From cooking coon and possum to recalling the heyday of Melrose Plantation, these are the heartwarming stories of Hilton Head, Bluffton and Daufuskie before, as the Gullahs might say, it all change up. In this second volume of personal memories collected by Hilton Head journalist Fran Heyward Marscher, area old-timers tell of the adventures, the industry and the heart of the Lowcountry itself. Before the golf courses and resorts, the residents of Beaufort and Jasper Counties often scraped to make a living, but they left behind stories of enduring devotion and perseverance. Keeping lighthouses on the coast, developing a method for catching crabs with only sticks and hunting quail in Hilton Head are only a few of the tales preserved by local old-timers from the early days of the twentieth century to the times of economic transition after World War II. In ice cream and butter beans, picking oysters and exploring the beach, these memories of the Lowcountry will last for generations.

Discover the history of an era lost to generations in this collection of personal stories by author and Hilton Head resident Fran Heyward Marscher. In the hundred years separating the Civil War and the 1950s, the Lowcountry was a world unto itself. The big plantations were gone, and for those remaining life had to be wrenched from the soil and the creeks. But for some, these isolated barrier islands offered heaven on earth: virgin maritime forest, pristine saltwater, sand roads and plentiful wild game. This fascinating collection of stories speaks to us of life in a simpler time, of raising hogs, guineas and children on abandoned plantations; growing sweet potatoes, okra and sugar cane; trapping mink and picking oysters; pulling 12-pound flounder and 79-pound drum from the creeks; making feasts of Loggerhead turtle eggs, crab and conch meat; picking musk; and taking the steamer to Savannah to see the "big city" lights. Our narrators were born between 1881 and 1941, and, though their stories overlap and intertwine, each has a unique perspective on life in the Lowcountry. Author Fran Heyward Marscher, a Hilton Head journalist, grew up hearing these precious memories and sought out the storytellers when she realized that the way of life they described was in danger of dying out with each generation. Our narrators were born between 1881 and 1941, and, though their stories overlap and intertwine, each has a unique perspective on life in the Lowcountry. Author Fran Heyward Marscher, a Hilton Head journalist, grew up hearing these precious memories and sought out the storytellers when she realized that the way of life they described was in danger of dying out with each generation.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The definitive account of the Murdaugh murders. Forget the podcasts, the TV specials, and the documentaries—this is the version of the story you’ll want to read. And once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.”—John Carreyrou, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Bad Blood Power, privilege, and blood—this is the true story of Alex Murdaugh’s violent downfall, from a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter who has become an authority on the case. Alex Murdaugh was a benevolent dictator—the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers’ association, a political boss, a part-time prosecutor, and a partner in his family’s law firm. He was always ready with a favor, a drink, and an invitation to Moselle, his family’s 1,700-acre hunting estate. The Murdaugh name ignited respect—and fear—for a hundred miles. When he murdered his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at Moselle on a dark summer night, the fragile façade of Alex’s world could no longer hold. His forefathers had covered up a midnight suicide at a remote railroad crossing, a bootlegging ring run from a courthouse, and the attempted murder of a pregnant lover. Alex, too, almost walked away from his unspeakable crimes with his reputation intact, but his downfall was secured by a twist of fate, some stray mistakes, and a fateful decision by an old friend who’d finally seen enough. Why would a man who had everything kill his wife and grown son? To unwind the roots of Alex’s ruin, award-winning journalist Valerie Bauerlein reported not just from the courthouse every day but also along the backroads and through the tidal marshes of South Carolina’s Lowcountry. When the jurors made their pilgrimage to the crime scene, trying to envision Maggie and Paul’s last moments, she walked right behind them, sensing the ghosts that haunt the Murdaughs’ now-shattered legacy. Through masterful research and cinematic writing, The Devil at His Elbow is a transporting journey through Alex’s life, the night of the murders, and the investigation that culminated in a trial that held tens of millions spellbound. With her stunning insights and fearless instinct for the truth, Bauerlein uncovers layers of the Murdaugh murder case that have not been told.

The stranger-than-fiction story of the now-notorious Lowcountry clan, in all its Southern Gothic intensity—by an author with unparalleled access to and knowledge of the players, the history, and the place. The most famous man in South Carolina lives in prison. He stands convicted of a staggering amount of wrongdoing—more than 100 crimes and counting. Once a high-flying, smooth-talking, pedigreed Southern lawyer, Alex Murdaugh is now disbarred and disgraced. For more than a decade, prosecutors asserted that Alex was secretly a fraud, a thief, a drug trafficker, and an all-around phony. On the night of June 7, 2021, they claimed, he also became a killer, shooting dead his wife and son in a desperate bid to escape accountability. The many crimes of Alex Murdaugh, exposed piecemeal over the last two years, have appalled the general public. Yet his implosion—the spectacular manner in which he has turned his vaunted family name to mud—has also proved mesmerizing. With every revelation, Alex Murdaugh has been shown to be a man without bottom, though he insists he never harmed his family. Remarkably, all of his misdeeds have precedent. In Swamp Kings, Jason Ryan reveals Alex’s evil actions are only the tip of the iceberg. When it comes to the Murdaugh family of Hampton County, history has a way of repeating itself. For every alleged, headline-grabbing crime associated with Alex Murdaugh, mirror-image incidents have played out within his family’s past, including parallel instances of fraud, theft, illicit trafficking of babies and booze, calamitous boat crashes, and even alleged murder. There were some crimes committed by Alex’s kin that even he would not dare mimic. Covering a century of depravity in an impoverished and isolated stretch of the Deep South, Swamp Kings weaves together the jaw-dropping narratives of generations of Murdaughs before culminating in the telling of a murder trial for the ages. Page after page the family’s legacy is laid bare as a spotlight is finally trained on the Murdaugh men who have long lorded over the South Carolina Lowcountry.

From cooking 'coon and 'possum to recalling the heyday of Melrose Plantation, these are the heartwarming stories of Hilton Head, Bluffton and Daufuskie before, as the Gullahs might say, "it all change up." In this second volume of personal memories collected by Hilton Head journalist Fran Heyward Marscher, area old-timers tell of the adventures, the industry and the heart of the Lowcountry itself. Before the golf courses and resorts, the residents of Beaufort and Jasper Counties often scraped to make a living, but they left behind stories of enduring devotion and perseverance. Keeping lighthouses on the coast, developing a method for catching crabs with only sticks and hunting quail in Hilton Head are only a few of the tales preserved by local old-timers from the early days of the twentieth century to the times of economic transition after World War II. In ice cream and butter beans, picking oysters and exploring the beach, these memories of the Lowcountry will last for generations.

JUNE 4, 1863... As the sun began to set below the horizon across the May River estuary, smoke clouds still billowed from the burning homes and buildings of the town; when it rose on the morning of June 5, it was evident that Bluffton's antebellum way of life had vanished forever. Perhaps in an omen of what was to come for the South, the burning of Bluffton, South Carolina, in 1863 was a prelude to the farewell of the Southern plantation era and of the institution of slavery. In the years leading up to the Civil War, Bluffton had gained national prominence as a hotbed of secessionist activity. The Bluffton Movement was sparked during a fiery political gathering held under a sprawling and magnificent live oak now referred to as the Secession Oak. The movement generated a dangerous whirlwind of political rhetoric that only war and devastation would silence.