Only in Beaufort: Old signs bring new appreciation
Roadside signs tell us a lot more than where we’re going.
They can, if they are old enough, tell us where we’ve been.
Take a drive aroud Beaufort and you’ll know what I mean.
On Highway 21 on St. Helena Island, for example, there is a sign most probably ignore - the one for Sunbeam bread. It was probably sold at the small building beside its rusted yellow and red sign across from St. Helena Elementary. “21 Open Air and Grocery” was probably once a hopping spot, but the sign is about all that is left.
Then there’s Gulf station on Keans Neck Road. Driving by it is like passing through a brief portal into 1960’s America. One can imagine stopping in for a fill-up, an RC Cola and a Moon Pie, and a brief but unhurried conversation with whoever was behind the counter that day. The white clapboard structure with the tarnished tin roof has no pumps left outside, and weeds grow through the cracks in the cement. Still, it is beautiful in its own way, with the public telephone station just feet from the Gulf sign, another fading bit of Americana.
On Highway 802 near Riverview Charter School, lost amid the nearby school bus parking lot and daycare business is a sign denoting Beaufort Marine Supply. Though it’s been replaced by newer signage at the same location, it remains as a historical marker for the place. It also provides a glimpse into the pre-digital age of sign making, complete with light blue anchor.
Perhaps one of the most beloved old signs in Beaufort is at another business that still sells what its sign advertises. The Maryland Fried Chicken sign has been around long enough to go out of style and come back in with the advent of hipsters and an appreciation of all things “retro.” Several years ago, in a wise decision by City Council, it was exempted from a citywide ordinance that would have led to its removal.
These signs, and others like them, tell us not only who we were but who we may still be.
Ryan Copeland is a Beaufort native. He can be reached at rlcopeland@hargray.com.
This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Only in Beaufort: Old signs bring new appreciation."