.
It is no stretch of the imagination to envision that without the Historic Beaufort Foundation, Beaufort would not have its National Historic District Landmark designation today. At the very least, without the gallant efforts of the HBF, Beaufort would not have received its NHLD designation in the first place.
Without the NHLD, many more historic properties that exist today would be lost, never to be replaced. HBF is a treasure; the goose that laid the golden egg that made the National Historic Landmark District a reality.
It behooves all of us to exercise great diligence to maintain our historic legacy, an inheritance that, if lost, cannot be replaced. HBF’s guaranteed presence on the review board must be retained.
We can repay the contributions and give a heartfelt thanks to the lengthy list of our citizens who have worked tirelessly to ensures the conservation and preservation of this heritage for ourselves and our posterity. Long live the HBF and its permanent representation on the Historic District Review Board.
Let the “new” Mayor and Council hear your voices loud and clear on their behalf so that the new council chooses to reverse the former not-so-good decision. Decisions that are poorly made can be reversed and made good. Let three men now turn the bad choice into the good ordinance.
“Well, all I know is what I read in the newspapers.” – Will Rogers.
David M. Taub was Mayor of Beaufort from 1990 through 1999 and served as a Beaufort County Magistrate from 2010 to 2015. You can reach him at david.m.taub42@gmail.com.
