Andrew Magwood
The Saltwater South: Charleston
Here are the stories of men and women who make their living working on the waters of the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Andrew Magwood grew up on Little Bulls Island, a spit of land between Big Bulls Island and Capers Island. His family survived on what they grew on their farm and what they caught from the water. His father, Captain Clarence Magwood, taught his sons to fish for everything from bass to shark. They also picked oysters and clams. And while the Magwood name is synonymous with shrimping in the Lowcountry, the business started with oysters. They also sold turtle eggs. Andrew would help his parents, Clarence and Ethel, pick oysters they then rowed to Charleston, and shucked and sold on East Bay Street. Later on Andrew worked with his brother Clarence Jr. (known to everyone as Junior Magwood) as they shrimped off the docks of Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant. Andrew is retired from shrimping, but each week he still rows out to Little Bulls Island from his home in Awendaw.
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