People Profiles

WE AREN’T QUITE NEW YORK CITY, BUT IT ISN’T UNUSUAL TO HEAR YOUR HILTON HEAD ISLAND NEIGHBOR TELL HER CHILD SHE’LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL IN A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH. IT COULD BE GERMAN OR FRENCH OR SPANISH.

Like Midwesterners or East Coasters, most of those new arrivals vacationed here and then thought of a plan to ensure they would never have to leave: They moved here.

While less than 5 percent of South Carolina residents were born in another country, 15 percent, or nearly 6,000 of our 39,400 Hilton Head Island residents were foreign born, according to the 2010 Census. Within that group, 70 percent were born in Latin America, about 19 percent were born in Europe and 10 percent in either Canada or Asia.

FORMER DISNEY LANDSCAPE ARTIST INSPIRED BY LOWCOUNTRY BEAUTY

James Coleman has made a living out of creating some of the most famous magical places children have seen:  The underwater world of “The Little Mermaid.” The darkly intriguing backdrop of “Beauty and the Beast.” The rural woodlands of “The Fox and the Hound.”

But the former Disney landscape artist says nothing prepared him for the fantasy land that is the Lowcountry.

MEET THE MEN (AND WOMAN) RUNNING THE SHOW AT THE ISLAND’S BUSY MARINAS

For anyone unclear about what a harbormaster does, Nancy Cappelmann – who has held the position at Harbour Town Yacht Basin since 1995 – can sum it up fairly succinctly.

“Much like managing a hotel, where the purpose is to put ‘heads in beds,’ a harbormaster’s responsibility is to put ‘yachts in slips,’” says Cappelmann, who started working at the marina back in 1981 when she scored what she thought would be a tan- inducing summer job as a dockhand. “Of course, the challenge is to inspire yachters to want to dock in your marina.”

So what goes into putting ‘yachts in slips’? And what kind of person is interested in such a gig? We spoke to seven of the island’s harbormasters for an inside look at the varied personalities and experiences of one of the island’s most important jobs.

Hilton Head Island and Bluffton form a glorious little nook along the Eastern seaboard, inspiring artists in many mediums.

Here's a look at four such working artists who live and create just around the corner from one another.

ROBERT ROMMEL
Research biologist/wildlife photographer Robert Rommel takes advantage of his surroundings to amplify the range of his own camera art, as well as to give him a unique perspective when teaching photography workshops.

BESTSELLING NUTRITIONAL EXPERT BRINGS HEALTH GETAWAY TO HHI

With all our cutting-edge technology and powerful drugs, and despite the sharp decline in the death rate, half of all Americans still die of preventable disease. Every year more than a million Americans suffer heart attacks, and almost as many more million suffer strokes — a life-changing, irreversible injury that may result in serious disabilities.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., is a board certified family physician and nutritional researcher who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional and natural methods. He is the author of several books including The New York Times bestsellers Eat to Live; Super Immunity; The End of Dieting; and The End of Diabetes.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE STEAMBOAT THAT ESCAPED CHARLESTON AND CARRIED ROBERT SMALLS TO DESTINY

The coastal steamboat named Planter and a slave named Robert Smalls made history together early on the morning of May 13, 1862, when Smalls commandeered the vessel that was then in the service of the Confederate government, and escaped to freedom with its eight other black crewmen and several family members.

The daring dash to freedom began at 3 a.m. at the southern wharf in Charleston Harbor after the white crew members had left the ship for the night to attend a ball.

Smalls, who was born into slavery in Beaufort, had been leased out since he was a youth for various tasks on the Charleston waterfront and was working as wheelman of the Planter when he made his bid for freedom. Before the Confederate takeover, the Planter would carry cotton and passengers from Charleston to Georgetown.

According to an account of the event put together by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program, Smalls, 23 years old at the time, had a well-thought-out plan for the escape.

RALPH WYCOFF BALLANTINE ENTERED THIS WORLD on Sept. 21 — the autumnal equinox, when light becomes clearer, nature advertises change with showy colors, and shadows grow long and sharp as in the vintage noir comics. The year was 1919.

He was the sole male among three sisters in central Michigan. He learned early that he would have to make his way on his own. As it turned out, this made all the difference for this big blue-eyed boy who, would one day become my father, mentor and friend, a larger- than-life persona who left his mark in the art world and his Hilton Head Island home.

A few summers ago, when I made the decision to move to Hilton Head, I arrived a very broken man. I remember packing up my car, unsure of what this next chapter would be like, and having this overwhelming feeling of defeat. I had previously lived in Brooklyn and worked on 5th Avenue as a retail manager for Guess. During that time, my best friend and I were close to finishing off our 16-song concept album, which we had been working on for the better part of eight years. We both received our recording arts degrees from Fullsail University in 2005 and had been recording all our songs ourselves. In short, the two of us had an ugly falling out and went our separate ways.

Local musicians John Cranford and Jared Matthew Templeton collected childhood photos of several members of the local music scene. They call this yearbook collection, "The School of Rock." Enjoy.