Sea grass basket making has been a part of Mary Jane Bennett's life for as long as she can remember. Growing up in the low country of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, an area known for its continuation of folk tradition, Ms. Bennett was constantly around basket weavers within her community. At a young age, Mary Bennett learned this art form and soon made it an integral part of her life. As she approached adulthood, however, Ms. Bennett became more concerned with her financial welfare and was forced to set her basket weaving aside in order to make a decent living. Mary Bennett tried her hand at farm work earning $.50/day and then moved on to working in a tobacco company. After one year of employment with the company, Bennett found that she disliked the work, particularly the smell tobacco created in the factory, and resigned. After leaving the tobacco company, Mary Bennett was presented with two employment options: she could do work in the fields of Mt. Pleasant or she could find some way to make a living using her talents as a basket weaver. It was then that she decided to sell her hand-woven sea grass baskets along the side of Mt. Pleasant's Highway 17.

A Bennett Market Basket, 1985 Coiled Sweetgrass, Rush and Pine Needles Sewn With Palmetto Leaf, H. 16 1/2 " W. 17"

Mary Bennett has accomplished a great deal since becoming an established basket weaver. She has flown all over the United States demonstrating the art of sea grass basket making to those interested in learning the folk tradition. Some of the locations she has visited include New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Today, Mary Bennett and her husband, Jessie, continue to sell baskets from their stand along Highway 17. The Bennett's children do not make their livings basket weaving but they continue the sea grass basket tradition by making baskets in their spare time and by offering basket weaving lessons from their parents' church in Mt. Pleasant.