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Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center Project Underway

Groundbreaking for expansion of the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center took place Monday, August 11, 2008, on Hobcaw grounds. On hand for the ceremony were members of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation Board of Trustees and staff, representatives from the University of South Carolina‘s North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NI-WB NERR) and staff of the Centralized Data Management Office that serves the 27 NERR sites around the country. The partnership of the Baruch Foundation and NERR brings about a project that will expand the current Discovery Center from 1,800 square feet to over 10,000 square feet. The NI-WB NERR is headquartered at USC’s Baruch Marine Field Laboratory on Hobcaw Barony. The education program and staff will move to the Discovery Center when construction is complete. NI-WB NERR received two awards (totaling $3.5 million) from NOAA for the expansion and exhibits. The Belle W. Baruch Foundation is also is funding the Discovery Center project. Wendy Allen, NI-WB NERR Manager, noted “The new center and its exhibits will showcase the natural and cultural history of the Hobcaw property as well as important discoveries made by researchers from the University of South Carolina and other colleges and universities engaged in studies on the Baruch Foundation property.”

Photo: (L-R)
Beth Thomas, Jennifer Spicer, Lee Brockington, Lindsay Thomas, George Geer (trustee, BWB Foundation), Lisa Ford, Wendy Allen (director NI-WB NERR), Brent Carey, Sally Self (trustee, BWB Foundation), Erik Smith (research director, NI-WB NERR), Thomas Tisdale, Nick Stines, Albert Baruch Mercer (trustee, BWB Foundation), Jennifer Keesee, George Chastain (executive director, BWB Foundation), Judianne Schmenk, Richard Camlin.

Another Long-term Database Available Online

Motile Epibenthos Data: 1981-2003 is the latest addition to the Institute’s long-term databases available online (http://links.baruch.sc.edu/Data/EPI/index.html). These databases are the result of long-term monitoring begun in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the North Inlet Estuary, Georgetown County, South Carolina. Shorter term data and other resources are also available via the Data Archives link (http://links.baruch.sc.edu/Data/index.html) on the Institute’s website.

North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve awarded $606,500 for exhibits
The North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NI-WB NERR) has been awarded $ 606,500 from NOAA for design and construction of exhibits for the Reserve’s new (soon to be constructed) education and training center. The NI-WB NERR received a $2.9 million grant from NOAA last year to construct the new center, which is being planned in cooperation with The Belle W. Baruch Foundation and will involve expansion of the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center (formerly named Hobcaw Visitor Center). The facility, located at the entrance to the Hobcaw Barony property near Georgetown, SC, was recently renamed to better convey the goals of the new center. Wendy Allen, NI-WB NERR Manager, noted “The new center and its exhibits will showcase the natural and cultural history of the Hobcaw property as well as important discoveries made by researchers from the University of South Carolina and other colleges and universities engaged in studies on the Baruch Foundation property.”

Baruch Foundation announces Center name change
The Belle W. Baruch Foundation recently announced “ Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center” as the new name for the Hobcaw Barony Visitor Center. The name change reflects expansion of the facilities and the new collaborative integration of the education and outreach programming of the Baruch Foundation, Clemson University’s Baruch Institute for Coastal Ecology & Forest Science, USC’s Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences, and the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Over the next two years, the Discovery Center will undergo extensive renovations and expansion, with new research and education exhibits, a dedicated audiovisual room and classroom, and an enlarged lobby, reception, and gift shop area. The facility will also house the NERRS Centralized Data Management Offices (CDMO), presently located at the Baruch Institute’s marine field lab on Hobcaw Barony.

The architect team is LS3P Associates Ltd., based out of Charleston, SC. The exhibit design firm is Split Rock Studios, out of Arden Hills, Minnesota.