Beaufort, South Carolina, is a beautiful small city in the middle of the South Carolina Sea Islands.  It is a small city and the county seat of Beaufort County.  The city is the second-oldest in South Carolina, behind Charleston.  Although the city was chartered in 1711, it was home to indigenous people for centuries before that.  It was the capital of Spanish Florida from 1566 to 1587.  The current population is about 14,000.

Beaufort is known as the “Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands”.  The city is known for its scenic location and for maintaining a historic character by preservation of its antebellum architecture.  The prominent role of Beaufort and the surrounding Sea Islands during the Reconstruction era after the U.S. Civil War is memorialized by the Reconstruction Era National Monument, established in 2017.  The city is also known for its military establishments, being located in close proximity to Parris Island, a U.S. naval hospital, and the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.

Tom and I had never been to Beaufort and it was an enticing place to explore.  The historic downtown area is very walkable and there are restaurants, historic buildings, and shops tucked in everywhere.  We started at the Waterfront Park, a large open space along the Port Royal Sound.  We watched a swinging bridge operate on the sound.  A sailboat passing the bridge required that the traffic be stopped as the bridge swung open, and then closed again.  Waterfront park has a dozen large swings facing the water, which make excellent places to sit and watch the boats go by.

After walking the length of the park along the waterway, Tom and I walked back along the inside of the park, which was lined by restaurants and shops.  We checked out the historic markers along the way and selected a place to eat lunch.

Plums had a large outdoor seating area which appealed to us after the cold of Ohio.  The restaurant’s website says that it is the place where “southern hospitality meets culinary excellence.”  It has been open for lunch along the waterfront since 1986.  Tom let me sit facing the water, while he got to face the building and some trash cans.  I definitely had the better view.  I loved watching people, their dogs and the boats going by.

I ordered a grilled chicken salad and Tom got a tuna salad sandwich.  Both of us enjoyed our lunches quite a lot.  The portions were large, so we didn’t finish them, but the food was good.

We went inside to use the restrooms before we left.  The building was another historic building that looked older inside than it did outside.  There was a large bar and a nice area for seating.  Although the restaurant was busy, there wasn’t a line.

After our lunch, Tom I continued to walk around the town, ducking into shops that intrigued us.  Our favorite was a used book store that we found down a covered alley.  McIntosh Book Shoppe had a huge selection of books that were very well organized.  We talked to the person at the register and complimented him on the interesting variety of books.  He said, “yeah, we have just about everything you want, but you have to work for it.”  The shop was a very inviting place to browse.  I found a book on the history of First United Methodist Church in Ninetysix, South Carolina.  Then a novel about a formerly enslaved man during the reconstruction era.  I finally settled on a book of Gullah animal tales.  I always like to support a local shop by buying at least one book.  Tom and I agreed we could have spent a lot of money in the shop with the interesting selection.

Beaufort, South Carolina is a wonderful place to visit.  Although it feels historic, it also feels real, without the tourist veneer that often covers towns close to the ocean.  After visiting Tom and I could understand why our friend Chris Barr and his family like living there so much.  It would definitely be a nice place to stay for a week or a weekend.