Lowcountry Cuisine Summer/Fall 2019

www.LowcountryCuisineMag.com | www.MountPleasantRestaurant.com | www.CharlestonRecipes.com lowcountry cuisine P recious few companies in South Carolina, or any state for that matter, can claim a birth date predating this country’s Constitution. Fewer still have kept their business inside the family that entire time. Legare Farms on Johns Island, sandwiched between what’s now River Road and the Stono River, is an exception. In Charleston, there are words derived from French Hugeunot that have taken on a pronunction unlike any traditional spoken language. Legare is one of these words. Legare Farms, pronounced “luh-GREE,” was founded in 1725, before many signers of the U.S. Constitution were born. On the day I visited, the air conditioning in Helen Legare-Floyd’s house wasn’t working, and the humidity was pushing 70%, so we sat in her dark-teal pickup blasting the AC and toured around the 300-acre property she now runs with her sister, Linda Legare-Berry, and brother, Thomas S. Legare — the ninth generation of Legares to carry on the farm. This is the land where Helen, Linda and Thomas grew up and where they all live in their respective houses, BY ENID BRENIZE Legare Farms Celebrating Nearly Three Centuries of Farming and Food B