Lowcountry Hurricanes Read online

  Fear suddenly clutched at Mrs. Flagg. What to do? What to do? An idea occurred to her. “Perhaps we should all move up to the Hasell house. We would be so much safer there, on the high dunes farther back from the ocean.”

  “No! We will seek no assistance from that Mrs. Hasell!” thundered proud Dr. Arthur. Nearly as stubborn as his brother at the Hermitage, he rejected any such idea. “The Flagg family will weather the storm in our own home. We have done so many times before. Why would this time be different?”

  ~

  Inside the Hasell house itself, anxiety was also beginning to run high. The equally proud and stubborn Mrs. Hasell had firmly discounted any real danger in remaining at Magnolia Beach to her guests the evening before. Rising early that morning, she put an end to talk among her household servants of returning to the mainland. She cautioned them strongly not to speak of their fears to her guests.

  But during breakfast, Mrs. Hasell’s own doubts began to grow. The wind was continuing to rise. Maybe her guests—who certainly looked uneasy—would feel more comfortable back on the mainland. One glance out the back window showed her that this option no longer remained available however. Advancing water now trapped them on the island.

  ~

  Down nearer the strand, young Dr. Arthur and his wife Mattie—a member of the wealthy, old LaBruce family of Waccamaw planters—also rose early after a restless night. They and their six young children had been enjoying their extended season on Magnolia Beach. Unlike their older relatives, the members of this family had busied themselves with outdoor activities. They took boat rides. They went crabbing. They fished. They bathed in the sea or walked along the strand gathering “treasures.” Cousin Allard, and even Dr. Wardie, occasionally joined the lively youngsters in their outings. That October, two of Mattie’s unmarried sisters, Betty and Alice LaBruce, also arrived to join the fun at the family’s beach house. But that Thursday night, wind and rain had repeatedly disturbed everyone’s sleep.

  When servants from his father’s house stopped by on their way to the mainland, young Dr. Arthur sent several of his own retainers back to the plantation with them. The ones who remained busied themselves cooking breakfast for the large household. Delicious aromas of fried ham, steaming grits, and hot biscuits soon filled the air. Mattie called the family to the long dining table already set with large pitchers of Bossy’s fresh, frothy milk.

  Young Dr. Arthur sat at the head of the table, of course, with Mattie at the other end. Their eldest daughter, Madge, had gone to visit friends in Georgetown on the mainland, so nine year old Albert felt important as the senior child in residence. He sat next to his father and directed six year old Ward and three year old Eben to sit below him along the same side of the rustic table. The LaBruce sisters sat on the opposite side, placing four year old Alice between them. Baby Mattie, who had just turned one, continued to sleep peacefully in her cradle on the floor alongside her mother.

  This Flagg family also talked about the storm, but the adults tried to hide whatever anxiety they felt from the children. They focused on settling down the younger ones and encouraging them to eat a hearty breakfast—while they avoided looking outside at the surging breakers.

  ~

  As his relatives enjoyed their hot breakfasts, Cousin Allard—seemingly the only male Flagg not to become a physician—sat eating his own morning meal in his cottage up the beach. He and his manservant, whose name I don’t recall, were making do with last night’s cold cornbread. Allard had sent his cook and her helper back to the mainland the evening before when they became concerned about the threatening weather.

  Cousin Allard chose to remain at the beach. He always enjoyed watching winds drive waves along the shore. His equally adventurous young manservant stayed too. Both looked forward to the excitement of riding out a storm by the ocean.

  ~

  Back on the mainland, Dr. Allard and Miss Alice were finishing their breakfast at the Hermitage when the intensity of the storm increased. Miss Alice rose and crossed to the front window. The howl of wind grew louder. Through sheets of rain and flashing lightning, she could make out seawater rising higher in the marsh. Soon it covered even the tips of the marsh grass. As she watched, water began creeping—then rushing—into the yard. Closer and closer to the porch it came. Too late to think of moving inland! They couldn’t escape now.

  ~

  Across the marsh at Magnolia Beach, a rising ocean surged up the strand, ever closer to the beach houses. High tide and wind-driven waves were also beginning to flood back yards from the creek side. And still the water rose. The mighty storm was growing.

  Soon after Cousin Allard and his manservant finished their meager breakfast, they noticed the storm’s increased force. Vicious wind and rain shook windows as the sky grew darker. As the two men stood watching, each neighboring house turned into an island in a sea of boiling waves. The adventurous young men had not expected this!

  Although Cousin Allard’s residence was smaller than the other Flagg houses, like them, it had several outbuildings. A separate kitchen, built in the back yard, kept the heat and threat of fire away from the main house. The shed where Allard stabled his horse stood beside it.

  As the water continued to rise, Cousin Allard decided to turn his horse loose, knowing it had a better chance of survival in the open, rather than trapped inside the rapidly flooding shed. He and his manservant fought their way through the wind and drenching rain to lead the horse outside and turn him loose.

  The two men then struggled back to the house through swirling water, now waist-deep. Wind-driven rain pelted them unmercifully, stinging every inch of exposed skin. They reached the back door at last and made their way inside, shutting out the storm’s fury, at least for the moment.

  ~

  At the Hermitage, torrential rains and wind-borne debris drummed against the outside of the house throughout the morning, but the old structure held fast. When rising water covered the porch, Dr. Allard ordered the front and back doors opened. Dark currents surged through the hall, into the dining room and parlor.

  Dr. Allard and Miss Alice, followed by their two servants, climbed the hall staircase to the landing halfway up to the second floor. From there, Dr. Allard stared defiantly down at the swirling water that dared to continue inching its way up, covering one stair, then the next and the next. The women huddled behind him as claps of thunder punctuated the wind’s howl and roar.

  From their perch on the landing, all four watched the progress of the storm. Through the open front door, they could see waves rolling across the front yard. Through the landing’s rear window, the back yard, usually a lowlying tidal swash only flooding at high tide, now presented a vast expanse of water. Ocean surrounded them on all sides! Each prayed silently for their safety, as well as for that of family members they knew to be in danger out on the barrier island. The ferocity of the storm continued to increase.

  ~

  Cousin Allard felt secure inside his sturdy wooden beach house, even as winds howled and waves rose higher outside. Then water climbed the front porch steps. When waves began breaking against the front of the house, he opened the doors to relieve pressure on the structure. The ocean rapidly raced through, front to back, covering wide pine floorboards with inches, then feet, of murky, swirling seawater.

  The two young men climbed the stairs to the second floor ahead of the rising flood. Larger and larger waves battered the wooden structure until it began to give way under the water’s crushing weight. Front walls collapsed inward with a mighty screech. The roof sagged slowly on top of them. Luckily, this gave the two men time to escape through a back window—escape, but into raging waters.

  Allard and his manservant found themselves tumbling in the churning depths, choking on mouthfuls of salty water, grabbing at floating slabs of siding. Fortunately, the roaring wind and waves pushed them into what looked like a raft, actually the bobbing roof of the backyard kitchen! It seemed almost stable in the surrounding chaos. Both men scrambled aboar
d, only to be greeted by another bedraggled rider—the kitchen’s yowling, spitting tomcat!

  All three clung desperately to their wildly pitching raft, safe for now, although each successive wave threatened to sweep them off into the turbulent water.

  ~

  The elder Dr. Arthur and his family were also finishing their breakfast that Friday morning when they noticed the storm’s increasing force. Lightning and thunder now accompanied the wind-driven rain. Looking out their windows, they were startled to see ocean water already surrounding their beach house. And the water was rising. Time had come to move precious belongings to the second floor—just in case.

  Dr. Arthur carried the Parish Register and the wooden box holding the communion silver upstairs. The Weston girls helped Mrs. Flagg gather up her correspondence, along with the family Bible and a few knick-knacks from the parlor. Maum Adele and her helpers carried china, crystal, linens, and flatware up from the dining room while Anthony and Dr. Wardie moved more books and medical journals upstairs.

  Soon, water covered the front porch. The entire household gathered on the second floor, terrified by now-constant thunder and lightning. Waves began to break against the house as violent winds pushed them ever higher. Dr. Arthur sent Anthony back downstairs to open the doors and windows, letting water flow through the lower level. All bemoaned the fate of their precious piano but could do nothing to protect it.

  Looking out the upstairs windows, the concerned family could barely make out young Dr. Arthur’s house down the beach. The ocean was battering the porch and lower story. They could see no signs of life, but hoped all inside remained safe.

  Then their attention returned to their own house. It had begun to shudder ominously. Bricks collapsed from the chimney as smashing waves rose to the second floor, inside and out. The structure shook with each pounding onslaught. It could not hold together much longer.

  ~

  Back on their makeshift raft, Allard and his manservant could only see over the towering swells occasionally. Driving rain further limited their vision. Still, they sensed the storm pushing them toward the mainland.

  What was that dark object moving toward them in the water? A horse! Cousin Allard’s horse appeared, swimming strongly through the waves. Allard called to the animal, which seemed to recognize his voice and continued to follow behind the raft.

  Frightening and exhausting hours stretched on as the two men and the tomcat clung to their battered raft. Yet all, including the horse, remained alive.

  ~

  Fear gripped every heart in the group huddled on the second floor of the elder Dr. Arthur’s beach house as the structure began disintegrating around them. Frantic, Dr. Wardie eyed a large beach cedar—what we call a tamarisk—outside his bedroom window. It bent in the screeching gale but seemed firmly anchored—a last hope.

  With Dr. Wardie’s help, Anthony pushed open the window and climbed down the shutter to the now-floating porch roof below. Dr. Wardie followed Anthony. Together they helped the three Weston girls, Mrs. Flagg, Maum Adele, Kit, Betsy, and finally, Dr. Arthur climb out onto the lurching porch roof.

  None could see more than a few feet through the blinding rain and stinging salt spray, but, holding tightly together, they helped each other cross the roof and climb into the limbs of the wiry beach cedar. There, each inched along to a spot where he or she could get a firm grip on the tree.

  ~

  Suddenly, bushes loomed out of the rolling swells in front of Allard and his manservant on their lurching raft. No, those were treetops! Wind and waves had carried them to the shore. Now, those same elements beat the men and their raft mercilessly against branches and trunks of live oaks and pine trees rising out of the swirling flood. The two men and the cat could only hold on to the kitchen roof with every scrap of their remaining strength. The horse swam off into the storm.

  ~

  On and on the storm raged as Dr. Arthur and his household clutched their precarious perches on the beach cedar. Slashing wind-driven rain beat at their faces. Monstrous waves tore at their bodies. Soon the house was gone, demolished and carried away by the wild ocean’s fury. Only the beach cedar and those clinging desperately to it remained.

  The storm and their own despair soon began to exhaust frail bodies. Young Pauline Weston lost her grip and sank under a breaking wave. Little Elizabeth weakened, then she too slipped into the surging water. Maum Adele, then Kit, then Betsy disappeared beneath relentless breakers.

  Suddenly, a towering wall of water tore Mrs. Flagg from her limb. Dr. Arthur grabbed for her but lost his hold on the tree. Wardie watched helplessly as his parents vanished beneath the merciless waves, embraced in each other’s arms.

  Hour after hour Dr. Wardie held his frantic grip on the wind-whipped beach cedar. It seemed an eternity for his exhausted body and mind. One surge tore Anthony from his limb but he caught another branch before the powerful sea could pull him under. Ann, the last Weston girl, began to weaken. “Live, for your mother’s sake!” begged Dr. Wardie, as the storm raged on.

  ~

  At last, winds started to subside on the mainland. Waters receded and a bright afternoon sun parted the clouds. The Hermitage had held fast. At its highest point, seawater had only risen two feet inside the house, leaving its dark mark around the interior parlor walls.

  As the weather cleared, Dr. Allard, Miss Alice, and the servants emerged into the yard, thankful the storm had caused them so little damage. But as all gazed out across the marsh, a chilling sight met their eyes. Maum Katherine, Aunt Cincy, and Alice, stood on the shore, staring in horror. Dr. Allard, always a stern and private man, turned without a word and disappeared into his study.

  No house remained along the strand on Magnolia Beach.

  ~

  When waters receded out on the island, Mrs. Hasell’s home still stood, safe behind the dunes. Badly damaged but intact, the old beach house and all those inside had survived another October storm.

  Mrs. Hasell sent out a search party to look for other survivors. Down by the shore, they found Dr. Wardie, little Ann Weston, and Anthony Doctor, dazed but alive and still clinging to their beach cedar. Rescuers had to pry Dr. Wardie’s fingers from around the branch he still gripped with all his might.

  The young doctor cooperated with rescuers’ efforts to bring him to safety but answered none of their inquiries. He only gazed beyond them with glassy eyes. Although he ate what they put in front of him over the next few days, Dr. Wardie only stared, or sometimes wept in response to their questions.

  Within the week, rescuers were able to return Ann Weston, disconsolate, to her stricken parents. Anthony Doctor rejoined his thankful relatives in their quarters on the plantation.

  Miraculously, Cousin Allard, his manservant, his horse, and his tomcat all survived the storm—one of the few reasons for rejoicing that day. Winds had even lodged their raft safely on the shore close to the Hermitage itself.

  As for those in young Dr. Arthur’s summer house on Magnolia Beach, I can’t tell you how their struggle against the storm unfolded that morning. None from that large household survived to carry the tale.

  ~

  The storm devastated seacoasts above and below Brookgreen Plantation. Fallen trees, dead animals, scattered possessions, and debris lay everywhere—inland, throughout the marshes, and along the strand.

  Many lost their lives. The elder Dr. Arthur Flagg, his wife Georgeanna, and her two nieces Pauline and Elizabeth Weston all drowned. So did young Dr. Arthur, his wife Mattie, her sisters Betty and Alice, and five Flagg children—Albert, Ward, Eben, Alice, and Baby Mattie. Their eldest daughter Madge, visiting friends in Georgetown, was the only member of that family to survive what came to be called The Flagg Flood. Maum Adele, Kit, and Betsy from old Dr. Arthur’s household, and all of young Dr. Arthur’s servants who had remained at the beach died as well.

  Only a few of the bodies were ever found. Maum Adele’s body washed ashore on Magnolia Beach later that week. Searchers discovered ol
d Dr. Arthur’s body partially buried in mud along a creek bank. The gold pocket watch still ticked in his vest.

  Mattie Flagg’s body lay in her sandy yard on Magnolia Beach, tangled in fence wire. Searchers found the bodies of two of her children lying almost next to each other on the beach several miles north, up by the Dick Pond, near today’s Surfside Beach. The body of Mattie’s sister, Betty, washed ashore just as far to the south, on Dubordieu Beach, still clutching the lifeless body of Baby Mattie in her arms.

  Searchers placed coffins at intervals along the sandy road running down the Waccamaw Neck, ready to receive bodies as they discovered them. Funerals took place in churches all up and down the coast. Reverend Guerry held a Flagg funeral at All Saints Episcopal Church every day for a week.

  The hurricane created other casualties, as well. All Saints’ beautiful communion silver disappeared completely, along with the Flagg family Bible. Mrs. Chandler, here, tells how Aunt Hagar Brown, one of the local plantation workers, always claimed she didn’t know her exact age because it had “gone to sea in Dr. Flagg’s Bible.”

  The All Saints Parish Registry survived, however. It turned up on the strand at Magnolia Beach, torn and water soaked but still readable.

  Mrs. Chandler can tell you more about another survivor of the storm—Dr. Wardie, the white haired gentleman in the picture.

  Miss Genevieve continued …

  Grief and horror so overcame Dr. Wardie after the tragic storm that he shunned all company. He moved into a small house on Brookgreen Plantation because he could not bear to return to his parents’ large home, so full of memories. Local people all worried about the sad young physician they loved so well.

  One day, Maum Adele’s son, Tom, knocked on Dr. Wardie’s door. Tom had lived and worked on the plantation all his life. Now he shared the young doctor’s grief. Not only had he lost his mother in the storm but his younger brother had drowned as well.