Garden & Gun devotes section to Holy City

A love of place has long shaped Charleston's history, food and culture, defining its life and allure for natives and newcomers alike. For those who call the city home, the richness of the land, the plentiful creeks and fertile marshes all feed body and soul.

That same love of place inspires a 14-page spread on the Holy City in the May/June issue of Garden & Gun magazine, which hits newsstands Tuesday.

"We could have done 50 pages on Charleston and not even scratched the surface," says Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of the Charleston-based magazine. "We just tried to capture the feeling of it, especially for people who don't have the good fortune to live here, and give them a slice of life."

Titled "City by the Sea," the collection of five articles focuses on what sets Charleston apart, with an eye to the interests of the magazine's readership, Evans says.

"We wanted to talk about aspects that would appeal to Garden & Gun readers, and they're particularly interested in Southern culture and food and conservation and, of course, gardens, so those are some of the elements we focused on."

Garden & Gun, which made its debut a year ago, celebrates 21st-century Southern America, with stories devoted to the region's landscapes and lifestyles, specifically the sporting life, environmental and conservation efforts, food, culture and history. Its first five issues have featured new work by Southern literary lights such as Pat Conroy, Clyde Edgerton, Roy Blount Jr. and Reynolds Price. It's published by Evening Post Publishing Co., which also publishes The Post and Courier.

In the first of the Charleston stories in the new issue, Jack Bass, a College of Charleston humanities professor who's written a number of books about the Palmetto State's landmark events and personalities, paints a portrait of the city with help from native sons, such as Mayor Joe Riley and lawyer/historian Robert Rosen, as well as more recent arrivals, such as author Anne Rivers Siddons.

In the pages that follow, author William Baldwin takes readers for lunch and a walk at Middleton Place and talks with the plantation's Charles Duell about stewardship and working with developers to preserve the vistas around the property, and writer Maura Hogan, who grew up in Charleston, offers an insider's guide to galleries, watering holes, classic shops and local-favorite hangouts and high spots.

Contributing editor Hunter Kennedy dives into "The Raw and the Cooked: Ten things you simply must eat" (among them, shad roe with grits at Hominy Grill, stewed cabbage at Martha Lou's Kitchen, pan-fried quail breast at Slightly North of Broad and stone-crab claws at Hank's).

One of Evans' favorite articles is "The Wild Bunch: How landowners and conservationists have banded together to protect the Carolina coast."

"I think the Lowcountry is really unique in having people who have protected crucial chunks of wildlife habitat. That's pretty remarkable, especially to have private landowners working with conservation groups and state organizations," Evans says.

"I think it's a good example for other states, but also the dynamic here is particularly unusual because in the Lowcountry, you've got people who are sitting on 5,000 acres of coastal property that's been in their family for 200-plus years." It's that connection to place — physically and emotionally — that goes to the heart of the stories on Charleston, and in fact to the heart of Garden & Gun itself.

"We just get such emotional feedback on this magazine," Evans says. "I was at Field & Stream (as editor-in-chief) for five years, and it's 10 times bigger than Garden & Gun, but we didn't get the kind of feedback that we've gotten here."

Evans says Garden & Gun has readers not only across the Southeast, but in every state. "Some are Southern ex-pats, but a lot of people are just fascinated by the South, whether they like to travel here or they're drawn to the culture or the food or the arts," he says.

"When you start talking about the South, about visceral things like the food and the land, it's emotional. People just get emotional."

In the Lowcountry, Garden & Gun is sold at the Waldenbooks in Charleston Place, as well as Barnes & Noble bookstores, Publix and Harris Teeter. For subscriptions or more information, go to www.gardenandgun.com.

Reach Ann Mitchell at 937-5557 or amitchell@postandcourier.com.