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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶
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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Bowens Island Restaurant

ORAL HISTORY

Paula Byers

Bowens Island Restaurant

Paula Byers settled near Charleston to be close to the ocean. Her political support of Robert Barber was her first connection to Bowens Island Restaurant. After they became friends, Paula started visiting Robert’s family’s restaurant often. But she didn’t go for the food; she went for the experience. Over the years her experiences at Bowens Island have included helping to repair the deck, late-night swims in the marsh, and hosting the rehearsal dinner for her daughter’s wedding in the dock house; Robert Barber, an ordained minister, performed the ceremony. Years earlier, Robert’s grandmother, May Bowen, was the witness to Paula’s will. Robert drew up the document for her in his tiny law office in the back of the restaurant. It’s these memories that have endeared Paula to the place and the people of Bowens Island.

Date of interview:
2007-01-18 00:00

Interviewer:
Amy Evans

Photographer:

Download Transcript

“

"It always tickles me to go over there and see Robert Barber back in the kitchen. And here’s a man with a law degree, you know. He’s an ordained minister and registered lobbyist back there in the kitchen, breading shrimp and frying them up. Of course, I think cooking is the most loving thing you can do for someone. And so that was part of it, too: the hominess." - Paula Byers

Other Project Interviews

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Victor “Goat” Lafayette

Victor Lafayette grew up on Sol Legare Road, just across the inlet from Bowens Island. His childhood friends gave him…

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Robert Barber

Robert Barber has always been connected to the restaurant business. When he was born in 1949, his grandparents were…

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Jack London

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Fred Wichmann

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Duke Eversmeyer

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Bowens Island Restaurant

In 2006, the year that Bowens Island Restaurant celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, Robert Barber accepted a James…

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Bob and Cile Barber

Bob Barber was born in Charleston in 1925. His parents divorced before he was two years old. His mother, May, married…

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