I am on vacation but still blogging January 22

Here I am sitting on the deck of the condo where I have been this week with Gay and Stu. We are at the beach, but it is January and it is not hot and sunny at Hilton Head Island, SC.  

This is the view from our deck. The long walkway over the marsh leads to the water. I can hear the waves crashing against the sand.

I prefer the beach in the winter. I can't take hot weather. The temperatures are in the forties and fifties, but it just rained and the wind is a bit cold. Yesterday we went down to the sand but not on the sand. The ocean waves rolling against the shore and the constant movement of the water is soothing and peaceful to me. In my dreams, I would rent this place for a month, sit here and write every day. What a dream!

Glenda At the Beach in January

We explored the town of Bluffton and today we go to Beaufort, SC which has preserved the old buildings, white two story houses with wide porches and banisters. The historic district in Beaufort begs me to come and spend a day there.

Many of the old white frame houses still stand in this town that was founded in the 1700s. I like that they kept the old buildings and did not replace them with modern steel and glass as did many cities in the south.

Today we are going to the new Pat Conroy Literary Center, where local people who loved the late writer and his wife have created a museum in honor of him, but the center is more than that. It is to an educational center for children, writers and others. I can't wait to go this afternoon. I contacted Maura Connelly who gave us an appointment to come today because we leave tomorrow morning and the Center is only open for visitors from noon on Thursday through Sunday. 

This is is what Wikipedia says about Pat Conroy.

Donald Patrick "Pat" Conroy was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, were made into Oscar-nominated films. He is recognized as a leading figure of late-20th century Southern literature.   Wikipedia

Born: October 26, 1945, Atlanta, GA

Died: March 4, 2016, Beaufort, SC

Spouse: Cassandra King (m. 1998–2016), Lenore Fleischer (m. 1981–1995), Barbara Jones (m. 1969–1977)  

Movies: The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, Conrack, The Lords of Discipline, The Water Is Wide

Cassandra King is a successful writer, too. I don't believe there is a movie called The Water is Wide. Conrack was made from the book with that title.

One of my favorite books by Conroy is My Reading Life. In it, he tells how reading books helped make him a writer. He writes about his fellow writers in Atlanta and his awe of some of them when he was young. 

Not only was Pat Conroy a great storyteller, his use of language made his writing more interesting. My friend, Estelle Rice, is also a big fan of Conroy and she loves the way he writes. 

"Conroy is a master of language."      The Atlanta Journal

I like Beach Music which I listened to on CD some years ago. The Water is Wide, and his cookbook are favorites of mine. South of Broad is also one I enjoyed very much. I am an unabashed fan.

I am anxious to see his hand written manuscripts and his desk where he sat to write. 

Later on the same day:

Here I sit at Pat Conroy's desk. He was a big man and I feel very small sitting where he sat.

I am sitting with Maura Connelly who hosted us and gave us history of Conroy and information about his family. Pictures from his high school yearbooks are posted and nearby are photos of him and others from his years at The Citadel.The books in the background of the photo above are some of the 8,000 books he had in his library.  

Of course, the books he wrote are for sale at the center, as well as books by his wife, Cassandra King. I brought home A Conversation with the Conroys which is an interview with all of Pat's siblings, except for one sister. They said she wasn't there because she didn't speak to Pat. Maura gave me a photo essay with pictures of Daufuskie Island's Mary Fields School where Conroy taught. It is a real treasure. 

This is a very bad photo of Santini's jacket which hangs in a glass enclosed case. The white strips are reflections of the overhead lights. I am not a good photographer. The jacket belonged to Pat's father who was the real Santini. 

Throughout the center are displays of letters he wrote to his parents and to others, all in a small neat script. He did not use a computer, but wrote all his manuscripts by hand. 

An artist friend of Pat Conroy drew pencil portraits of the authors included in the latest book, Prince of Scribes, which is filled with essays about Pat and his relationship to these authors. Two of them are Terry Kay and Rick Bragg, other favorite southern authors. 

We are already planning our next trip to Beaufort. We will take a van tour led by a friend of Pat who will take us all over the town to see where he lived, attended school, hear true stories about him and we will end up at his grave site. We hear that is something to see. Fans leave things at his grave site. 

I want to have time to just explore the town and learn more about the history. We stopped and walked in the national cemetery located in Beaufort. Long stretches of small white tomb stones under the mossy old oak trees struck a sad note with me. Many of the soldiers buried there had fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. In the area where I walked most of the stones were marked NY.

On my next visit, I want to take the ferry to Daufuskie Island to see where Conroy taught the Gullah children who knew nothing about life outside their surroundings. One of those children, all grown up now, leads a tour of the island. I know she will be interesting. His book, The Water is Wide was based on experiences from that year and was made into the movie, Conrack, in which John Voight starred. I think I will see if I can find it and watch it again. 

If you are a Pat Conroy fan, what books of his do you like? Did you see the movies that originated from some of his books? What do you think made Pat Conroy such a fine author?