Guggenheim descendent visits Daniel Island

Standing inside Harry’s Restaurant at the Daniel Island Club, a place named in honor and memory of her grandfather’s nephew, the late Harry Frank Guggenheim, Wendy Lawson-Johnston McNeil recounted her days growing up as a member of one of America’s most prominent and successful families.
“I remember many occasions hunting dove and turkey, right where we sit tonight,” said McNeil, whose father, Peter Lawson-Johnston, was named Harry Guggenheim’s primary heir upon his death in 1971. “It was a magnificent treat to come out here with guests from Charleston and have afternoon turkey drives or the best dove hunts on the East Coast and then return to Cainhoy for cocktails by the fire.”
McNeil was invited by the Daniel Island Historical Society to share stories about her family’s legacy at the November 19 program, which was attended by about 60 guests. During his lifetime, Harry Guggenheim amassed some 15,000 acres of land on the Cainhoy Peninsula, including Daniel Island, which was passed to his Foundation and then later sold to the Daniel Island Company for development of the present-day master planned community.
“It was always a highlight to go to Daniel Island,” said McNeil, in her remarks to the crowd. “It was mysterious, isolated and beautiful. Today, it is a slice of heaven on earth for similar and different reasons. The magnificence of the live oaks, marshes, rivers and creeks are still prominent and enjoyed by all who take the time to soak in their beauty. It is also an exceptional place that brings people together in daily life under relaxing and fun-filled conditions.”

Life at Cainhoy
They are the same conditions that continue to bring McNeil and her family here, particularly during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, when they gather to spend time together at their beloved Cainhoy Plantation, located off Clements Ferry Road along the Cooper River. Her family inherited the massive parcel on the Cainhoy Peninsula in the 1970s (a significant portion of the land is currently identified for the location of two new Berkeley County School District schools and a large mixed used development). Many of the main home’s furnishings were selected by Harry Guggenheim and his second wife, Alicia, with whom he founded Newsday. The lodge, built in 1936, was primarily used a retreat and gathering place for Harry and his family. The name “Cain Hoy,” explained McNeil, came from a Gullah version of “Cain Hay,” a plant that was used to make rattan chairs. The property has remained under the family’s ownership for close to seven decades.
“Hours were spent sitting around the fire discussing issues of interest after a long day of hunting quail, dove and turkey,” said McNeil. “It is probable that after-dinner conversations included Harry and Alicia having some of their more keen philosophical debates about their political leanings. They often demonstrated their political differences by writing opposing editorials on the same page in Newsday that reflected Harry’s strong conservatism and Alicia’s fervent liberalism.”
Some noteworthy visitors to Cainhoy, continued McNeil, included famed aviator Charles Lindbergh; Dr. Robert Goddard, known as the “father of modern rocketry; and General James Doolittle, who gained notoriety by leading a retaliatory raid on Tokyo after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942. All were personal friends to Harry, who was a passionate supporter of aeronautics and created a foundation with his father, Daniel, to fund research in the field. According to McNeil, Harry, his brother, Robert, and his uncle, Solomon, were all introduced to the Lowcountry by Bernard Baruch, a close friend of the family. Solomon built a plantation near Walterboro known as Big Survey, where McNeil and her husband, Tom, currently live full-time. In 1947, Robert purchased “Poco Sabo,” a plantation near the Ace Basin and used it as a private hunting preserve until his death in 1959.

The Guggenheim Legacy
McNeil began her presentation by recounting how the Guggenheim family came to prominence in America. Solomon, McNeil’s grandfather, and Harry’s father, Daniel, were two of the eleven children born to Barbara and Meyer Guggenheim, who crossed the Atlantic Ocean with his parents in 1848 after departing their hometown of Lengnau, Switzerland. They were searching for a way to prosper without the burden of significant prejudicial barriers, explained McNeil.
“While they were a relatively successful Jewish family in their hometown, it was clear that better opportunities existed in a country that they had heard was more open and accepting. It was a place that ultimately gave them the chance to build a thriving future.”
After settling in Philadelphia, the family soon found success selling notions (sewing supplies and other personal items), coffee and stove polish door to door. That led to the opening of a grocery store and a profitable business importing embroidered lace from Switzerland. The family’s wise investments in the stock market paved the way for another successful Guggenheim venture, this time in mining. In this industry, Meyer and his seven sons would forge their most significant and lucrative business achievement yet. Their newfound fortune would prompt Meyer to teach his sons a valuable lesson about the importance of family solidarity, said McNeil.
“One day, he handed each son a single stick and asked them to break it in half,” she said. “Each one did so with ease. Meyer then handed them a bundle of seven sticks tied together and asked each of them to try to break them again. They couldn’t do it. He is quoted as saying, ‘You see, singly the sticks are easily broken, together they cannot be broken. So it is with you. Stay together, my sons, and the world will be yours. Break up, and you will lose everything.’”
Harry represented the primary leadership of several Guggenheim entities, said McNeil, both on the business side with Guggenheim Brothers, and his uncle Solomon’s Foundation. Harry would later entrust Peter Lawson-Johnston, someone he felt demonstrated both integrity and reliability, with stewarding the family legacies.  
“Harry entrusted Cainhoy to my father during his lifetime and we have had the privilege, for several decades, of visiting Cainhoy as a family,” added McNeil. “In the beginning years, before the Mark Clark Expressway was constructed, it took an hour and forty-five minutes to drive from the airport to the plantation. Now, it is 15. Harry himself used to fly to the airport and then take a boat from the Naval Base over to Cainhoy to save time going all the way around!”
Today, the Lawson-Johnston families continue to partake in many of the same activities their predecessors enjoyed on Cainhoy and Daniel Island - “with the added thrill of ATV races, tennis on a court with weeds, and eventually a pool for my father’s daily laps,” added McNeil. They use Harry’s old wagon pulled by a tractor to hunt quail, relish outdoor picnics and barbecues on the plantation grounds, and retire after dinner in the evenings to the house’s comfortable living room for spirited games and conversations.

Lasting impacts
As for the way Guggenheim’s former land on Daniel Island has been developed, McNeil said Harry would likely be proud of what this “magical” place has become, citing the beautiful park designed in his honor in the island’s town center, the restaurant chronicling Harry’s life, the golf course flags reflecting the racing colors of Harry’s stables, and the leadership provided by Daniel Island Company President Matt Sloan and others on the island’s planning team.
“I do believe he would be thrilled with the end results (here),” she added. “…Our family could not be more proud of the award-winning accomplishment that has been realized with such elegance and sense of community at Daniel Island…Much is offered and much is gained from the foresight and dedication of Matt Sloan and all the people who worked hard then and today to bring the best possible experience to your front doors.”