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Historic Beaufort Foundation Annual Lafayette Soiree
One of the Lowcountry’s most-anticipated social events, Historic Beaufort Foundation’s Lafayette Soiree, is set for May 16th at the 200-year-old George Moss Stony House in the National Historic Landmark District.
This year’s fundraiser, from 6-10 PM, will be held at the home of Denny and Sandy Wiener, on the historic Point, overlooking the Beaufort River. Tickets are available at www.historicbeaufort.org and are $200 for HBF members and $250 for non-members.
Tickets tend to sell quickly, and the event is held rain or shine.
“Historic Beaufort Foundation is grateful to Denny and Sandy Weiner for sharing their exquisite property with us for this year’s Lafayette Soirée,” said Lise Sundrla, HBF’s executive director.
“And, we are so appreciative of this year’s co-chairs, Rob and Meg Wynne and Sherwood and Margaret Miler, and our many sponsors and volunteers for their support of this much anticipated annual event,” she said.
The evening will feature a sampling of Lowcountry cuisine, perfectly curated libations, a silent auction, and live music with the band We Got the Beat.
A John Campbell painting of Beaufort from 1798 shows an early Federal style home on this property, facing the Beaufort River. Dr. George Moss Stoney, a physician and Hilton Head Island landowner, is thought to have remodeled or rebuilt the structure in the early 19th century.
“We are very pleased to support HBF by offering our yard and garden once again for their annual Soirée. HBF importantly serves our local communities in their efforts to retain the historic character of Beaufort,” said the Weiners.
The US Direct Tax Commission seized the house during the Civil War. In 1869 the property was sold to Anna Pollitzer, wife of Moritz Pollitzer, a native of Austria. He came to Beaufort during the Civil War from New York to become a cotton merchant, and later he was elected mayor of Beaufort.
The property stayed in the Pollitzer family for five generations and was the childhood home of another Beaufort mayor, the late Henry C. Chambers, a Pollitzer descendent and visionary of the Henry Chambers Waterfront Park in downtown Beaufort.
During the Civil War, Union forces took over the house and used it, like many others in downtown Beaufort, as a hospital and medical center. For the Soirée, only the grounds will be open to guests.
“The Lafayette Soiree brings together people from across the Lowcountry and beyond to celebrate Beaufort’s history and HBF’s continued work to preserve and protect Beaufort’s historic, architectural and cultural heritage,” Sundrla said. “It’s one of the most special nights in Beaufort every year, and it’s our primary fundraiser for the work that lies ahead.”
Since the 1980s, Historic Beaufort Foundation has been holding the annual Lafayette Soirée in recognition and celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit. For more than 150 years, HBF’s flagship property, the John Mark Verdier House, ca. 1804, has been thought to be the location where Lafayette spoke to Beaufort-area residents during his visit in March 1825.
