Hair Salon in Charleston, SC

The power of resilience can be felt throughout the new International African-American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

The $120 million project, which opened its doors this summer, is no ordinary tourist attraction. The museum is built on scarred and sacred ground: Gadsden's Wharf, the arrival point for nearly half of all enslaved Africans shipped to the U.S.

"We were able to find this outline of what had been a building. And we believe it was one of the main storehouses," said Malika Pryor, the museum's chief learning and engagement officer. "We do know that captured Africans, once they were brought into the wharf, were often in many cases held in these storehouses awaiting their price to increase."

Pryor guided CBS News through nine galleries that track America's original sin: the history of the Middle Passage, when more than 12 million enslaved people were shipped from Africa as human cargo. The exhibits recount their anguish and despair.

"I think sometimes we need to be shocked," she said.

Exhibits at the museum also pay homage to something else: faith that freedom would one day be theirs.

"I expect different people to feel different things," said Tonya Matthews, CEO and president of the museum. "You're going to walk in this space and you're going to engage, and what it means to you is going to be transformational."

By design, it is not a museum about slavery, but instead a monument to freedom.

"This is a site of trauma," Matthews said. "But look who's standing here now. That's what makes it a site of joy, and triumph."

Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina's veteran congressman, championed the project for more than 20 years. He said he sees it as a legacy project.

"This entire thing tells me a whole lot about how complicated my past has been," he said. "It has the chance of being the most consequential thing that I've ever done."

Mark Strassmann

Mark Strassmann has been a CBS News correspondent since January 2001 and is based in the Atlanta bureau.

Johns Island conjures up visions of shady grand oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, offering a peek into a more rural side of Charleston. Several dining options have long existed for the residents of the island, but as its population grows, so grows the burgeoning food and beverage scene.

Since 2005, Hege’s Restaurant in Freshfields Village has served French cuisine in a bistro setting with classics like French onion soup, crab cakes and steak frites. Down on Maybank Highway, local favorite Wild Olive has led the way in sustainability and locally sourced items, boasting housemade pasta and a stunning Italian wine list.

But these popular staples are not the only game in town.

“We knew that Johns Island was growing faster than other parts of the area and also that we wouldn’t have to deal with some of the same logistic problems,” said John Williams, co-owner of Johns Island eatery The Royal Tern, echoing the sentiments of others who brought their businesses to the island for the community and space.

Bottom line: Johns Island’s developing food and beverage community is now a force to be reckoned with.

U.S. Navy veteran Jordan Hooker opened one of the island’s new additions in June, Somm Wine Bar, and he hopes it becomes a vital name on the island.

“Somm is a neighborhood-focused wine bar specializing in wine flights with special attention to detail, to incredible meat and cheese offerings,” Hooker said. “It’s kind of a Cheers bar, where everybody knows your name.”

Somm’s wine flights come with informational cards about each selection, which help guests discover something new.

“I like when people come in and are open to trying new things because the amount of flights that I have that turn into glass pours are astonishing,” Hooker said.

He said he likes to keep the menu fluid because there’s such a wide variety of wine and charcuterie available across the world. Somm’s charcuterie and cheeses are all vegetarian-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free. And since Somm strictly serves wine, beer and charcuterie, it’s currently the only true wine bar on the island, a fact Hooker is proud of.

“We’re the only ones here on Johns,” he said, adding he is happy about the island’s reception of the shop and the weekly regulars that Somm has already gained.

Another newcomer Periwinkle Kitchen aims to fill a gap on the island, offering healthy chef-made to-go options.

Periwinkle, which opened mid-June on Betsy Kerrison Parkway, has a diverse menu that changes weekly, with fun staples like the BLT tortellini pasta salad and three chicken salad options. Recently, it offered a beef stroganoff that captured flavors of home.

“I was missing my parents, so I wanted to make things that remind me of my mother,” said chef Haley Gunter of the beef stroganoff. For Gunter, Periwinkle Kitchen is a space that allows her ideas to flow. “I finally got to a spot that I was able to help create,” she said.

Periwinkle’s owner Kim Hayes wants to do more than just serve delicious food.

“[Our staff] wants to build their careers, and we want to help them build them,” Hayes said. For her, Periwinkle Kitchen is an opportunity to give back on a personal level.

“I blew my back out in active duty [in the Army] and had a massive spine injury,” she said. “I didn’t know if I would ever stand or walk again, and now that I can, it’s a big thing to come in and see people smiling when they come into the cafe.”

Periwinkle Kitchen values the community and is proud to give back to it. A portion of the proceeds from its Heartfelt Cinnamon Rolls goes to the GreenHeart Charity.

“When you think of us, I hope what people always think of is a company that gives back to the community,” Hayes said. “It starts in your own backyard.”

Periwinkle also has Johns Island’s only juice bar where cold-pressed juices are served. It soon may turn into a smoothie bar, too.

For Johns Island locals, this next one is no secret, but for everyone else, it might be. Seanachai Whiskey & Cocktail Bar opened in 2011 and recently turned over ownership in 2019 to chef and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jason Myers and his wife, former figure skater Marissa Myers.

“The pub has been around since 2011, and it’s just become a landmark and staple of Johns Island,” Jason Myers said. “We’ve been running it more or less the same as the founder intended.”

But, that’s not to say the establishment hasn’t grown.

“We just offer a really strong food program. Nothing crazy inventive, but super, super solid,” Myers said. “We’re a bar with a kitchen, not a restaurant.”

With the island’s increasing growth and the bar’s popularity, Seanachai will soon open for lunch and on Sunday evening’s after brunch.

“[Brunch] has easily become our second-busiest day of the week,” Myers said, highlighting brunch cocktails, like the Irish coffee cocktail, which he said is “second to none.”

He has also grown the whiskey list from about 100 to 350 whiskeys, adding that several times a year, he hosts a whiskey dinner.

“I typically try to do four to six of them a year, and they’re private, ticketed events. The whole pub closes down, the vibe changes to lowlight, candles and jazz, and I do a five- or six-course tasting menu with whiskey and cocktails.”

Myers and his wife also opened Flyin’ High Frozen Yogurt next door, offering frozen yogurt, coffee, pastries, CBD, Delta-8 and Delta-9 products.

Mexican eatery Minero shuttered its doors downtown in 2020 after six years on East Bay Street, but in June 2022, it found a new home on Johns Island — with much more space.

“The downtown location and kitchen were very small. We didn’t have room to have an expansive menu,” said Kenny Lyons, vice president of operations at the Neighborhood Dining Group.

In the new space, Minero added a back deck with games, as well as a live-fire charcoal grill used to make fajitas and items featuring charcoal-grilled chicken, like chimichangas and enchiladas, paired with housemade tortillas.

Lyons said the Johns Island community has welcomed the move with overwhelming support.

Brothers John and Ben Williams fulfilled their dream of opening a restaurant in 2019 when they moved to the Lowcountry and started The Royal Tern.

“The ability to design a space and building based on the way we wanted it as well as the ability to provide parking for patrons and employees was a huge deciding factor,” John Williams said.“Our initial goal was to offer the local Johns Island community a new restaurant where they could feel at home. With their loyalty and praise, we have been able to continue to grow as word gets out to people in the surrounding areas of Charleston.”

The Royal Tern offers globally inspired preparations of seafood and beef created by chef Kyle Kryske. Fan favorites include blackened swordfish, whole grilled fish and grilled shrimp, with gluten-free crème brÛleé and carrot cake as desserts.

Williams added that The Royal Tern’s manager and resident sommelier, Garth Herr, is always looking for wines to complement the menu. It also offers a phenomenal bar and cocktail program led by Jimmy Shea, making The Royal Tern a well-rounded place for a night out.

With so many possibilities, new and old, it’s pretty clear that no matter what you’re in the mood for, the Johns Island restaurant community has a fix for it, and they are excited to see you when you arrive.

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Nikko Cagalanan dresses bowls of arroz caldo with chili crisp, fragrant fried garlic and a sliced egg with a perfectly golden yolk that’s firm, not runny.

Once finished, in a small pass across from where guests can pick up ube lattes in the morning, the chef sprinkles dehydrated droplets of rice on pork ribs, sauced in a sticky Filipino banana ketchup sauce made by his longtime sous chef Joel Carnright.

“Poker Face” by Lady Gaga echoes over the speakers as diners dig into meaty filets of red snapper, sourced from Crosby’s Fish & Shrimp Co. and slathered in a mild curry sauce.

The mood is light and the plates are picturesque at Kultura, Cagalanan’s Filipino restaurant that opened July 14 at 73 Spring St. in downtown Charleston.

Housed in the space where Baguette Magic and WildFlour Pastry previously served, Kultura is an extension of Mansueta’s pop-up, named after the grandmother who taught Cagalanan how to cook. He owns the new restaurant with Baguette Magic co-owner Paula Kramer.

Kultura joins a growing list of quality restaurants in operation on Spring Street. In recent years, mainstays like Xiao Bao Biscuit and Malagon have been joined by Pink Bellies, Pink Cactus, The Pass, Bistronomy and a handful of other exciting newcomers.

Kultura will close later this year for a month to make way for more extensive renovations, including kitchen and patio upgrades. With plants and photos from the Philippines, the restaurant’s current setup points back to the chef’s Filipino heritage.

Background

Born in Bacolod in the Philippines, Cagalanan immigrated to the United States in 2011. The nurse-turned-chef became a full-time cook in 2014, working in kitchens in Boston before moving to Charleston to work at The Daily and Zero Restaurant + Bar. In 2019, he launched Mansueta’s, hosting his first few events at Charles Towne Fermentory and Palmetto Brewing Co. before eventually landing a stall at the now-closed Charleston food hall, Workshop.

Cagalanan’s career has taken off in the time since, though he has never operated out of a permanent brick-and-mortar location. Food & Wine placed Mansueta’s on its list of top Filipino places to eat in the U.S. in 2022, the same year Cagalanan took home a $10,000 prize on an episode of Food Network’s “Chopped.”

In an industry filled with strong egos, Cagalanan has remained humble.

Years before those honors, I drove my then-19-year-old car to Avondale to try a new pop-up with my friend Jai Jones. We were intrigued by a Filipino menu from a Filipino chef, and I planned to write about Cagalanan for a local publication.

The passion he exuded that evening was that of a chef who was hungry to do his part in sharing all that his home country has to offer. After training under Vinson Petrillo at Zero George, his precise technique was on display at that very first pop-up at Charles Towne Fermentory.

He served crispy lumpia with a sweet banana ketchup dipping sauce and grilled chicken marinated in a Filipino citrus called kalamansi that I had yet to encounter. The Filipino trinity of onion, garlic and ginger brought life to meat-based and vegetarian options like mushroom sisig, traditionally made with braised pig’s head. The diced button mushrooms, bound by egg yolk, melted in my mouth, whetting my palate for the elegant leche flan.

I was blown away, and my interest in Filipino food grew from there. Trips to Filipino-owned restaurants Mei Thai, Oriental Cuisine and Formosa in Charleston, along with Bad Saint in Washington, D.C., have helped me better understand the country’s detailed recipes in the years since. After eating Cagalanan’s food 20-plus times, I walked into his new restaurant on its first night, July 14.

When I think about the dishes I had that night — kamatis at itlog featuring local tomatoes from Johns Island, curry fish with red snapper from James Island, ube cake with corn and miso mousse — I had a realization. Kultura isn’t just a Filipino restaurant, it’s a Filipino restaurant in Charleston.

Those who take a soothing spoonful of arroz caldo, a Filipino rice porridge, might be reminded of grits. A bite of ribs comes with the crunch of another staple Southern ingredient, rice. Locally caught fish gets a pop of warm spice from a creamy tomato curry.

Diligence, nostalgia and whimsy fill Kultura’s opening menu, which will surely evolve as the restaurant settles into the permanent space. Each dish marries the Filipino food his grandmother cooked with Lowcountry ingredients and the skills Cagalanan has honed over the years in Charleston.

Morning, day and night

Filipino baking has added exciting pastries to cities across the country like San Francisco, where a local media outlet reports the Filipino baking scene is as exciting as ever before. In Washington, D.C., there are several Filipino sweet shops, including Rose Ave Bakery, which grew out of its stall at a local food hall after selling out daily. Now, owner Rose Nguyen is serving ube doughnuts and lattes at a brick-and-mortar location in a part of the district called Woodley Park.

Filipino food — and ube in particular — is gaining a following outside of local cafes and restaurants. Trader Joe’s pairs the purple yam with ice cream, pretzels and more, while Whole Foods Market’s 365 brand has created ube cake bath bombs.

Filipino food and its ingredients are becoming more familiar in the South, but Charleston, as far as I know, did not have a Filipino pastry shop before Kultura. Pastries are made daily at Baguette Magic on James Island, courtesy of Kramer and her sister Sam.

Ube flan Danishes, guava “pop-tarts,” a pork adobo egg sandwich on brioche and more are on Kultura’s morning menu, served from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. Those in search of lunch can order Cagalanan’s pancit, house-made egg noodles that are sautéed in a kalamansi sauce. On Sunday, they’re paired with lump crab and a soft-boiled egg.

The ube pandan supreme is particularly delightful. The pastry is swiped with purple icing and filled with a cream that gets its vibrant green color from Pandanus amaryllifolius, a perennial shrub belonging to the Pandanus genus of the screw pine family, according to a February report by Eater. Pandan and ube both factor into latte drinks at Kultura, made with coconut milk and rife with sweet, earthy notes.

This thoughtful morning menu demonstrates the restaurant’s sense of place, catering to neighborhood residents who can walk over for a coffee and quick bite to eat.

During a recent visit, I overheard one of those customers say to a Kultura employee:

“This is exactly what needs to be here,” the guest said, picking up a pandan latte and an off-menu request for eggs, which cost her just $2.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

One of the biggest grocery chains in the region plans to expand further by opening a store in a future Berkeley County shopping center, following the lead of several smaller tenants.

Publix has signed a lease for a 48,000-square-foot supermarket at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 17A and U.S. Highway 176 in the Market at Carnes Crossroads in Goose Creek, a spokesman for the company said Aug. 3.

The store is expected to open in 2025 next to Carnes Crossroads, a 2,300-acre mixed-use housing development that could accommodate about 11,000 residents. Several hundred homes and apartment units are on the ground now.

For Publix, it will be its 17th location in the Charleston area.

The Market at Carnes Crossroads is being built by an Atlanta-based partnership between landowner Columbia Properties Inc. and Worthen Development.

Seven other businesses ranging from a bagel shop to a pet-supply store to a dental practice have already signed leases for space in the retail center, according to Will Sherrod with NAI Charleston. He said the firm is working with several other prospective tenants.

Publix had long been speculated as the likely anchor tenant for a proposed 90,000-square-foot retail center near Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital.

Goose Creek Mayor Greg Habib has been trying to lure a grocery store to serve the Carnes Crossroads vicinity for several years. Rob Wiggins, the city’s economic development director, called the commitment by Publix “a game changer” for the area.

“It means the residents around there will have a local supermarket, and they won’t have to leave the area and create more traffic on the roads to get their necessities,” Wiggins said.

Other grocery stores in that fast-growing part of the county include a Food Lion to the south on Highway 17A near Interstate 26, a Walmart Supercenter to the east on St. James Avenue and a Publix to the west at the Cane Bay development on Highway 176.

Also, Lowes Foods recently finalized a deal to build a 51,000-square-foot supermarket in Nexton, across from the Publix in Cane Bay. It’s expected to open in 2025.

Both Publix and Harris Teeter are planning new stores on the southwestern side of Nexton near Summerville and Interstate 26.

CHARLESTON, SC (WCIV — A group is trying to inspire women and veterans to break into the business world.

Lt. Governor Pamela Evette and others shared some words of wisdom at The Citadel Wednesday at the 2023 Women's Entrepreneurship Summit. In the end, they hope to help people chase their dreams while growing the local economy at the same time.

From that, 12-year-old Michelle Haas wants to turn her big dreams into reality.

Women's Entrepreneurship Summit aims to inspire women veterans in business (WCIV)

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"I’d see a bunch of these business owners on Tik Tok and Youtube, all that type of stuff, and they’d be owning big makeup brands as an example," Haas said.

It's why her dad took her to the summit, which focused on helping women in the military and spouses of veterans.

"I wanted to put her around successful business owners so that she could get the tools she needs to be successful as a home renovator," said Edward Haas, Michelle's dad.

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Lt. Governor Evette said the Palmetto State needs more women in business.

"We want to encourage anybody who has the drive and determination to start a business and fill gaps in our economy maybe where we need somebody to get something done," Evette said. "We want to make sure they know where all the resources are, whether it be state or federal to get those businesses off the ground. "

With more than 400-thousand veterans in the state, the Veteran Business Outreach Center (VBOC) says it needs to tap into this demographic more with summits like this.

"A lot of times women veterans and spouses of veterans, that population is underserved many times, so we’re targeting that today to give them an opportunity to grow their business or start a brand new business," said CJ Williams, the director of the VBOC.

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Allen Thomas with the US Small Business Administration added: "All these resources are right here that can show you how to get money, show you how to get trained, and how to take your idea from concept to a successful business."

For Michelle and her dad, today was a day full of inspiration.

For more information or resources to help start a business, click here.