Robert McClary, who used to work for Bernard Baruch, moved to Hobcaw Barony in 1937. The McClary family visits Hobcaw Barony in March 2015, and explore some of the locations significant to Robert McClary’s life, such as the Strawberry School, built in 1915.
Bernard and Annie Baruch welcomed their first child, Isabelle Wilcox “Belle” Baruch in 1899. Historian Dale Rosengarten talks about Belle’s early life; growing up having Bernard as her father. Later, she grew up to maintain apartments in New York and France. With World War II on the horizon, Bernard hoped to convince his daughter to come back home by bribing her with land ownership in Hobcaw Barony. Belle became very protective of the land her father gave her, and was a renowned ecologist and conservationist. Sadly, Belle Baruch passed away from cancer in 1964, but in her will, her property of Hobcaw Barony was to become a research and education center. Today, Hobcaw Barony is a nature preserve, to keep the land in pristine condition, and out of reach of the development which had mauled the Grand Strand. Wendy Allen, the manager for North Inlet-Winyah Bay talks about the mission of this estuary. Hobcaw Barony is a crucial location for educational and research opportunities in fields like biology, ecology, and just recently, archaeology.
