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Happy Friday, Charleston. On September 11, 1779, the French frigate Amazone caught the British post ship Ariel off Charles Town and spent ninety minutes taking her apart. Ariel lost her mizzen-mast, four men dead and twenty wounded, and Captain Thomas Mackenzie handed her over.

Here is the part that makes it: the captured ship was patched up, loaned to the Continental Navy, and briefly sailed as USS Ariel under John Paul Jones. A British warship taken in our own harbor approaches ended up under the most famous American captain of the war.

Dinner Club has never done this

Seven dinners in, and not one of them has been in North Charleston. That changes Wednesday, September 23, when Dinner Club takes over tables in Park Circle for the first time.

Six of you per table, seated at 6:30 PM, then everybody lands at one bar afterward.

You'll find out which restaurants when I announce them. That part's half the fun.

The Regulars is free. That's the whole catch.

Nearly 400 locals joined in the last month alone.

It's the room attached to this newsletter. Five open channels: introductions, Dinner Club chatter, every issue posted for you to argue with, announcements before they go wide, and one for everything else.

You already read this thing every week. This is the version where you get to talk back.

Congrats to Brittany M. of Mount Pleasant who guessed correctly in last week’s “Where Are We?” I was at the pier on Shem Creek, snapping Pete The Pelican.

WEATHER

Friday 88° / 75° ☔ 💧48%

Saturday 87° / 76° ⛅ 💧24%

Sunday 89° / 75° ⛈️ 💧34%

Brought To You By Magnolia & Moss

Every gorgeous event you've ever screenshotted for later? Someone sourced every piece in it.

Magnolia & Moss is that someone — 108+ curated vintage and specialty pieces (arbors, mirrors, bars, linens, candleware, drinkware, dessert displays, and more) that turn a backyard or ballroom into the party you actually pictured, not the one you settled for.

Want something with your name on it? Magnolia & Moss also makes custom pieces — table numbers, welcome signs, personalized tumblers — so the details feel like yours, not rented.

And you never touch a box. Full delivery, styled setup, gone before your guests arrive. Breakdown handled while you're asleep.

Milestone birthdays. Anniversary dinners. The rehearsal dinner you offered to host before thinking it through. The holiday party that always somehow lands on your desk.

Mount Pleasant based, serving Charleston and the Lowcountry.

→ See the collection

RESTAURANTS

Credit: Andrew Cebulka/Riva Mare

The Navy Yard has spent a decade filling up with makers, shops and apartments and never once had a real restaurant. That changed this month, on a roof, with a chef who earned a Michelin green star before he ever touched a Carolina oyster. The best thing on his menu started out as something another kitchen would have thrown in the bin.

WHERE AM I?

Just reply to this email, or if you’re reading on our website, email me here. The first person to guess correctly will get a shout-out at the top of our issue next week!

Thanks, Brittany, for this week’s photo!

HAPPENINGS

Friday, September 11

Remembering 9/11 | 10 AM - 5 PM | Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum | Twenty-five years on. First responders get in free today.

Dancing On The Cooper: Cooper River Band | 7 - 10 PM | Mount Pleasant Pier at Memorial Waterfront Park | Live band, open-air pier, the Ravenel lit up behind you.

Saturday, September 12

Charleston Farmers Market | 8 AM - 2 PM | Marion Square | Go early, go hungry. The prepared-food row is the actual draw.

Retroland Market | 10 AM - 3:30 PM | Music Farm | Three timed slots. Get the first one if you're serious.

BLŌKTOBERFEST | 12 - 9 PM | Two Blokes Brewing | Nine hours, German beer, a Polish food truck, and pretzels.

The Citadel vs Charleston Southern | 6 PM | Johnson Hagood Stadium | Military Appreciation night at Hagood. The corps does the rest.

Sunday, September 13

Pickers Hullabaloo Flea Market | 10 AM - 4 PM | Firefly Distillery | Over 100 vintage vendors. Show up after noon and it's free.

2nd Sunday on King Street | 12 - 5 PM | King Street | King goes car-free from Queen to Calhoun. Walk the middle.

Monet & Mimosas | 1 PM | Gibbes Museum of Art | A hundred years since Monet died. Members get mimosas and a guide.

Broker’s Take September 11, 2026

The Prep Work Is The Whole Game

The sellers doing well in Charleston right now are the ones who spent money before the sign went in the yard. Not renovations. Paint, landscaping, a pre-listing inspection, and a decision to fix the three things a buyer was going to find anyway. It costs a few thousand and it buys back weeks. The sellers who skip it spend the same money in the repair negotiation, except now they’re spending it from a weaker position with a buyer who has already imagined walking. Same dollars, worse timing. Charleston buyers have enough choices to be picky about which houses feel cared for, and they can tell in about ninety seconds.

Jimmy Farrell

Broker, The Farrell Group

ICYMI
LIVE MUSIC

FRI — Collective Soul at The Refinery — thirty years of radio hooks, one warehouse room. Or The Bouncing Souls at Music Farm — Jersey punk lifers, and the undercard runs deep.

SAT — Stayin' Alive at Charleston Music Hall — the falsetto catalog, played straight through. Or Jerkweed at The Royal American — local punk, low ceiling, no pretense.

SUN — KOTA the Friend at Music Farm — Brooklyn's most unhurried rapper closes your weekend. Or Reggae Sundays at The Washout — Folly's standing Sunday, sand included.

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