Port Royal Excitement

Seems like something could be brewing in Port Royal regarding the sale of the property which formerly served as a port operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority, according to the Beaufort Gazette. The newspaper reported Saturday that two potential buyers are eyeballing the property, which has been on the market for several years. Port Royal Town Manager Van Willis has said that a Charleston group could be close to making an offer, the Gazette reported. Town officials also reported that an Atlanta-based company made an unexpected visit to Port Royal, and discussed the possibility of a private-public partnership. Town officials could meet with the Atlanta group next week. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has okayed a permit for a 225-slip marina, which Ports Authority spokesman Byron Miller said makes the property more attractive.

Port Royal sits minutes from downtown Beaufort, and was actually the site of the first attempt by Europeans to settle the area, in the 1500s. Although Beaufort has a well-earned reputation as being one of the most historic little towns in the country, Port Royal has its own historical status, thanks to gems like Fort Frederick. In fact, also making news in the Beaufort Gazette is a piece on Fort Frederick, a 275-year-old structure built to protect locals from Indians and the Spanish. Although impressive in size, the 9000-square-foot foot fort was not considered to provide effective defense of the area.

Note the 1748 comments of James Glen, the then-Royal Governor of South Carolina -- "(The fort) is injudiciously situated, monstrously constructed and made of oyster shells, and is called a fort, but a garden fence is as strong," wrote Glen. "It is really worse than nothing."

To read the Gazette article, please click here.