Here's some pictures.
I was up flying around Saturday
My house is in the middle. Should say the one with the white roof.
This message was edited Feb 4, 2008 11:51 PM
This message was edited Feb 5, 2008 12:42 AM
Another
Highway 278. Diehard you know what part that is?
They've been busy out at traditions.
They're take advantange of all that cheap land? It's in the middle of no where at least they should get some land with their house.
I just liked the way the water had stars in it.
What fun! Its nice to see your
"lay of the land"
Fitsy
tha's soo cool is that part of 278 in front of belfair? i saw the golfcourse... i'm gonna go cheat on google earth!!!
Your wrong.
the crescent???
is that your plane???
This message was edited Feb 4, 2008 11:33 PM
Wrong again and no that's not my plane. Give up yet?
Diehard your looking on the left at the first outlet mall, Hilton Head National then Lowes parking lot. etc. The right side is Moss Creek where it turns into Calton River.
aahhh darn I thot about that but decide on the other
wow how beautiful you a nice clear day for your fly... and i agree those huge houses are really packed in there why would you want such a huge house packed together so close??? nice yard you have... what is traditions??? have a great day Ronna
We have a neighbor that takes us up occasionally and it always amazes me just how much marsh is around here. You got some really good pictures. I've never gotten any even half as clear.
Traditions is a new neighborhood they are building right now and it seems they couldn't do it with out taking out every last tree. What are they thinking ???????
I'm not a big fan of Traditions I-95. They clear cut the whole thing.
You really do notice how much marsh is around us when you get up in the air. Another weird thing is seeing how many pine trees were planted. You see miles of rows of trees.
yeah.. i noticed that when i first moved here and saw buckwalter... i hated it then, but now i just ignore it
Went on a tour of Palmetto Bluff once and the naturalist explained that pine trees were the big money crop back when the loblollys were the ingredient of choice in paper making. Apparently they just don't need as many nowadays as they use different varieties (hardwoods maybe?) for computer paper.
Didn't the developer of Traditions declare bankruptcy recently?
The Mother company for traditions did declare BK. Traditions didn't declare BK themselves but some of these real estate developers are set up like pyramid schemes so who knows what's going on.
I thought they used Loblollys for paper and lumber? I don't know for sure but I do know there are all sorts of loblollys in the low country.
They still use the Loblollys for paper, just not in the high quantities they used to use it in.
i certainly would want some nice astablished trees in my new yard... otherwise its way to hot in the summertime.... and all the birdies have nowhere to live.
That's why I have a bunch of pines. I wouldn't plant them myself but the other choice was no shade. I'm slowly cutting them down and replacing them with other trees but it takes a long time to replace a 40ft tree.
you better believe it but when they start taking off it seems they are very tall.... we have an older home and lots of troubles with roots in the ole sewer lines and we have to auger the line out... yuck. but we are pretty fast at it now. pretty experienced. lol nothing im proud of though... Ronna
My personal feeling is that anyone buying into a new "clear-cut development" ought to be assessed $100,00-$200,000 in additional fees for the damage (fees NOT to go to the politicians/government, but to more rational entities, to buy up virgin land) they've done to the environment. Decrease demand for these obscene excrements via market price, and we may be able to control the destruction. If we don't decrease demand, the "builders" will continue to destroy it. And then we have "Levitown South". When will we ever learn? Joni Mitchell said it all in one song many years ago...as it was beginning.
Better yet, let the laws of economics dictate the entire scene, and get politics completely out of of it. Much better chance of getting it right without government...
Pitiful politics in Beaufort County????? Say it ain't so!
This week we are fighting plans for a new Super Wal-Mart on the south end of Ladys Island. There is only one road going to the site which narrows to 2 lanes right before the location. Thankfully it does have a turn lane but with water all around on 3 sides and the county airport on the 4th side, this road cannot be widened nor can any other roads be constructed. Those of us that live south of this monstrosity will be held hostage as we attempt to get on and off the islands. This is on land that was annexed into the City of Beaufort but the city is on the other side of the Ladys Island bridge and they will not be affected by the traffic because it is nowhere near them. They will of course, get the benefit of the taxes Wal-Mart generates while those of us on the islands will get the shaft. Agggghhhhhh
Core's calling the development he photographed Traditions I-95 is pretty funny. The real name is Traditions Hilton Head, but they are no where near it. Probably 15 or more miles away from HHI, right off the I.
You know stono we pay a real estate trandsfer tax in Beaufort county that goes to buying land. I think that's fair but the SC Gov't has made it illegal for anyone else to charge that type of tax. Beaufort county invented it so we are still able to charge the transfer tax but no on else can. Can't remember but it's something like a quarter %.
A few months ago we were visiting our son who had just moved to Boulder, CO. Just out of curiosity I called a realtor about several homes I had seen for sale and found out that these tiny little houses I was looking at were in the 600K and up range. Whew! It seems that the city has banned development of new construction with their limits (but you could tear down an existing home and rebuild on the lot) and the county is buying up every available bit of open land to prevent any additional development there. Naturally the prices of existing real estate have gone through the roof. No new development means they won't have to build and maintain more roads, schools, sewers, etc. and their bountiful tax revenues from those expensive homes is more than adequate to well care for what they have. I don't think it would fly in the south but it is an interesting concept.
Oh how I agree with you 3 people.
Here,there is one monstrosity after another.But the developers are dropping like flies.Levitt and Sons,which is a new company that bought the name,has declared bankruptcy.Unfortunately the people who are hurt the most are the people who have lost their deposits because they thought that Levitt was a dependable company.
Luckily I live in the town of Surfside Bch and we have lots of people who are ready to fight the fight.It is the tree huggers against the developers.Thats not saying that many mistakes haven't already been made but at least there is someone to talk to.We are also the fist town in Horry county to pass a no smoking ordinance.You can imagine how well that went over with tourists.
My brother worked in Boulder, CO but he couldn't afford to live there. He ended up living in a one room apartment out by the federal Pen. This was like 10 years ago and he was out of college 3 years I think. He was making around 60K which for a single guy would seem to be enough but Boulder was just like throwing money down a hole for rent. He was still paying $900 month for a plain Jane, near nothing, 800 sgft apartment. If you close off development in one area there will be development somewhere else because most people can't afford a 600K house and you still have many jobs that don't pay that much. First off any Gov't job doesn't pay enough to afford houses like that and you need teachers, cops, fireman etc.
That's one of the problems with Beaufort County's economy. You have a lot of retirees who drive up home prices but no good jobs really come from it. Maids, lawn guys etc. I think it said in the paper that 25% of the people in Beaufort county make their living from real estate. That is way loopsided. You probably have another 25% or so working in low paying services jobs to support the retirees. You need to have a better economic base or the real estate machine will not stop. Lots of open land around here. The other choice is to allow high density cheap housing in small areas to house all the service people. It's just folly to build your economy on boom bust businesses. Real esate and tourism are boom, bust and those are what drives the economy in the Southern half of the county.
No easy answer to the development problem but the housing market is going to be depressed for years to come so at least we have a break to figure out how to manage the growth. That should stop all the South of the boarder people for a while too. In the late 90's things got insane down by me. We ran out of people to work. Stores were closing earily and I remember Burger King closed in the afternoon because they simply couldn't find staff to work. The offical unemployment rate was .9% for a while. LOL. My wife was a manager at the Hyatt and they were short 30% of the staff year after year. That's what brought the big fllood of people. You could show up here and have three jobs the next day. I know a guy whose whole business is based on going to dirt poor countries and hiring english speaking people. Right now he's bringing in all sorts of people from the old Eastern block countries.
Levitown was I believe one of the first housing developments up in Long Island NY started after WWII. Row after row of houses.
Joni Mitchell song? He's got me there.
Didn't she release that old Pete Seegar song about a while back? "When Will We Ever Learn", the "where have all the flowers gone" song?
I can hear the song in my head, but not all the words..........something with it's been made into "a big parking lot".
Core,
I enjoyed all the photos. As many of you know, I moved from HHI in 1993 after living there 15 years (Aw, the good ole' days) so I enjoy hearing ya'll talk about things going on there. And I so enjoyed the photos.
I know ya'll have heard hundreds of stories of the old days. After seeing the photos, one of my old stories is about burying my dog and a cat (a couple of years apart)on what became the Belfair land right on the Colleton River on the old Cram property. Anyone ever heard old stories about the Cram family?
Back in those days, if your refrigerator or washer broke you had to wait for the GE man to come from Savannah on Tuesdays or Thursdays. That was when it was all still windswept trees at Turtle Lane in Sea Pines. That was when there was only 1 stoplight on 278! That was when we collected oysters on the May River. That was when "Jake", the renowned dog on all the Salty Dog t-shirts, was alive and walked freely around South Beach and we fed him pieces of whatever snack we happened to have in our hands. My son worked at the Salty Dog as a young teen and road his bike 5 miles each way to get there and it was always so safe to ride your bike home in the dark even though there were a few times he was startled when a deer or two would dart out in front of him. Oh the stories -- I could go on and on.
My son was 4 when we moved there and he really was blessed to have grown up there at a time when life was much simpler. I was a single mom and we had lots of wonderful memories. There were so few children on the island at the time and you'd have to drive to someone's house for the kids to get together to play. I miss it and still call in home.
Thanks, guys, for sharing!
Barbara
Those were the days when a trip from Beaufort to HHI took about 30 - 40 minutes. Now, with all these new roads, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
I know some of the Crams but I don't know any of the stories, you'll have to fill me in. :-))))
Is Hank Cram still floating around?
Did you ever hear the story (true story) about the elder Cram (Henry) and his wife Lucy living on the island (Is it Bull Island?) back in the 60's and the rumors always floated around about the Crams having lots of money and keeping valuables on the property. One night 2 Marines went over to rob them and Mr. Cram took out his shotgun and shot one of them! He never was prosecuted and no one ever tried it again!
1 1/2 - 2 hrs to Beaufort? You're kidding! I haven't visited for years and I really need to do it. I was last there 8 years ago and I think it's hard for me to think about going back to visit since I probably want to remember it the old way. Guess I'm getting old and sentimental ........
This message was edited Feb 13, 2008 9:06 PM
Hank was the old guy right? He died a year or two ago. I've meet most of the Cram bunch and they are a little strange. LOL. I can't remember whose, who with them. I know many of the older families around here, not always on good terms. LOL. Back in the day you pretty much knew everyone soon or later. There are about triple the people now then were here in 1993. Maybe more. Bluffton is scary, incredible amount of growth in 10 years. At one point I said I would rather die than move to Bluffton. LOL. I live there now so things have changed for the good for the most part. I miss the country feel though. I lived on HHI until I got married and kids were coming up next. HHI doesn't reall have family neighborhoods.
Ardesia I'm not so sure on your hour or so to Beaufort. Before they 4 laned 170 it use to take me at least an hour to get beaufort. Last time I went up there (first time on the 4 lanes) it took me 25 minutes from just off the island. Fastest I have ever made it there in fact I was 45 minutes early and didn't know what to do with myself. I was going up to check out what Ned Rahn was up to actually. Ended up with 5 citrus trees.
Core,
Now you've got me really wondering.... Hank would be about 55-60 now. Is that old? He had the British accent because he was sent off to England as a young boy and was educated there. That can't be him. Yes, they're all a little different. I remember one that's related (by marriage) to Catherine Oxenart. Is that her name? You know ...... the actress that's really a princess or something.
Then there was Uncle Arthur, as we called him. He was oceanfront in Sea Pines on 3 lots. I'd visit occasionally with a friend named Lou DuFresne (female) since she was his neighbor and she'd check on him. He had his "butler" and the whole southern thing going on. We'd go into the "parlor" to talk.
Core, I now wonder who you are since, yes, back then everyone knew each other. I'm sure we know lots of the same people - even though you're much younger. How old are you? Where did/do you work? I used to work with Sea Pines and I remember when I had to go show property in Moss Creek and would complain about driving that far.
Hope everyone will forgive me for a few minutes as I "hog" this thread. I promise I'll stop.
This message was edited Feb 13, 2008 10:17 PM
Core, I am talking about 25 or more years ago. There really were no traffic lights and darn little traffic, you could literally fly over the roads. Now it takes forever. Yesterday I had to go to The Crescent in Bluffton and it took me an hour and 10 minutes from my house. I was late for a meeting so I was speeding and counting every minute. LOL
Waaayyyy back in '65 we visited friends of friends who lived on a bluff overlooking Calabogue Sound. The acre lot next door was for sale; it had lots of lemon and orange trees and I wanted that lot so badly but was so expensive, the asking price was $11,000, big money for that time and we were graduate students at USC then. Still kicking myself..........