With the High Battery in the background, Leigh Jones Handal leans on an old fortification wall and talks easily about the 61st-annual Charleston Homes and Gardens Festival.
“The festival is a month-long series of house and garden tours, and it’s the primary fund-raising event for Historic Charleston Foundation,” said Handal, director of communications and public programs for the foundation.
“The festival has grown over the years,” she said. “In addition to the daily tours, we now have period concerts; harbor history cruises; wine tasting events; and walking tours led by experts on such topics as Charleston garden design, history, or architecture. We discovered that people wanted more of an educational aspect to the tours, rather than just seeing pretty things. That fits in well with the Foundation’s educational mission.”
Historic Charleston Foundation is a non-profit organization established to preserve and protect the architectural, historical, and cultural integrity of Charleston and its environs.
“I fully understand the city’s attraction,” said Handal, who received a master’s degree in journalism from Carolina in 1985. “I grew up in Cheraw, and as a pre-teen I visited Charleston with my Girl Scout troop. I fell in love with the city the minute I got here.”
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