Out and About April 2022: Lord Spencer at Hobcaw Barony

“The Last Barony,” a black-tie dinner with remarks by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, took place March 31. Lord Spencer is a direct descendant of John, Lord Carteret who established Hobcaw Barony in 1718. While perhaps the earl is best known as the brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, he is also a journalist, broadcaster and author. His 2018 work, To Catch a King: Charles II’s Great Escape, tells of the manhunt for Prince of Wales — later Charles II — following his father’s beheading during the English Civil War. This is the same Prince of Wales who was afforded asylum by Sir George Carteret, Lord Spencer’s ninth great-grandfather and grandfather of the founder of Hobcaw Barony.

With as many as 12 trustees at a time, the Belle W. Baruch Foundation owns and manages Hobcaw Barony, a private nonprofit foundation created through the vision of Belle Wilcox Baruch. Established as a trust at her death in 1964, the foundation’s primary mission is to conserve Hobcaw Barony’s unique natural and cultural resources for research and education. Hobcaw Barony’s 16,000 acres encompass a rich diversity of every common ecosystem found on the South Carolina coast, making this an unparalleled site for research in the environmental sciences.

Images by Greg Kitchens.