Page 24 - Demo

24 January 2026 | BeaufortLifestyle.comWHERE PAST IS PRESENTA Lowcountry Conversation Beneath the Live OaksWarm golden light filtered through the branches of the moss-draped live oaks, spilling across the Rhett House Inn%u2019s intimate garden and catching the rims of raised cocktail glasses. Conversations softened, then fell quiet, as the evening%u2019s two featured guests took their seats. It was early evening on Oct. 3, and the invitation-only gathering had drawn an attentive crowd to one of Beaufort%u2019s most storied addresses. Wall Street Journal reporter and author Valerie Bauerlein was about to join renowned South Carolina historian Dr. Larry Rowland in conversation, and locals and visitors alike leaned in to listen. The balmy air held a sense of anticipation, and not for spectacle. While Bauerlein%u2019s New York Times bestseller, The Devil at His Elbo Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty, chronicles the unraveling of a powerful Hampton County family, the book also examines how history, culture, and geography quietly shape lives over generations. Here in Beaufort, where the veil between past and present is thin, it felt like the right conversation, in the right place. Built circa 1820, the 6,000-square-foot Greek Revival mansion at 1009 Craven Street began its life as an %u201cin-town plantation house%u201d during the antebellum period. During story by HEATHER STEINBERGER photos by SUSAN DELOACHLarry Rowland and Valerie Bauerlein