In Charleston, SC, manners matter

The city of Charleston has won a Lifetime Achievement Award for Most Mannerly City in America from the successor to the late national etiquette maven Marjabelle Young Stewart.

Since 1994, Charleston had topped an annual list Stewart began issuing in 1977 of the most mannerly cities in the United States. After Stewart died earlier this year, her husband, William Stewart of Illinois, agreed to pass the reins for the annual Most Mannerly Cities list to Cindy Grosso, owner of the Charleston School of Protocol.

Grosso presented the city and Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. with the lifetime award during a recent city council meeting. Stewart, a former longtime Washington, D.C., society matron who authored 20 etiquette books, which later became the basis for etiquette classes for children nationwide, had based her rankings on letters and faxes she received each year, often numbering more than 10,000.

During the council meeting, Grosso also said she will donate her time to teach etiquette techniques to local hospitality staff in a series titled “Your Manners Matter.�

as provided by Charleston Regional Business Journal