Who doesn’t love a farmers market? Farmers markets are typically just places to buy fresh produce in a good atmosphere. The Port Royal Farmers Market feels like something more than that. On Saturday morning, under sprawling trees draped in Spanish moss, the park was alive with colorful tents, more colorful flowers, fruits, and veggies, and notably filled with happy looking families enjoying a lazy day outside.
Even with cloudy skies threatening rain, the market was packed. Families filled the walkways while children bounced between the playground and skate park onsite. Grandparents sat on benches chatting while shoppers wandered from tent to tent carrying potted plants, eggs, boxes of pasta, loaves of bread, and produce. With Mother’s Day arriving the following day, the flower and nursery vendors were especially busy, and many shoppers left with gorgeous bouquets tucked carefully under their arms.
As a local, what struck me most was the incredible variety of food being grown, raised, baked, or otherwise created right here in the Lowcountry. At a time when so much of modern life feels disconnected, the Port Royal Farmers Market offers a chance to meet the people behind our food face to face.
Forever Gardens Nursery and Simply Green Gardens drew steady crowds while shoppers
searched for the perfect Mother’s Day gifts. Myers Family Farms featured eggs, bagels, and cooked to order breakfast sandwiches while Narrow Path Farm offered vibrant microgreens across the way. Beaufort Bees sold local honey and Hampton Grove Herb Farm and Spice Market displayed herbs and seasonings as customers stopped to sniff and browse.
The food vendors alone could justify spending the entire morning at the market. Hank’s
Lowcountry served up steaming bowls of she-crab soup and gumbo alongside crab dip and crab macaroni and cheese. Nearby, Rio Bortolini’s Fresh Pasta was flanked by colorfully illustrated chalkboards listing the handmade pasta on offer, while Yummy Buns Bakery and Jamie’s Breads tempted visitors with fresh baked goods. One vendor offered Chinese street food and dumplings, adding yet another flavor to the morning.
I was very intrigued by Lowcountry Shrooms, an indoor mushroom farm located right in Port Royal. I browsed baskets full of fresh mushrooms along with baggies of mushroom flour designed for gluten-free and low-carb baking. Carolina Kidz Dairy Farm featured goat cheeses and dairy products while Lowcountry Creamery sold raw whole milk, chocolate milk, and yogurt. Every few steps I was encountering something new, usually pretty healthy, and sure to be delicious.
I also loved speaking with some of the farmers whose families have deep roots in this region. Walter and Delores Mack of Marshview Farms on St. Helena Island sell free-range goat meat, produce, and homemade jams made from locally grown fruit. The couple told me their family has been farming on St. Helena for generations, and standing there talking with them felt like talking to people who are truly carrying the agricultural traditions of the Lowcountry forward into a new generation.
They’re preaching the gospel of goat meat, which they informed me is one of the healthiest red meats available and is eaten regularly by more than 70% of the world. I was able to photograph Walter and Delores together at their booth, surrounded by the products they have worked so hard to grow and create.
Other vendors included Whippoorwill Farms with certified organic grains along with forest-raised chicken and pork, HD Farm similarly offered pasture and forest-raised beef, pork, chicken, and lamb raised without hormones or antibiotics, Adams Farm Produce, Daisy Branch Farm from Bluffton with certified organic produce, and The Green Rancher are other local farms that were represented.
After shopping for a bit I had the chance to speak with Port Royal Farmers Market manager Kit Bruce, who has overseen the market for the last 22 years. “The key to our success is the consistency and high quality of our vendors who are here week after week, year after year,” she said.
That consistency becomes especially clear when speaking with Adriano Rota of Castra Rota Foods, one of the market’s longest-serving vendors. Adriano, originally from Ponte Nossa Bergamo, Italy, and his wife Sonja, from Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, first opened their booth at the Port Royal Farmers Market in 2006 when their son Traiano was just a baby. Last month Traiano turned 20 and has spent nearly every Saturday of his life at this market. Today he works alongside his father hand-cutting imported European cheeses off the block while helping customers choose among handmade breads, pastries, pizzas, sauces, desserts, and lasagnas prepared by his mother.
“This is the nicest atmosphere for a farmers market in 500 miles,” Adriano told me. “We have done them all over but you can’t beat the people and the setup in the park here.”
He explained that many of their recipes come directly from his family in Italy, including a
Bolognese sauce recipe passed down from his grandmother.
That kind of connection to family history and tradition is part of what makes shopping here feel different from a trip to the grocery store.
I found that same connection to the past again while speaking with Frances Chalmers of
Rollen’s RAW Grains. The business is named for her husband, Marion “Rollen” Chalmers, who pioneered the return of Carolina Gold Rice to Daufuskie Island after rice had not been grown there for more than a century. Their operation now produces heritage grains including Carolina Gold rice, Charleston Gold rice, and farro using non-GMO seeds. Frances spoke passionately about both the health benefits of heritage grains and the importance of preserving traditional agriculture in the South.
By the time I left, with my arms full of purchases and a phone full of photos, I realized the Port Royal Farmers Market is not just a place to shop local, although it certainly succeeds at that. It is also a place to learn, to have conversations with neighbors near and far, and to spend an hour or two enjoying one of the most welcoming community spaces in the Beaufort area. For visitors, it offers a glimpse into the real Lowcountry beyond the postcard version. For locals, it provides a weekly reminder of why so many of us love living here in the first place.
The Port Royal Farmers Market is open on Saturdays from 9am to 12pm in Naval Heritage Park at the intersection of Ribaut Rd & Pinckney Blvd, Port Royal, SC 29935. For more information visit www.portroyalfarmersmarket.com.
An ExploreBeaufortSC.com contributor, Heather Bruemmer is an author, arts advocate, and travel enthusiast who has called the Lowcountry home since 2001. A mother of six, she enjoys exploring the people, places, food, and culture that make the region unique.
