Iconic seafood restaurant reaches historic milestone, celebrates all year long
By Lorne Chambers | editor
The 75th anniversary is considered the Diamond Anniversary. Appropriate for Bowens Island, a restaurant and destination that has managed to be both the crown jewel of the Lowcountry seafood scene and a hidden Lowcountry gem at the same time.
However, maybe it would be more fitting if it was the Pearl Anniversary, since pearls are found in oysters and Bowens Island sells more oysters than any restaurant in South Carolina, according to owner Robert Barber. The Pearl Anniversary is actually the 30th, a landmark most restaurants never see, but one Bowens has seen two-and-half times over. So maybe diamond is more appropriate after all.
While it’s not completely clear on what day Bowens Island officially became a restaurant, it is clear that for three quarters of a century the island itself has been a gathering place for food, fishing, family, and friends. It has withstood hurricanes, fires, and now a pandemic. So Bowens Island will be celebrating this landmark all year long.
The celebration was highlighted late last month with a huge shindig featuring some of Bowens Island’s fellow food and beverage friends from around the Lowcountry, including live cooking stations from acclaimed restaurants Tempest, Zero George, Swig & Swine, Jackrabbit Philly, and former Top Chef and Chopped contestant Emily Hahn of Tarvin Seafood.
Crosby’s Seafood provided fresh fish, Bowens Island, Lowcountry Oysters, and Crystal Coast Oysters served up local oysters on the half-shell, and Life Raft Treats capped it off with their famous “not fried chicken” ice cream for dessert. Other vendors included Holy City Brewing, Estuary Beans & Barley, Red Clay Hot Sauce, and Oyster Candle Co. Local bands Dallas Baker & Friends and Sandcastle provided live entertainment.
When Jimmy and May Bowen purchased the property in the 1940s there wasn’t even a road going out to island. Their great-granddaughter Hope Barber, who is now the managing operator of the Bowens Island Restaurant, says folks would have to wait until high tide and then boat over. She says there was nothing out there at the time but some moonshine stills and a goat. Her great grandparents built a couple cottages on the property, lived out there, and eventually a restaurant organically formed.
According to Hope, people would come out to Bowens Island to fish and her great-grandmother, May, would cook what people caught and that is how the restaurant got started.
“Even back then we were doing oyster roasts,”says Hope.
In 2006, the year that Bowen’s Island Restaurant celebrated its 60th anniversary, Hope’s father, Robert, ran for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. He had previously served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1989-1994 and was the chairman of the Charleston County School Board before that.
Robert lost the Lieutenant Governor race by a fraction of a percent. However, that same year Bowens Island was honored with a James Beard Award, hailing it as an American Classic. Robert went to New York where he accepted the award wearing a tuxedo and his shrimp boots.
According to Hope, the James Beard Award brought new attention and interest to Bowens Island and it was featured on several major television shows and written up in almost every major food and travel magazine.
Then just five months after receiving the prestigious award, the small one-story cinderblock building that housed the restaurant May Bowen started in the 1940s burned to the ground.
“After the fire it took us a while to figure out what we were going to do,” says Hope. “We had a little catering kitchen and that became the kitchen and the dock house became the dining room.”
In 2010 the new restaurant building officially opened at Bowens Island beginning a new chapter in the restaurant’s storied history.
At the anniversary party on Monday, July 26, Robert Barber took to the microphone thanking the community for the support over the years and regaling the crowd of stories of his grandparents and the history of Bowens Island.
While the anniversary party was held last month, Hope says they are celebrating all year long and is planning some more oyster-roast-centric events in fall and winter.
