Florence's Zeigler Elected Chairman of Board of Hobcaw Barony

He had served as Vice-Chairman of the Board since 2013 and succeeds Hugh Lane of Charleston as Chairman. Lane, who succeeded Minor Mickel Shaw of Greenville as Chair in 2013, had previously served as Chairman of the Foundation and will assume the role of Vice Chairman upon Ben's election.

Ben states, “It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to serve Hobcaw in this capacity. Through the hard work of the Foundation’s staff, volunteers and many friends, people are coming to realize what a profoundly important ecological, cultural and historical resource we have in Hobcaw and how much potential there is for Hobcaw to have an even greater impact throughout South Carolina and beyond. Hobcaw and the Belle Baruch Foundation are on the cusp of great things, and I look forward to being part of the process of not only stewarding this great resource, but helping to develop it to its full potential as well.”

Pursuant to a trust under the will of Belle W. Baruch, the Foundation owns, oversees and operates the 17,000 Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown County, home to the University of South Carolina’s Marine Sciences Laboratory and Clemson University’s Institute of Forestry and Coastal Ecology. One of the original Baronies granted by the Lords Proprietors over 300 years ago, Hobcaw contains the ecologically significant North Inlet Estuary and was the site of dozens of rice plantations until the early 20th century. The Barony was reassembled by South Carolina-born financier Bernard Baruch between 1905 and 1907 as a hunting preserve and retreat. During Baruch’s ownership, guests at Hobcaw included Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.

In addition to promoting on-site university research, the Foundation operates Hobcaw Barony as an educational resource for children and adults, offering programs on coastal ecology, history and culture, as well as regular tours of the historic Hobcaw and Bellefield houses and several intact villages inhabited by African-Americans from the days of slavery on Hobcaw’s rice plantations to the 1950s.

Ben, a native of Florence and a Shareholder in the law firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., focuses his practice on public finance, economic incentives and nonprofit and government law. A graduate of The University of the South, Oxford University and Harvard Law School, Zeigler also serves as a member of the McLeod Health Board of Trustees, The South Carolina Golf Association Board of Directors, the Florence County Museum Board, and he is Chairman of the Board of the Wright Foundation for Southern Art and President of the Florence County Historical Society. He has previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Pee Dee Land Trust and the Francis Marion Trail Commission, and has served as a member of the South Carolina Supreme Court Commission on Lawyer Conduct, the South Carolina Eminent Domain Study Committee and the Vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church, as well as the boards of the Francis Marion University Foundation and Florence County Progress.