Margaret Nevill of The Mad Platter
By John Temple Ligon temple@thecolumbiastar.com

At The Mad Platter, 3101 Millwood Ave., the customer can pay $6 for an all- day session painting pottery pieces. There is an additional purchase price per piece, running from a maximum of $100 on down. The Mad Platter offers a choice among more than 200 styles of pottery and among more than 60 colors. At session's end, the painted pottery is left with the staff to be glazed and fired and ready for pick- up in four days.

Overseeing the creation and the production is owner and founder Margaret Nevill, who opened The Mad Platter more than 10 years ago, at the same location.

Nevill was born in Summit, N.J., where her father was an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed. The family, including Nevill's four older sisters and two older brothers, moved to nearby New Providence soon after Nevill was born.

Nevill attended K- 8 in New Providence and entered St. Mary's Academy in Watchug, N.J., for her high school years. A boarding school of more than 300 girls, St. Mary's was close enough to New Providence for Nevill to commute from home every day, even with fencing and field hockey practices in the afternoons. St. Mary's was also close enough to its counterpart for boys, St. Joseph's in Metuchen, N.J., to round out her social calendar.

Taking advantage of every art education offering at St. Mary's, Nevill could easily gain inspiration from the art museums and galleries in New York City and Philadelphia. As a high school student, she saw her future in art. Her father, though, warned Nevill of the assumed vows of poverty associated with an art education.

Nevill entered USC's Columbia campus in the footsteps of five of her siblings ahead of her. Her great aunt taught art in Allendale, and the family trips over the years to S.C. led the children to USC.

Following her father's warning about the challenges in art's job market, Nevill began college as a declared advertising major, but she shifted majors her junior year to creative arts, aka journalism.

In 1989, Nevill talked George Meares, owner of Group Therapy on Greene St., into hiring her part- time as his first doorwoman. By May 1990, Nevill was working for Meares full- time behind the bar. And a year later, she was Group manager for the next four years while Meares commuted irregularly from Folly Beach.

While running Group, Nevill connected with her husband Jake Knight, who at the time was managing Jungle Jim's around the corner on Harden. They married in 2001 at Nevill's aunt & uncle's home in Nyack, N.Y.

The two bar managers agreed they feared weekends when Florida played USC at Williams- Brice. The Florida fans were always the most rude, bordering on vandalism and such.

St. Patrick's Day every time evolved into Amateur Night, like New Year's Eve, but twice a year wasn't so bad.

Husband Jake owns Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants now, and he also owns The Knight Company, real estate sales.

Nevill and her husband are big on Charleston- area fishing. They keep an 18- foot fishing boat in its slip in Mt. Pleasant, where Nevill's mother lives.

In 1996, Nevill and her partner began to put together The Mad Platter, and the place officially opened in October 1997. Her partner left the business in 2002 to become a full- time mom, leaving Nevill to take 100% control.