November 16, 2016 News+Opinion » Features

Meet the Newbies 

Five of Charleston's newest transplants discuss what they love and hate about the Holy City

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Photo illustration by Scott Suchy

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The Charleston metro area adds 48 new residents every day, according to the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. Like salmon during spawning season, our highways and streets are teaming with new Charlestonians who have moved here from across the country. Some come for the weather, others for the lifestyle, but is what they find when they arrive the postcard perfect image they had in mind? We asked five newbies, who have lived here less than a year, to tell it to us straight.

Amanda Henderson: Site coordinator at Reading Partners
Amanda Henderson: Site coordinator at Reading Partners An army brat, Henderson moved to Charleston after graduating from college in Pullman, Wash.

I have experienced that it has more of the small town feel within the city. There's not a bunch of high rises downtown, which is nice and different but I think my biggest desire moving back to the city was having a bunch of scenes to go to, and Charleston definitely has that. It seems like there's so much to do. — Connelly Hardaway


Josh "Grizzly" Wheeler: Print shop owner
Josh "Grizzly" Wheeler: Print shop owner Moved to Charleston from Galveston, Texas.

I lived in Galveston about the last three years. We moved here a few weeks ago. But I was stationed here, in Charleston, when I was in the Coast Guard from 2002-05. — Kinsey Gidick


Grace Recht: MUSC research specialist
Grace Recht: MUSC research specialist From Portland by way of Ohio.

Grace Recht, a research specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina, had never set foot in Charleston before moving here. — Dustin Waters


Megan Cronin: Seattle transplant
Megan Cronin: Seattle transplant From Seattle to Charleston came with both sunshine and setbacks.

After coming to the Lowcountry only once before, Megan Cronin and her husband JD Lewin quickly fell for Charleston's charm and made their move to the Holy City last year. In their one preliminary visit, the couple met a few friends and were quickly drawn to the sense of community here. "We felt that right away," Cronin says. — Kelly Rae Smith


Lebohang Tsehlana: Uber driver
Lebohang Tsehlana: Uber driver Transplant from Lesotho, Africa, via two years in Denver, Colo.

If you're lucky enough to have a certain white Jeep Liberty pull up when you next summon Uber, then you'll likely get a double lift: a ride plus a mood boost. That's just how Lebo (pronounced Lay – bo) rolls. He sees the bright side, the potential, the good stuff, which fits right in with his ready smile and outgoing demeanor. — Stephanie Hunt


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