The Magwood Family
As we mourn the tragic and untimely loss of Captain Wayne Magwood, the Mount Pleasant Historical Commission would like to highlight the impact the Magwood family has had on the growth and development of the Town of Mount Pleasant.
In 1930, Captain Wayne’s ancestor, Captain C. Magwood was the first fisherman to bring ocean shrimp into Mount Pleasant. Junior Magwood, Wayne’s father, first went out in the 1940’s as a young teen apprentice to a cousin operating on Shem Creek. Cap’n Wayne carried on the multi-generational family tradition of shrimping.
In 1937, a bridge was built over the creek, and within two decades the first shrimp dock was constructed. After that, Moultrie Fisheries established Shem Creek’s seafood ice manufacturing. The support was now in place for a strong seafood industry to emerge and shrimping grew into an important harbor industry centered at Shem Creek. In their heyday, seventy shrimp trawlers operated off the docks. By 2011, there were about ten trawlers remaining in the harbor along with a few charter boats.
The list of companies hosted by Shem Creek in the modern era includes: Mount Pleasant Boat Builders, a produce packing shed, Shelmore Oyster Products (1940s), Mount Pleasant Seafood (1945), Shem Creek Fisheries, Bulls Bay Fish Company (1949), Hay Oil Company (1950s), Moultrie Fisheries, Moultrie Fisheries opened in 1957 and shuttered in 1989 (now the site of Red’s Ice House Restaurant), Wando Shrimp Company, Magwood’s Seafood, Charleston Star Seafood Company, day trip recreational fishing companies (1970s), and Sea Island Boatbuilders.
Today, thanks to the first Cap’n Magwood, Shem Creek is best known for its traditional historic charm as a vibrant backdrop for restaurants and bars offering an energetic night scene for the under-thirty crowd. Like generations in the past, modern Mount Pleasant residents value Shem Creek for its constant provision of abundant seafood, transportation, recreation, and employment.
