Producer, writer and editor Betsy Newman blogs about why this story is special.

I grew up spending summers in Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet but before I began working on The Baruchs of Hobcaw I didn’t have any idea what a fascinating place Hobcaw Barony is. Now I’m really excited to share the great story of Hobcaw and the Baruchs with our viewers. Many major themes of South Carolina history – African Americans after Emancipation, Southern Jewish life, Northern money/Southern land, women’s rights, two World Wars, and more – make up the Hobcaw Barony narrative. And the Baruch family includes a famous Civil War doctor, a millionaire who advised presidents, and a woman who was an award-winning equestrian and an environmentalist at a time when many people didn’t know the meaning of the word. During the 20s and 30s Bernard Baruch invited the rich and famous  - including Clare Booth and Henry Luce, Zasu Pitts and George Vanderbilt -  to his winter hunting parties at Hobcaw, and in 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt spent a month there. Belle Baruch, Bernard’s daughter,  saved Hobcaw from development and today it is managed by the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, for education and research. But they hold tours for the public. After you see the documentary you might want to see Hobcaw Barony for yourself.

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