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The history of boating in Beaufort has been documented as far back as 1733 by a committee of the Beaufort Sail & Power Squadron, which has found there was little history on such an important subject for the area that is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The squadron, a unit of the U.S. Power Squadron, is a group of boating enthusiasts who offer boating education, social and civic services. When the squadron's committee launched a project to uncover the history of boating in Beaufort, they were surprised they could not find many reference books on the subject.
With perseverance, assistance from local boating families and lots of research, the committee has created a 20-minute presentation titled "Boating History: The Heart and Soul of Beaufort." It will be presented as part of a forum in partnership with the Beaufort Three-Century Project, a citywide initiative recognizing the 300th anniversary of the city's charter. The forum will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 10 at Technical College of the Lowcountry's Beaufort Campus.
The first part of the squadron committee's project is an exhibit in the window of the former Lipsitz Department Store on Bay Street in Beaufort. The presentation features photos shared by Beaufort families, who have used boats for their livelihoods as well as recreation.
"Actually, the first reference we found to boating in Beaufort was 1733," said Howard Heckrotte, narrator of the presentation and one of eight committee members.
Heckrotte was excited to find information about the Anne, a square rigger which sailed on Beaufort's coast. Some of Heckrotte's Internet research revealed this clue to the origins of boating in Beaufort: The colonists "left the ship. After a few more days at Beaufort, the colonist were carried by small boats to the Savannah River, and the future site of the city of Savannah, where they arrived Feb. 12, 1733." Heckrotte suspects that James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony, might have been onboard.
Committee chairwoman and former squadron commander Mary Ann Borrmann said the stories, facts and photos they uncovered during their research made the efforts worthwhile.
"I was fascinated with the picture of the dock people had to stand on to get on a ferry to ride to Lady's Island," said Borrmann, a former teacher and guidance counselor. The research "helped me to visualize what it was like to be here back then and it gave me an incentive to do a timeline."
Heckrotte said one of the most surprising things the committee found was that many early boats were working boats, not pleasure boats.
They followed the path of oystering along Beaufort's coastline to a time in the 1970s when Von Harten's shrimp boats docked on Lady's Island. Working boats were the norm prior to the mid-1950s when Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort expanded its auxiliary airfield from 28 to 2,000 Marines and almost 3,000 civilian jobs were created.
"Now there was a middle class who became the recreational boaters," Heckrotte said.
Today, with the growth of the population, boating remains a popular activity. Modern-day boating includes the continued use of utilitarian boats used by shrimpers, crabbers and oystermen, as well as recreational craft. County boat ramps have been built to allow the general public access to area waters, joining the many area marinas and private docks.
"Beaufort is the water, Beaufort is boating," Borrmann said.
