Holy Honey & Alvin Ord

It was one of the most unique churches I’ve ever seen.

The Church of the Cross is a historic Episcopal Church on Calhoun Street in Bluffton, South Carolina. This beautiful church building, sits on the bluffs of the May River dates from 1854.

We visited on a cold and rainy day in January 2025. It was one of the most unique churches I’ve ever seen.

Charleston architect E.B. White designed the church and it was consecrated in 1857.

It was added to the National Register in 1975.

What’s the National Register?

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

There are tours, but a visit is worthwhile without one.

The church has survived a few close calls with destruction and an interesting dance with Mother Nature.

During the Civil War, (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865), the church had been spared in the burning of Bluffton by Union troops. It had sustained damage but was repaired.

It also survived the big hurricane of 1898. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the area and made landfall at Cumberland Island at the end of September in 1898. The category four storm had 135mph winds and claimed 179 lives up and down the low country coastline.

Flash forward to the mid 1900’s, Mother Nature decided to prank the church parishioners.

Attending services at the church before renovations took place in 1990, could be risky. A portion of the northern wall of the church had honey bees in residence. In 1991-92 when a new copper roof was being installed a beekeeper removed 48 colonies of bees, that time.

A colony of bees is a group of worker bees and one queen, or 48 single hives. I had five eight frame hives which produced 30-60 pounds of honey twice a year. We sold our one pound jars of honey at market for $9.00.

It’s good math for the farmer - or the person selling the honey.

As a former beekeeper, I know that bees tend to stay in places they like and these bees did just that. For years they regrouped there and every year they come take those panels down and they remove the bees and the honey. The honey collected from the walls was originally sold to raise money for the church.

It was and still is called “Holy Honey”.

The bees were finally evicted and a local beekeeper now provides the “Holy Honey”. They continue to sell the honey at the church during docent tours or at the parish offices to help fund women’s ministries and events.

How fun is that?

Have You Ever Thought About Keeping Bees?

Alvin Ord

In 1970, Alvin Ord Johnston was living in Longview, TX. Alvin’s mother, Gertrude was locally famous for her family bread recipes. Alvin enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen, developed a sandwich which became very popular with family and friends.

The sandwich, prepared on Gertie’s famous bread became so popular that Alvin was encouraged to open a sandwich shop and sell his creation to the public.

Austin, TX was chosen as the first site to market this unique product.

The “Salvation” Sandwich at Alvin Ord’s Sandwich Shop is the original creation of Alvin Ord Johnston. It is ham, salami, mortadella, three toasted cheeses, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard

Most of the sandwiches are toasted with cheddar, mozzarella and grated Parmesan on the choice of French (white) or Whole Wheat bread. You can get them without the cheeses or substitute them, but I went with the suggested three.

Sounds normal - nothing special, right?

What made the sandwiches so special for me was the flavor, shape and size of the bread. Small, medium and large. The small and medium sandwiches got cut in half, the large is cut into quarters.

But back to the story.

Alvin’s two nephews, Rick and John Skinner, both students at University of Texas, Austin, helped Alvin Ord with the restaurant. In the small shop on South Congress Avenue, they baked bread daily in strict accordance with Gertrude’s recipe and instructions.

Alvin Ord had devoted his life to the church and spent a great deal of time reading and studying. On January 31, 1972, Rick opened the shop to find the business books and records lying open in the kitchen, up to date and in perfect order.

There was no note of explanation, but Alvin Ord was gone.

Since that date, the only contact Alvin has made with his family was to let them know he was all right and was trying to gain acceptance into the order of Trappist Monks in Washington State.

Rick and John continued to operate the shop. However, as business grew and school became more demanding, the brothers left the restaurant business.

In June, 1978, Rick opened a new sandwich shop on Guadalupe St. in Austin.

Rick named the shop after his uncle, Alvin Ord. The shop was an immediate success. Since then, many additional shops have opened. Each works hard to live up to the high standards set forth by Alvin Ord.

Their symbol, the little monk, is a daily reminder to uphold his principles.

We went three times during our 14 day stay at Hunting Island State park in South Carolina!

Just that good!

Historic snow (four inches) and ice in Beaufort, South Carolina, January 2025…

Thanks for reading!

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