7 Lowcountry islands you might not know exist — including one that's for sale
In Beaufort County, a boat navigates better than a car.
Nearly half of the county’s 900 square miles are rivers, streams and sounds.
Dotting the watery landscape are more than 320 islands, including many where 21st century life hasn’t waded ashore.
An absence of development means crabs crawl slowly without fear. Menageries of birds shake out their feathers, unwatched by binoculars. An explosion of plants flourish in the same way as a century ago.
But the islands are not totally untouched by man. The handful of past and present owners hail from different walks of life, but a common trait binds them: the desire to escape, to venture out into those deep waters and touch on something unchanged.
If you have the funds, there’s even a recent $5.9 million listing by Charter One Realty on Buck Island, a 10-acre retreat just off the south end of Hilton Head.
Finding untouched land
Since the end of the 19th century, generations of the wealthy have set up hunting and fishing retreats to which they could escape.
For a brief time in the 1930s, nudists defied convention on the beaches, relying on the islands’ lushness to clothe their secrets.
University and government officials depend on the same remoteness to conduct research ill suited for the mainland.
Generations of Lowcountry children escaped to them, too. These wilderness playgrounds were free of parental rules.
As a young boy, Pierre McGowan, now 88, and his brothers boated to the barrier islands to camp, hunt and fish, free from those rules for entire weekends. Fiddling with a calculator recently, McGowan surmised he’s walked more than 5,000 miles along each island.
They were magical places then. Those that have avoided development still are today, McGowan contends.
“My attraction to these island jewels was akin to an addiction,” said McGowan who grew up on St. Helena Island and has written two books about the barrier islands.
Similar to a cool rush of water, the islands’ histories delight those who care to listen.
Here’s just a few of their stories. Below these links, find a map to help you locate the islands.
But before you begin your exploration, take this quiz to find out how much you know about Beaufort County and Hilton Head’s hidden islands.
1. Lowcountry luxury: Look around Buck Island, the private retreat listed for $5.9 million
For $5.9 million, you could own Buck Island, a 10-acre retreat just off the south end of Hilton Head where privacy reigns.
2. Sea turtles, marine life get close look on USCB’s Pritchards Island
With campuses in Bluffton and Beaufort, the University of South Carolina Beaufort is anchored in the community. But it also has another campus of sorts, one many don’t know about and is only open to a select few: Pritchards Island. | READ
In the early 1900s, Alfred Lee Loomis added Lowcountry landowner to an impressive list of titles when he purchased, together with his business partner and brother-in-law Landon Thorne, 17,000 acres of Hilton Head Island. In 1962, his son bought Bull Island.
This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 8:58 PM with the headline "7 Lowcountry islands you might not know exist — including one that's for sale."