June 9, 2026 • 19 mins
Jim Westerhold, General Manager, Boone Hall Pantation & Gardens
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeartMedia presents CEOs You Should Know. CEOs You Should Know
Charleston is brought to you by SC two fifty Charleston
Www dot SC two fifty Charleston dot org. Joining us
on CEOs you Should Know today is Jim Westerhold. He's
general manager of Boon Hall Plantation in Gardens. Welcome, Jim, Hey,
good morning. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Absolutely I appreciate your time. So let's start with a
quick history. Boone Hall has such a rich history, we
could talk about it forever. Can we boil that down
and in a nutshell? Can you tell us about give
us a quick history lesson on Boon Hall.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, that is really hard to do, but I'll give
it my best shot. Here we go sixteen eighty one
original land grant onto the planning of the live oaks
that most people associate with Boon Hall at least in
this area, seventeen forty three, to other buildings being built
by the enslaved and during the enslaved part of our
history in the early eighteen hundreds, on to some newer
(00:57):
buildings in the nineteen hundreds, and then the farm. The
farm has its own separate history as well, a whole
another part of the property. That is a really rough
account of our history, and I look forward to getting
into more of it as we speak here in next
few minutes.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, absolutely so did the plantations stay in the same
family for all those years or did it change hands?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It changed hands a lot, and so the original land
grant was not even to a Boon, but John Boone
married into the family of the original land grant in
sixteen eighty one and then it changed hands. The eras
of ownerships relate to Boons, harrel Beck's and then the
currently the McRae's, but there were several other families in
(01:42):
between there that all had their impact, including I left
out the Stones. The Stones is another family that had
an impact on Boone Hall as we see it today.
But those were the main owners that have had impact.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Now it's still privately owned today, right It.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Is by the McRae family nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, and they've opened it up to the public and
they want to share its rich history with everybody. And
of course there's some great events that go on there
and people can go out there and visit the grounds
and visit the house. And we'll get into that in
a little bit, but what do you think the most
interesting story out of the history of Boone Hall is.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Well, the most interesting to me is the history that's
presented there will carry on forever, and so in that case,
our future is probably the most interesting case. And because
of Williet McRae and the McRae family donating the property
into a conservation easement, it means they'll never have more
(02:38):
than five houses on the property and never have a
paved road. It means Boon Hall will likely be open
to the public for history and agriculture forever.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Now, aside from the house and the cotton dock and
the slave quarters and the grounds, tell us about the farm.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Well, the farm has always been there. It's always been
an agricultural production area for everyone in the area. And again,
moving forward, all the events that are associated with the farm
by locals, the pumpkin patch, the Christmas treet Festival, the
strawberry festival will continue forever. That's our agritourism part of
(03:19):
the farm, with the mission of providing families an opportunity
to learn more about where their food comes from that
they often eat.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Now they can go out there and have that learning
experience and also buy food from the farm. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, So currently we're the last remaining farm on that
side of Charleston and Charleston County, and so it does
mean an opportunity for those folks in the East Cooper
region and beyond to have their feet and hands in
a farm, and that opportunity has gone away in most areas.
(03:56):
And that's why the future of that farming what it is,
has a really rich opportunity in the future.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, that's great that it's in a conservancy, because, as
we see with so many other farms, suburbia starts encroaching
sooner or later, and what used to be on the
edge of town or in an agricultural or rural area
over the decades, all of a sudden becomes closer and
closer to the city, if not in the city itself.
And we see that with Boone Hall. And that's why
(04:25):
it's such a great gift to have that conservancy where
we know it's going to stay the same into the future.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, tremendous donation by really and the McGray family that
the value will only be recognized in future decades, in
future centuries.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, what events do you have coming up at the
farm If somebody wants to go out there, and learn
about its history or not only the farm, the plantation
itself in the gardens. Where can they get more information
and what do you suggest that they do they Where
should they start?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, certainly social media and our website Boon Hall Plantation.
But right now we have our Sunday afternoon farmers Market
series which is right there at Willie's, which is our
roadside produce market on Highway seventeen, and this is a
free event to come visit and see our produce that's
(05:17):
produced right there on the farm, see other local vendors
that are selling their wares, and an opportunity to get
your weekly groceries and to have a good time on
a Sunday right there at Willie's. Our next big event
on the farm would be our Pumpkin Patch which is
in the fall, followed by our Christmas Tree Festival which
is right after it in November, and then we'll have
(05:39):
on the plantation, the historic plantation side. We'll have wine
under the Oaks in December, and then more to come
in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Now it's also an event space right so if people
have an event, a wedding or a gathering or whatever
it may be, they can rent the plantation right.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yes, for sure. And we have great venue well several
venue spots all out several outdoors, but we also have
two indoor event spaces, the Cotton Dock, which much people
recognize with and have visited. But as of two years ago,
we have another historic location, and that would be the
Gin House and that location is indoors, and it's one
(06:23):
of those less commonly known areas because it's only the
space is only has been only restored for about two years,
but the building itself dates back to the eighteen fifties.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Now we call it CEOs. You should know because we
dig a little deeper and get into your personal background.
So tell us where you grew up.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Well, I always say I grew up in Clemson, and
I did a lot of growing up while I was there.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well, you know what, there's some students that don't achieve that, right,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So I also did a lot of growing up on
a farm, which gives me the agricultural background, I guess
which led me into this, this opportunity at Boon Hall.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Now was that here in in South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Or it was not. It was in southern Illinois, And
of course growing up on a farm gives you gives
I think a person a strong work ethic, a strong
opportunity to develop some team being part of the team,
and that would be doing everything from you know, working
with working with manure all the way up to learning
(07:24):
business models.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
What a great lesson, right, because you get you talk
about you know that you learn the natural side of
life and the food chain and all of that, and
of course you have to be a businessman, and I
think a lot of people don't realize how much of
a businessman you have to be to be a farmer,
that's correct.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It also taught me one important skill is and that
is to keep learning. That there's new technology every day,
there are new ways of doing things even on a
farm or with any business. And so it taught me
that even now at my older age, I need to
need to keep learning.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Now, you were a professor of forestry in a chair
for the wildlife department at or Georgetown Technical College for
quite a few years, right.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
For fourteen years, and again another great example of making
sure that I kept up my promise to myself to
keep learning because the technology, even in forestry and wildlife
management changes every day and new ways of teaching a
(08:26):
skill or a lesson to students these days is constantly challenging,
and I had to learn how to teach for the
most part, as was my biggest opportunity to learn.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Now, you were also a wildlife biologist with the South
Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Did you do that while
you were teaching at the Technical College? Did you do
that concurrently or was that before or after?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
That was before and so my skit, two of which
were with South Carolina Department Natural Resources as wildlife biogists,
and that was a good lesson to help others be
good conservationists and good stewards of land for both forestry
income and forestry use for wildlife management.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Now, I think a lot of people hear the term
wildlife biologists and they kind of get it, but they
really don't know what they do. So why don't you,
Why don't you give us a little bit of your
story there on what a wildlife biologist does.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, it sounds glamorous. It sounds like we were putting
bands on ducks and catching alligators and doing a lot
of research. And you know, a lot of folks get
into this, into the wildlife biology field because they think
they're going to spend a lot of time with animals,
when reality, it's working a lot with people and working
tremendously tremendous amounts of time and energy put into helping
(09:48):
others manage wildlife.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Does it become political a lot when you're managing land
like that? Is there a lot of opposition or do
you find that overall there there's mostly support for what
you do.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
In that, there's mostly support. But as I just mentioned,
it involves people, and so I guess anytime an activity
involves people, there's certain amount of politics. But for the
most part, everybody has the idea they want to do
what's right for wildlife and what's right for their natural resources,
and so I think, yeah, there's a common ground with everyone.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well, aside from your forestry and wildlife history here in
South Carolina, I found this was very interesting. So you
spent several months winter months and the Bearing Sea as
a fisherman. Is that right?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's correct. Between my undergraduate degree and my graduate degree,
I one, I had to pay off my undergraduate degree
and get some money set aside for my master's degree,
and so the quickest way of doing that was answering
this advertisement to make a few thousand dollars a month
(10:53):
working on a fishing boat in the Bearing Sea, and
it was advertised as all of expense expenses covered. It
sure was, and it gave me that opportunity to make
a little bit of money in between those degrees, but
also gave me a tremendous challenge to work together with
everyone on a boat. And so that's living with a
(11:15):
group of ten or twelve other guys and working with
them very very closely with one common goal of mine,
and that is to fill out the boat and get
back to the port as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Now, is it like what you see on TV? Is
that a pretty accurate portrayal? It's exactly what you see
on TV. Of course this was when I was much younger,
so before that show The Deadliest Catch, But that's exactly
what it was like. Yeah, I mean that's it's a
rough life, right.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It was a very very rough life. I only did
it for three months and the longest trip from port
to port was twenty eight days, but again very challenging,
very rough weather, and again hard to work sometimes with
certain people that were going to be on that boat
the whole trip. They weren't going to leave and so
(12:01):
challenge to work together as a team.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, I'm sure you have to have a certain drive
to endure that. And not only with that, but with
everything we've talked about, with what you've done, what's the
philosophy that drives you each day?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
My reward is in that I've been tremendously blessed, and
all of my opportunities in life, I see every one
of them is a blessing, especially leading a team at
a great place like Boon Hall Plantation and Farms. It's
a tremendous blessing that's been provided for me. And so
my motivation is to carry forward with the blessing, share
(12:38):
it as much as I possibly can, and develop the
team and develop those who visit with rich experiences the
best I possibly can.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now, what do you do when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I enjoy working with charities as much as possible, but
I do I do find it difficult because it's hard
sometimes to schedule opportunities because things come up. Things definitely
come up in this role that and it's hard to change,
hard to schedule opportunities and a dependable routine with other charities.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Sure, and that's one of the toughest questions. I think
I ask because most people are like I work all
the time. I don't. I can't think of what I
do when I'm not working, because I'm always working, right.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, that's right. And we let my wife and I
love to host others on the plantation and on the farm,
and we can pick blueberries after hours, or we can
pick strawberries and then fix dinner for our guests. And
I guess that's somewhat of our hobby, but it's still
borderline work.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And what does your wife do?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
She sells pharmaceuticals and she's been We just celebrated thirty
four years with her for working for the same pharmaceutical company,
which is just about unheard of these days to work
that long with one company.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, well, that's fantastic, congratulations to it. Thank you. And
also you have a daughter, right, we do.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
We have a daughter that just moved to Memphis after
she finished her degree at Clemson to take on her
big girl job with an organization called Ducks Unlimited.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So she's following in her dad's footsteps.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Well somewhat. She did much better than I though she
studied business, and then she's picking up the conservation on
the side. For me, I studied conservation and I'm still
picking up the business part.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I tell my own kids that I'm like, you know what,
go for business, because if you know how to run
a business, that's virtually tied to everything you're going to do,
and it's going to give you a better understanding of
what needs to be done no matter what field you
choose to go into. Would you agree.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's right, Michael, I would definitely agree. What we could
all use more business since and then follow your passion,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
With the other subject, Jim, you donated a kidney in
twenty twenty five. That's an interesting experience to go through.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, I love telling the story, so thank you, Michael.
Earlier in our discussion, I mentioned being blessed, and so
I think just a part of my cup running over,
I've realized I've had a healthy body my whole life,
and so besides giving blood, it hit me that I
could donate a kidney. And as research went through, I
(15:28):
went through the process with MUSC, I realized I really
have no reason not to give when I have been
blessed my whole life with two healthy kidneys, and so
that took the opportunity to donate a kidney just at
that time, someone I didn't know. I'd let MUSC decide
who could use it best, and they did, and they
(15:49):
picked this gentleman by the name of Gene Pitts who
needed a kidney for seven years, who was on dialysis
four four hours each time, three times a week for
seven years, and so he needed a release from that
medical condition, and mus he decided he could use it best,
and that's how it happened. The reward for me, obviously
(16:10):
is getting to know Gene, as he would say, kidney
brothers now and so getting to know him and his family.
And no matter what I gave up, I received back
ten more times.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That is so interesting. So you didn't so you were
an approach to donate a kidney. You just decided that
you've been blessed, you have a healthy body, and so
you saw it out to donate a kidney.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That's right. I've been thinking about it for years and
just the opportunity came about and all the stars aligned
with everything I had going on, you know, personally and selfishly,
everything I had going on, and it was on the calendar.
It was a great opportunity. I met the medical evaluation
(16:56):
to do so. And so here we are, well over
a year after both Jane and I are doing really well.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, that's fantastic and and God bless you for that,
and Gene.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, thank you. It's it's it's again. It's even one
more blessing that I didn't see coming after this that
I now have to add to my list.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now, if anybody else is out there thinking along the
same lines as you, Jim, you know, point them in
the right direction. So what you said, you reached out
to m USC.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, you can go through several steps of evaluation with
m USC, most of which the evaluation is is very
non intrusive until you get a little bit more serious.
But even as you get a little bit more serious
with the m USC, the rigorous health evaluation that they
(17:47):
go through is great. So if there was anything that
I didn't need to know about health my health, they
would have discovered it then that I wouldn't normally wouldn't
have normally found And so that in itself is a
really really nice health screening. But MUSC makes it very
easy to get involved. You can see MUSC Living Donor
(18:09):
program and they'll get you started. And there is no
doubt there are others out there that can use a
kidney and so tremendous rewards associated with it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, absolutely, well, thanks for sharing that story. Well, I
certainly enjoyed talking to you today. Time goes quick when
you're having a good conversation, so I appreciate your time, Jim.
And again, if people want to visit Boon Hall, what's
the website.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Boon Haul Plantation dot com, Boon.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Hall Plantation dot com and then you have you're up
on all the social media venues. Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
We have a great marketing team that promotes Boon Hall
and is very accessible. If anybody has any questions or comments,
would be happy to hear them.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Jim Westerhold, general manager of Boon Hall Plantation and Gardens,
enjoyed the conversation today, and thanks for being on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
You should know you've been listening to iHeartRadio CEOs you
should know heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here
on this iHeartRadio station.
iHeartMedia presents CEOs You Should Know. CEOs You Should Know
Charleston is brought to you by SC two fifty Charleston
Www dot SC two fifty Charleston dot org. Joining us
on CEOs you Should Know today is Jim Westerhold. He's
general manager of Boon Hall Plantation in Gardens. Welcome, Jim, Hey,
good morning. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Absolutely I appreciate your time. So let's start with a
quick history. Boone Hall has such a rich history, we
could talk about it forever. Can we boil that down
and in a nutshell? Can you tell us about give
us a quick history lesson on Boon Hall.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, that is really hard to do, but I'll give
it my best shot. Here we go sixteen eighty one
original land grant onto the planning of the live oaks
that most people associate with Boon Hall at least in
this area, seventeen forty three, to other buildings being built
by the enslaved and during the enslaved part of our
history in the early eighteen hundreds, on to some newer
(00:57):
buildings in the nineteen hundreds, and then the farm. The
farm has its own separate history as well, a whole
another part of the property. That is a really rough
account of our history, and I look forward to getting
into more of it as we speak here in next
few minutes.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, absolutely so did the plantations stay in the same
family for all those years or did it change hands?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
It changed hands a lot, and so the original land
grant was not even to a Boon, but John Boone
married into the family of the original land grant in
sixteen eighty one and then it changed hands. The eras
of ownerships relate to Boons, harrel Beck's and then the
currently the McRae's, but there were several other families in
(01:42):
between there that all had their impact, including I left
out the Stones. The Stones is another family that had
an impact on Boone Hall as we see it today.
But those were the main owners that have had impact.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Now it's still privately owned today, right It.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Is by the McRae family nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, and they've opened it up to the public and
they want to share its rich history with everybody. And
of course there's some great events that go on there
and people can go out there and visit the grounds
and visit the house. And we'll get into that in
a little bit, but what do you think the most
interesting story out of the history of Boone Hall is.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Well, the most interesting to me is the history that's
presented there will carry on forever, and so in that case,
our future is probably the most interesting case. And because
of Williet McRae and the McRae family donating the property
into a conservation easement, it means they'll never have more
(02:38):
than five houses on the property and never have a
paved road. It means Boon Hall will likely be open
to the public for history and agriculture forever.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Now, aside from the house and the cotton dock and
the slave quarters and the grounds, tell us about the farm.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Well, the farm has always been there. It's always been
an agricultural production area for everyone in the area. And again,
moving forward, all the events that are associated with the farm
by locals, the pumpkin patch, the Christmas treet Festival, the
strawberry festival will continue forever. That's our agritourism part of
(03:19):
the farm, with the mission of providing families an opportunity
to learn more about where their food comes from that
they often eat.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Now they can go out there and have that learning
experience and also buy food from the farm. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, So currently we're the last remaining farm on that
side of Charleston and Charleston County, and so it does
mean an opportunity for those folks in the East Cooper
region and beyond to have their feet and hands in
a farm, and that opportunity has gone away in most areas.
(03:56):
And that's why the future of that farming what it is,
has a really rich opportunity in the future.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, that's great that it's in a conservancy, because, as
we see with so many other farms, suburbia starts encroaching
sooner or later, and what used to be on the
edge of town or in an agricultural or rural area
over the decades, all of a sudden becomes closer and
closer to the city, if not in the city itself.
And we see that with Boone Hall. And that's why
(04:25):
it's such a great gift to have that conservancy where
we know it's going to stay the same into the future.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, tremendous donation by really and the McGray family that
the value will only be recognized in future decades, in
future centuries.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Now, what events do you have coming up at the
farm If somebody wants to go out there, and learn
about its history or not only the farm, the plantation
itself in the gardens. Where can they get more information
and what do you suggest that they do they Where
should they start?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well, certainly social media and our website Boon Hall Plantation.
But right now we have our Sunday afternoon farmers Market
series which is right there at Willie's, which is our
roadside produce market on Highway seventeen, and this is a
free event to come visit and see our produce that's
(05:17):
produced right there on the farm, see other local vendors
that are selling their wares, and an opportunity to get
your weekly groceries and to have a good time on
a Sunday right there at Willie's. Our next big event
on the farm would be our Pumpkin Patch which is
in the fall, followed by our Christmas Tree Festival which
is right after it in November, and then we'll have
(05:39):
on the plantation, the historic plantation side. We'll have wine
under the Oaks in December, and then more to come
in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Now it's also an event space right so if people
have an event, a wedding or a gathering or whatever
it may be, they can rent the plantation right.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yes, for sure. And we have great venue well several
venue spots all out several outdoors, but we also have
two indoor event spaces, the Cotton Dock, which much people
recognize with and have visited. But as of two years ago,
we have another historic location, and that would be the
Gin House and that location is indoors, and it's one
(06:23):
of those less commonly known areas because it's only the
space is only has been only restored for about two years,
but the building itself dates back to the eighteen fifties.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Now we call it CEOs. You should know because we
dig a little deeper and get into your personal background.
So tell us where you grew up.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Well, I always say I grew up in Clemson, and
I did a lot of growing up while I was there.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well, you know what, there's some students that don't achieve that, right,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So I also did a lot of growing up on
a farm, which gives me the agricultural background, I guess
which led me into this, this opportunity at Boon Hall.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Now was that here in in South Carolina.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Or it was not. It was in southern Illinois, And
of course growing up on a farm gives you gives
I think a person a strong work ethic, a strong
opportunity to develop some team being part of the team,
and that would be doing everything from you know, working
with working with manure all the way up to learning
(07:24):
business models.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
What a great lesson, right, because you get you talk
about you know that you learn the natural side of
life and the food chain and all of that, and
of course you have to be a businessman, and I
think a lot of people don't realize how much of
a businessman you have to be to be a farmer,
that's correct.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It also taught me one important skill is and that
is to keep learning. That there's new technology every day,
there are new ways of doing things even on a
farm or with any business. And so it taught me
that even now at my older age, I need to
need to keep learning.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Now, you were a professor of forestry in a chair
for the wildlife department at or Georgetown Technical College for
quite a few years, right.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
For fourteen years, and again another great example of making
sure that I kept up my promise to myself to
keep learning because the technology, even in forestry and wildlife
management changes every day and new ways of teaching a
(08:26):
skill or a lesson to students these days is constantly challenging,
and I had to learn how to teach for the
most part, as was my biggest opportunity to learn.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Now, you were also a wildlife biologist with the South
Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Did you do that while
you were teaching at the Technical College? Did you do
that concurrently or was that before or after?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
That was before and so my skit, two of which
were with South Carolina Department Natural Resources as wildlife biogists,
and that was a good lesson to help others be
good conservationists and good stewards of land for both forestry
income and forestry use for wildlife management.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Now, I think a lot of people hear the term
wildlife biologists and they kind of get it, but they
really don't know what they do. So why don't you,
Why don't you give us a little bit of your
story there on what a wildlife biologist does.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, it sounds glamorous. It sounds like we were putting
bands on ducks and catching alligators and doing a lot
of research. And you know, a lot of folks get
into this, into the wildlife biology field because they think
they're going to spend a lot of time with animals,
when reality, it's working a lot with people and working
tremendously tremendous amounts of time and energy put into helping
(09:48):
others manage wildlife.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Does it become political a lot when you're managing land
like that? Is there a lot of opposition or do
you find that overall there there's mostly support for what
you do.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
In that, there's mostly support. But as I just mentioned,
it involves people, and so I guess anytime an activity
involves people, there's certain amount of politics. But for the
most part, everybody has the idea they want to do
what's right for wildlife and what's right for their natural resources,
and so I think, yeah, there's a common ground with everyone.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well, aside from your forestry and wildlife history here in
South Carolina, I found this was very interesting. So you
spent several months winter months and the Bearing Sea as
a fisherman. Is that right?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's correct. Between my undergraduate degree and my graduate degree,
I one, I had to pay off my undergraduate degree
and get some money set aside for my master's degree,
and so the quickest way of doing that was answering
this advertisement to make a few thousand dollars a month
(10:53):
working on a fishing boat in the Bearing Sea, and
it was advertised as all of expense expenses covered. It
sure was, and it gave me that opportunity to make
a little bit of money in between those degrees, but
also gave me a tremendous challenge to work together with
everyone on a boat. And so that's living with a
(11:15):
group of ten or twelve other guys and working with
them very very closely with one common goal of mine,
and that is to fill out the boat and get
back to the port as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Now, is it like what you see on TV? Is
that a pretty accurate portrayal? It's exactly what you see
on TV. Of course this was when I was much younger,
so before that show The Deadliest Catch, But that's exactly
what it was like. Yeah, I mean that's it's a
rough life, right.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It was a very very rough life. I only did
it for three months and the longest trip from port
to port was twenty eight days, but again very challenging,
very rough weather, and again hard to work sometimes with
certain people that were going to be on that boat
the whole trip. They weren't going to leave and so
(12:01):
challenge to work together as a team.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, I'm sure you have to have a certain drive
to endure that. And not only with that, but with
everything we've talked about, with what you've done, what's the
philosophy that drives you each day?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
My reward is in that I've been tremendously blessed, and
all of my opportunities in life, I see every one
of them is a blessing, especially leading a team at
a great place like Boon Hall Plantation and Farms. It's
a tremendous blessing that's been provided for me. And so
my motivation is to carry forward with the blessing, share
(12:38):
it as much as I possibly can, and develop the
team and develop those who visit with rich experiences the
best I possibly can.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Now, what do you do when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
I enjoy working with charities as much as possible, but
I do I do find it difficult because it's hard
sometimes to schedule opportunities because things come up. Things definitely
come up in this role that and it's hard to change,
hard to schedule opportunities and a dependable routine with other charities.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Sure, and that's one of the toughest questions. I think
I ask because most people are like I work all
the time. I don't. I can't think of what I
do when I'm not working, because I'm always working, right.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, that's right. And we let my wife and I
love to host others on the plantation and on the farm,
and we can pick blueberries after hours, or we can
pick strawberries and then fix dinner for our guests. And
I guess that's somewhat of our hobby, but it's still
borderline work.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And what does your wife do?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
She sells pharmaceuticals and she's been We just celebrated thirty
four years with her for working for the same pharmaceutical company,
which is just about unheard of these days to work
that long with one company.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, well, that's fantastic, congratulations to it. Thank you. And
also you have a daughter, right, we do.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
We have a daughter that just moved to Memphis after
she finished her degree at Clemson to take on her
big girl job with an organization called Ducks Unlimited.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So she's following in her dad's footsteps.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Well somewhat. She did much better than I though she
studied business, and then she's picking up the conservation on
the side. For me, I studied conservation and I'm still
picking up the business part.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I tell my own kids that I'm like, you know what,
go for business, because if you know how to run
a business, that's virtually tied to everything you're going to do,
and it's going to give you a better understanding of
what needs to be done no matter what field you
choose to go into. Would you agree.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
That's right, Michael, I would definitely agree. What we could
all use more business since and then follow your passion,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
With the other subject, Jim, you donated a kidney in
twenty twenty five. That's an interesting experience to go through.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, I love telling the story, so thank you, Michael.
Earlier in our discussion, I mentioned being blessed, and so
I think just a part of my cup running over,
I've realized I've had a healthy body my whole life,
and so besides giving blood, it hit me that I
could donate a kidney. And as research went through, I
(15:28):
went through the process with MUSC, I realized I really
have no reason not to give when I have been
blessed my whole life with two healthy kidneys, and so
that took the opportunity to donate a kidney just at
that time, someone I didn't know. I'd let MUSC decide
who could use it best, and they did, and they
(15:49):
picked this gentleman by the name of Gene Pitts who
needed a kidney for seven years, who was on dialysis
four four hours each time, three times a week for
seven years, and so he needed a release from that
medical condition, and mus he decided he could use it best,
and that's how it happened. The reward for me, obviously
(16:10):
is getting to know Gene, as he would say, kidney
brothers now and so getting to know him and his family.
And no matter what I gave up, I received back
ten more times.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That is so interesting. So you didn't so you were
an approach to donate a kidney. You just decided that
you've been blessed, you have a healthy body, and so
you saw it out to donate a kidney.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
That's right. I've been thinking about it for years and
just the opportunity came about and all the stars aligned
with everything I had going on, you know, personally and selfishly,
everything I had going on, and it was on the calendar.
It was a great opportunity. I met the medical evaluation
(16:56):
to do so. And so here we are, well over
a year after both Jane and I are doing really well.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, that's fantastic and and God bless you for that,
and Gene.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, thank you. It's it's it's again. It's even one
more blessing that I didn't see coming after this that
I now have to add to my list.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now, if anybody else is out there thinking along the
same lines as you, Jim, you know, point them in
the right direction. So what you said, you reached out
to m USC.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, you can go through several steps of evaluation with
m USC, most of which the evaluation is is very
non intrusive until you get a little bit more serious.
But even as you get a little bit more serious
with the m USC, the rigorous health evaluation that they
(17:47):
go through is great. So if there was anything that
I didn't need to know about health my health, they
would have discovered it then that I wouldn't normally wouldn't
have normally found And so that in itself is a
really really nice health screening. But MUSC makes it very
easy to get involved. You can see MUSC Living Donor
(18:09):
program and they'll get you started. And there is no
doubt there are others out there that can use a
kidney and so tremendous rewards associated with it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, absolutely, well, thanks for sharing that story. Well, I
certainly enjoyed talking to you today. Time goes quick when
you're having a good conversation, so I appreciate your time, Jim.
And again, if people want to visit Boon Hall, what's
the website.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Boon Haul Plantation dot com, Boon.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Hall Plantation dot com and then you have you're up
on all the social media venues. Correct, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
We have a great marketing team that promotes Boon Hall
and is very accessible. If anybody has any questions or comments,
would be happy to hear them.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Jim Westerhold, general manager of Boon Hall Plantation and Gardens,
enjoyed the conversation today, and thanks for being on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
You should know you've been listening to iHeartRadio CEOs you
should know heard every Tuesday and Saturday morning right here
on this iHeartRadio station.
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