Home Inspection in John’s Island, SC

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Johns Island Elementary is expected to open in Fall 2025, however once open it will cause more traffic for surrounding residential neighborhoods.

City of Charleston council members met on Jan. 28 for a Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting. They discussed where the progress lies for the new school and heard about traffic pattern setbacks that may delay the project. However, the school is planned to have exits going into two neighborhoods, which has created some concerns.

“I think the main thing is really just – let’s say there’s an accident on River Road which is already ridiculous as it stands. Where’s everyone going to come from? They’re going to go right through here,” Michelle Ballinger, a Johns Island resident, said. “This neighborhood is fantastic for kiddos but I think the issue is that let’s say a mom is running late or something like that – and a kid darts out. I think it’s just safety for the children in the neighborhood and then feasibility for us to take on all that additional traffic.”

Officials expect nearly 700 students from second to fifth grade to attend. The two exits are on Moonbeam Drive and Claybrook Street, where there are single family homes.

“Talked to the city to do preemptive speed humps or other traffic calming measures in those neighborhoods,” Jim McBride, City of Charleston council member, said of some safety aspects he had asked about.

Ballinger mentioned she had tried accomplish an initiative that would bring such measures into her neighborhood, but was suggested that a traffic study should be done. However, she said it wouldn’t become useful until the regular school day traffic is in full swing.

While the neighbors are excited to have the elementary school, some said even though a new traffic pattern may be necessary, officials need to reassess their priorities first.

“At the end of the day, protecting the kids, the pets and the community is very important, and they need to make sure that message gets out. It will be convenient for us to be able to get our kids to school but it will also be a cut through for others,” Jamie Bradford, a Johns Island resident, said. “We know that, so we want to find out what’s going to happen and then we can address that once we know what’s its going to look like.”

The City of Charleston mayor and Charleston County School District are expected to meet to discuss further road improvements.

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Updated: Jan. 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM PST

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston County School District staff ensure the opening of upgraded baseball fields for St. Johns High School baseball and softball players is “on schedule,” after concern from families over winter weather delays and turning over the turf in time.

Newly upgraded baseball fields at Johns Island Park are set to be the new dugout for St. Johns High School athletes. The upgrades include new grass, fences, lighting, scoreboards and batting cages costing around $4.8 million. The project has seen a long list of delays nearing the year-and-a-half mark.

The district and its contractors claim to be preparing for one of the two renovated fields to be available for practice and tryouts next week, February 3. The district added a second field for school use will be available “soon thereafter.”

The district expects all aspects of the project to be done in time to start high school baseball season in March.

Parents say baseball and softball are a hotspot on Johns Island, with more than 600 kids involved in Little League programs, yet a majority of its student athletes travel to other areas for the sport. They believe the problem is a lack of resources.

“We want it to be done. I want it all, I’m sorry. I don’t want halfway anymore. They tell us they want to give us an equitable solution, equitable fields. On par with what we’re seeing elsewhere at other schools. We’re just not seeing that,” parent Lindsay Jackson says.

Shelton’s son is a senior at St. Johns High School, among many who are hoping to play college baseball.

" The goalpost is continuing to be moved. We’ve never had a good, every deadline or timeline we’ve been given has fallen through, it’s been broken, it’s inadequate. Everything in this process along the way has been completely inadequate and our kids deserve more. They put in the work, the effort, they deserve a lot more," parent Jeremy Shelton says.

In Monday’s board of trustees meeting, the district pointed to snow and ice from last week’s storm, prompting challenges for construction crews. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Borowy mentioned the weather placed workers out of a week’s worth of work.

“We have fielded questions from constituents, from board members, about that. We have ensured we’ve prioritized a practice space and we are scheduled to open on time, although last week’s weather episode with the ice made it challenging,” Superintendent Anita Huggins says.

Borowy intends to keep the opening date, set for the beginning of February, despite those delays. Borowy also mentioned collaboration with the City of Charleston, who owns Johns Island Park, added a step to the process.

The district expects to install the new scoreboard, venue parking, stands and pavilion pavers by the end of February. It does not intend to interfere with St. Johns High students' ability to practice.

“We feel very confident that the best has been done with that field to minimize the impact on St. Johns High School and as the superintendent pointed out, have it ready for the upcoming season this spring,” Borowy says. “That project, from a construction perspective, will end up taking 10 months. 10 months for a construction project is pretty incredible. We’ve had other teams that have lost an entire season because of the construction process.”

The district claims sod for the fields was placed last October, along with an emergent to accelerate root establishment. Once installed, the sod takes root within 10-14 days and 406 weeks to establish. The district claims the sod is suitable for play.

Since August 2023, Live5News has published three articles surrounding the completion of the fields, not including this one:

In 2023, those delays were prompted by reallocating the funding to other “priority projects.” The district claims the cost of the project was never cut, but rather increased by the board of trustees.

In the meantime, players have been using rectangular fields on campus, formerly tennis courts, or traveling to different parks, fields or facilities. The district says one of those facilities is the Haut Gap Middle School baseball fields, located 1.4 miles from St. Johns High.

“How are they going to provide what they promised? Not really for us, but our kids. They’re the ones getting affected most by it,” parent Jothem Jayne says.

“This is the best way to get parents to keep kids on the island. 50% of the kids living on the island at high school age leave and go to other high schools. I wonder why. We don’t have a baseball field and we haven’t had one since 1923,” parent Karen Tetrev says.

The district replied to comparisons of St. Johns infrastructure to Lucky Beckham High’s baseball field. The district claims that the field was under construction for 15 months, making it so the team could not use the existing field for an entire baseball season. The Johns Island Park project, on the other hand, was compressed to 10 months so the team would not lose a season of play, according to the district.

The team is asking for a defined completion date and full commitment to the completion. If the district is unable to provide the requested information, parents are asking for help with transportation to alternate parks, practice fields or facilities.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

The recent winter weather blast has not only affected drivers but has also taken a toll on local farmers, including those at Legare Farms on Johns Island. The farm has faced significant challenges due to the sudden drop in temperatures. (WCIV)

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — The recent winter weather blast has not only affected drivers but has also taken a toll on local farmers, including those at Legare Farms on Johns Island. The farm has faced significant challenges due to the sudden drop in temperatures.

"It was like a sleet," Thomas Legare, a farmer at Legare Farms, said. "I walked outside about eight o'clock to get him, bring him in the house, it was pelting you. It was hurting when it was hitting you."

Legare explained, "Between myself and my crew-- we've had to put in a lot of overtime here in the last couple of days. Feeding animals, getting ice out of water troughs, making sure everything's got feed and hay."

The cold weather has led to the loss of five water buffaloes on the farm. "All of a sudden this storm hit and temperatures dropped below freezing and I think that's what caused the fatalities in some of our buffaloes," Legare said.

READ MORE | "Dorchester roads slowly improving but black ice remains a danger, officials warn drivers"

Despite the harsh conditions, Legare emphasized the relentless nature of farming. "We're busy 365 days out of the year," he said.

The winter weather's remnants, including snow and sleet, may impact upcoming crops and have already affected the farm's workload. "Our business is down big time this week," Legare said, noting that the farm's mobile markets have been shut due to rough roads.

However, there is hope on the horizon as temperatures rise, melting some of the ice and snow. Legare Farms is preparing to celebrate 300 years of serving the Lowcountry. "I've probably seen more in my lifetime in the last 60 years than in the first 240 years we were here," Legare said.

He is preparing to start planting winter and spring vegetables soon. The impact on crops will depend on how wet the fields remain and for how long.

JOHNS ISLAND — The most popular person with the animals at Legare Farms is the one with the food.

On a cold and blustery March morning, Linda Legare-Berry is the day's star as she walks to a shed near the enclosure where the cows, donkeys, goats and pigs are. With part of the enclosure open, allowing the animals to wander, two Sicilian donkeys, Aurora and Coco, follow her into the shed as she gathers the stock feed pellets.

Legare-Berry shoos the donkeys away so she can close the door behind her. But Aurora and Coco wait and then follow her while she feeds the animals by hand, and almost fighting with the cows after the last of the pellets gets dumped on the ground.

Some animals have a particular taste for other morsels beyond stock feed, Legare-Berry notes.

"Coco loves marshmallows," she said as she fed the donkey.

Legare-Berry is the ninth generation of her family to work on Legare Farms, which is celebrating 300 years of operations this year. The 300-acre property is one of the oldest farms in South Carolina.

The farm, located down a long dirt drive off River Road south of the county airport, celebrated its historical milestone with a Heritage Day on March 8. The event included hayrides, antique tractors and a corn cannon. They also did demonstrations of activities that once took place on the farm, like indigo dyeing and candle makingree. There also were reenactments of the American Revolution and Civil War, both of which Legare family members fought in.

One of three siblings that runs the farm today, Legare-Berry has spent the last seven years working on a book that details its history, starting with Solomon Legare, a silver and goldsmith who immigrated from France in the late 17th century.

Legare-Berry said she worries if the history isn't written down, it will be lost to time. She hopes it will help her children and grandchildren learn the farm's past and continue running it for another 300 years.

History of cash crops and versatility

Solomon Legare bought property on Johns Island in 1725, which marked the beginning of Legare Farms. The first couple generations of Legares grew rice and indigo, Legare-Berry said. The fourth generation started growing Sea Island cotton, completing the big-three of cash crops grown on Southern plantations.

Legare-Berry said the farm did use slave labor.

"I don’t think there would be any farms anywhere in the Lowcountry that didn’t," she said. But other than one will from Thomas Legare in 1842, Legare-Berry said she hasn't been able to find other wills that mention any enslaved people by name.

She's found more information about enslaved people from records of the Johns Island Presbyterian Church, where both the Legare family as well as the enslaved laborers attended.

After the Revolutionary War, the farm stopped growing indigo. It stopped harvesting Sea Island cotton after World War I. In the 1920s, the family started growing cabbage and potatoes, Legare-Berry said. Over time they switched to grain, watermelons and cantaloupes, and started raising animals like cows and sheep.

Now, the Legares plant a variety of vegetables, like collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and squash.

Legare-Berry said the farm has continued to work for three centuries, in part, because of its versatility.

"So many of the other farmers that we've known had one niche that they were in, and when it failed for whatever reason, they couldn’t keep going," Legare-Berry said. "Our family has apparently always been very adaptable and willing to change with the times."

Wayne O’Bryant, historian at the Center for African American History, Art and Culture in Aiken, said it's impressive for Legare Farms to remain within the family for 300 years. There are several historic properties that are no longer owned by the families they're named after, like the William Aiken House on King Street, he said.

"It's not like it's the only case, but there's not a lot of cases of people holding on to (property) from the 1700s to the present," O’Bryant said. "It's relatively rare."

Many plantations are now designated historic sites and ownership has changed to a historic society or a municipality so it could be run as a tourist destination, O’Bryant said. What makes Legare Farms interesting is that it remains an operational farm and that's how the Legares make money, he said.

Legare-Berry said it can be a difficult responsibility to keep the farm going through tough times. But she's grateful the family has a beautiful piece of property on the Stono River and has the opportunity to bring kids out to the farm to teach them more about agriculture.

"When I was a teenager, I couldn't wait to get away," Legare-Berry said. "You couldn’t drag me away now."

Looking back, she said she realizes she had an idyllic childhood being raised on the farm. While she didn't enjoy having to work growing up, she now appreciates the work ethic she developed.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - City of Charleston leaders are in the process of bringing the first-ever recreation center to Johns Island.

This facility will be funded by a $70 million parks bond referendum that Charleston voters overwhelmingly passed back in 2023.

Officials say the Johns Island Recreation Center and Aquatic Facility will be located next to the Johns Island City Park.

City council member Jim McBride, who represents Johns Island, says this project is crucial for the community, given the lack of facilities they currently have.

“Johns Island has the fewest parks and recreation facilities government offered per capita anywhere in Charleston, so this is sorely needed. It will have a pool and there is going to be a budget, you know, several million dollars and we’re going to try and fit in as many functions as we possibly can based on public input,” McBride says.

McBride says he is part of a selection committee where they are currently working to review qualifications and eventually choose a construction manager at risk for the project.

A construction manager at risk is when a construction manager commits to completing a project within a set guaranteed maximum price, if the construction manager goes over that price during construction then they have to pay for the extra costs, not the city.

McBride says that public input is going to be key in shaping the design of this facility. He says in the coming months, community members will have the opportunity to share what they want to see included in the project with city leaders.

The goal is to incorporate as many amenities as possible within budget while also ensuring high-quality construction. McBride says that Mayor Cogswell has pointed out that he wants this facility to be of the same high quality as the Daniel Island Recreation Center.

He says this facility could also reduce traffic concerns, saying that residents are often having to travel to other areas of Charleston to find a recreation center to use.

“People have to drive to West Ashley, or James Island, or other parts of Charleston to find a recreation center, find a pool and it makes it harder on parents for their children to do activities that they could do on Johns Island here in a couple of years hopefully, so this is one of many aspects of fighting the traffic problems on Johns Island,” McBride says.

He says once a construction manager is selected, they will be able to establish a more definitive timeline for the project. McBride says he hopes that within two years, shovels will be in the ground if construction isn’t completed already.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.