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coastal living |
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he wish list sounded reasonable enough. A place where people wave. Streets where you can make a left turn without a light.
And, above all, one of those divine Southern porches where you can detect a whisper of salt in the air. For four couples from across the country, all well-traveled and broadly exposed, only the Carolina coast met those requirements. And then it got even better.
“It’s made us kinder people,” reflects Lori Groff, a Minnesota native who moved to Habersham, a community in Beaufort, S.C., from Marblehead, Massachusetts. “I love the ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘no, sir.’ I love the respect people give one another down here.”
While Mrs. Groff works as a property manager at Habersham, her husband, Lynn, runs a small salon. With only one other stylist in his charge, the atmosphere is much more relaxed than his 25-employee salon in Boston’s Harvard Square.
“He decompresses down here,” Mrs. Groff says. “The people are so gracious and so appreciative, instead of just always thinking, ‘what am I going to do when I leave?’ ”
Customers are receptive to new ideas, including Mr. Groff’s belief that perms aren’t necessary for a good-looking hairstyle.
“They’re very open to change,” Mrs. Groff notes. “I think we get caught up in not listening to other people. It kind of shows you that I was probably one of those people who was stressed out and didn’t quite open up to the rest of the world.”
There’s plenty to open up to in Habersham, where the Groffs revel in their three-story live-work home. With Salon 10 Market on street level, they enjoy living and entertaining on the top two floors. Salon 10 Market is in Habersham’s appealing commercial district, where residents can patronize a bank, dry cleaners, grocery store and pizza parlor. “The nice part about Habersham is everybody decided to live here,” Mrs. Groff observes. “You’re not talking to your neighbor who’s been here 30 years and wants to go somewhere else. People make a conscious decision to be here.”
Habersham is on the Broad River, seven minutes from downtown Beaufort, South Carolina’s second-oldest city. With its neighborhoods of historic homes and streets lined with galleries, shops and restaurants, Beaufort is one of John Villani’s
100 Best Small Art Towns in America. A short drive takes you to the ocean, where nature’s art is always on display.
Living near the ocean was important to Joan Shaffer, who, upon retirement, returned to New Bern, N.C., with husband, Steve. New Bern has grown and gentrified since 1963, when Mrs. Shaffer left, and the couple is delighted how Middle Street has become such a scenic promenade of galleries and boutiques. “It gives you a
Saturday Evening Post
cover of a small American town,” Mr. Shaffer says. Monthly art walks on Friday nights bring residents out to visit art shops and restaurants.
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ike Beaufort, S.C., New Bern was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War – meaning scores of old homes from that era remain. Mr. Shaffer, who worked in the military and for the U.S. government, has become active in New Bern’s historical society and its battlefield. He’s also hiking and birding, and was thrilled to see his first painted bunting at Hoop Hoe Creek. Painted buntings, and many of the shorebirds he’s encountered, couldn’t be found in Springfield, Virginia, where the Shaffers lived before.
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The Shaffers have settled in Carolina Colours, a community with wide streets, sidewalks, and five lakes near the Croatan National Forest. |
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They appreciate that community planners preserved the trees. And while they’ve made lots of new friends from different places, it’s been wonderful reconnecting with Mrs. Shaffer’s friends and family from her childhood. “People make the difference and they have a sense of place and appreciate their history here,” Mr. Shaffer says, describing how generations of the same families remain friends through the years. “People look you in the eye and have a greeting for you. That’s a very nice thing and something we don’t have a whole lot of anymore.”
Based at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse rivers, New Bern is 30 miles inland from Beaufort, N.C., and the Atlantic Ocean. The rivers provide recreation, and while the Shaffers don’t have a boat, they point out – laughing – that they “like to make friends” with people who do.
Tom O’Connor, currently of Ledgewood, N.J., plans to have a boat when he and his wife Jennifer move to The Settings at Mackay Point in Yemassee, S.C. About 10 years from retiring as a manager with an automobile finance company, Mr. O’Connor says his South Carolina Lowcountry residence will be a second home at first. When it’s built, it will be ideal for their yet-to-be born children. And those children will be taking advantage of all the water recreation Mackay Point has to offer from its location on the Pocotaligo River. “I’m an outdoor person, and so is my wife,” he says, adding how he likes that Mackay Point is preserving wetlands and building 20-plus acres of small lakes where motorboats won’t be allowed.
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“It will be quieter to take my kids and skip some rocks,” he predicts. |
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Yemassee, S.C., is 30 minutes north of Savannah and Hilton Head Island, and one hour south of Charleston. Mr. O’Connor looks forward to spending time on the beaches in those areas, but also in Mackay Point’s marshscape. A crabbing and fishing dock, oyster pavilion and nature trails mean there will be plenty to do without getting in a car. His house will have an in-ground pool and be 3,500-4,000 square feet – big enough for his eight siblings in Chicago to visit and bring their children.
All architecture in Mackay Point will be in the Lowcountry style. “That’s one of the prerequisites,” Mr. O’Connor says. “Everybody’s going to have a nice big porch. I love those Southern porches.”
Sand between his toes is what Blaney Harper loves, and he can experience that special sensation just 10 minutes from his home in Sea Trail at Sunset Beach, N.C. This is the best location ever, he proclaims – 30 minutes from historic Wilmington and 10 miles from lively North Myrtle Beach, but smack dab at a pristine beach where the forefathers kept people from building on the ocean line. The result is that Sunset Beach is one of the few on the East Coast where sand is coming in and not eroding, according to Duke University. Mr. Harper says, “I tease people that if they come and like it, I’ll probably have to kill them, because they’ll want to move.”
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Mr. Harper and his wife, Sharon, discovered Sea Trail and Brunswick County while living in Raleigh (after previous stops in Boca Raton and Southern California). |
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“We are such firm believers in Sea Trail and that this is good value that we purchased two more homesites that we’re holding for investment – one is on the golf course and the other has a water view.”
He likes the town of Sunset Beach as much as the beach itself – its “clean, uncluttered” atmosphere. “This town is so picturesque, it’s like you’re in rural America, but you’re close to the ocean.” Sea Trail offers resort-style living in a wooded environment, with three golf courses, restaurants, and indoor and outdoor pools.
The friendliness of the residents makes life here that much more enjoyable. “I know it sounds canned, but everybody waves at everybody. They’re easy to get to know and talk to, which is really important to us. That’s what attracted my wife to the community. Even before we bought property, we could raise our hand and stop and people would tell you anything and everything you wanted to know.”
One important thing Mr.
Harper would like for
everyone to know: “You don’t
have to be one of the
beautiful people to get out
and enjoy Sunset Beach.” His
final words of comfort?
“When I travel to other
places and get back to Sea
Trail, it feels like home.”
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Aida Rogers has worked in newspapers,
magazines, legal newsletters, and television.
The USC graduate and Lexington, SC native currently
is managing editor of Sandlapper, The Magazine of South Carolina,
for which she writes a column about the most popular
restaurants in The Palmetto State.
Call her with your favorites at 803-808-1664.
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