About Beaufort's Dataw Island

Beaufort, SC, and the surrounding Lowcountry has some marvelous options available for buyers seeking a home near South Carolina's greens and fairways.

Take, for instance, Dataw Island and Callawassie island, two a well-groomed communities offering a nice country club lifestyle. Of these two communities, Dataw is closer to downtown Beaufort, just minutes east, on St. Helena Island. Of the 120 homes currently on the market on Dataw, asking prices range from just under $160,000, up to more than $2 million. Dataw Island features some of the best waterfront property available in Beaufort, and two Pete Dye golf courses.

Callawassie Island has 27 holes of golf, designed by Tom Fazio. Currently, There are currently 16 homes on the market, with asking prices ranging from $255,000 to $845,000.

Spring Island and Brays Island are two pricier golf community options for Lowcountry buyers. Spring Island may be the single most beautiful developed island in the Lowcountry, and is located adjacent to Callawassie Island. In fact, Callawssie and Spring share the same guard house and entrance. Brays Island, located west of Beaufort near Interstate 95, also features a hunting preserve. Both of these communities are very private.

Fripp Island also features two beautiful golf courses, although the larger attraction at Fripp is certainly the three miles of beaches.

We always recommend you conduct due diligence before buying anywhere, but especially in a situation where there is an equity membership involved. These can be tricky, because in most of these cases, the owner of the membership must keep paying dues until he/she is able to sell the membership.

Also, every community has individual guidelines regarding associated fees, some of which are paid at the closing table, and some of which are paid after closing.

In many of these communities, there may be different memberships, from golf to social. There may be different membership dues for improved property, versys dues applying to vacant homesites.

For more information on Beaufort, SC, or the Beaufort, SC real estate market, visit www.ExploreBeaufortRealEstate.com.

Back in the day, the waterways around Dataw Island were hotbeds of marijuana smuggling. The marijuana would come out of the Atlantic darkness on shrimp boats, which would snake their way up the backwaters of the Lowcountry to meeting spots not too far from what has since become one of the Southeast's premier golf communities. Dataw Island rests on St. Helena Island, just a few miles east of Beaufort, SC, between our charming historic district and the Atlantic Ocean. The marijuana, they say, would be distributed near Dataw Island and neighboring Polawana Island, and then head inland via Highway 21, through the heart of downtown Beaufort and beyond.

This major marijuana shipping operation described above was real, and it resulted years ago in a major bust that would go down in local Beaufort lore as Operation Jackpot. If you live in Beaufort long enough, there is a very good chance that on a given day, you will encounter one of the many men involved in the operation. Long since having served their time, these are some of the most prominent men in the community.

As I stood on a dock along Jenkins Creek last night, just off Dataw Island, I couldn't help but think of how perfect a spot like that would be for smuggling. Years before Alcoa South Carolina began developing Dataw Island in the mid-1980s, this area would have been a pitch black (and pitch perfect) network of meandering creeks and waterways, all of which would be ideal for stealth and intrigue. I filmed a 60-second video on the dock. With the full moon overhead, the smooth surface of a deep-water creek at your feet, and not another sound to be heard, I would not have been the least bit surprised to catch the eery silhouette of a shrimp boat gliding silently in the distance, just as it would have years ago..

For more information on Beaufort, SC, or the Beaufort, SC real estate market, visit www.ExploreBeaufortRealEstate.com. Thanks for coming out.

What else is there left to say about Beaufort, SC? In recent years, we have been named as a top arts community and fishing destination. The Wall Street Journal pegged Beaufort as a "Movie Mecca", while National Geogrophic featured our little town in its "Traveler" journal. Garden & Gun have all featured Beaufort in recent months.

We can chalk up a couple of more encomiums for Beaufort. Money.cnn.com says Beaufort is one of the Top 25 places to retire, while the Miami Herald threw a kayak in the water and wrote a terrific piece about the Beaufort River.

If you are looking to Beaufort for possible retirement, let's just start by saying the whole region is worthy of consideration. From our temperate climate, to water and beach access, to the just plain affability of the average person on the street, Beaufort and the Lowcountry have a lot to offer.

There are, however, several communities that retirees tend to really appreciate. Dataw Island, located Beaufort and the Atlantic Ocean, or Callawassee Island, between Beaufort and Hilton Head, offers all the amenities of country club communities. Fripp Island and Harbor Island offer the Atlantic Ocean, and extreme convenience to Hunting Island State Park, the most visited park in South Carolina and one of the Southeast's true treasures.

Don't hesitate to visit www.ExploreBeaufortRealEstate.com, for more information about Beaufort, or the Beaufort, SC real estate market.