I look at my small hometown that’s now on the “Best of this” or “10 best places to… do whatever” list and I’d like it to go back to when you knew the “old days”.  Every owner in every stand on Bay Street, and most of the people shopping in there too.  But at the same time, I realize the reason most of those stores and restaurants are there and thinking because of the “Come here’s” who have moved here.  And the influx of tourists that come every Spring and Fall.  If we didn’t have those folks, it would be like countless other small towns that are boarded-up and dying.  I love the history of the old houses and the stories they have to tell, but I’m excited about telling a new part of Beaufort’s history as it relates to the Reconstruction Era.  I wish there was more industry in Beaufort to help young people who grow up there gainfully employed in something other than tourism or related jobs but don’t want to sacrifice the beauty of our lowcountry landscape with industries that might damage our air, land, and beautiful creeks and rivers.  I wish that every time I came home there wasn’t a new “creep” of houses and apartments on land that used to grow tomatoes or timber for trees, but when I open my tax bill, I’m glad there are new people moving there to spread the (?) of needed (?) and keep the economy going.

My grand would have told me you can’t have it both ways, that always in life you have to choose, so I hope that those who are making those choices for my hometown will choose wisely and will keep the best parts of the past while leading us into the best parts of the future.