Spring Island - The Perfect Place to Call Home
If ever there were a place perfectly positioned to live life to its fullest, the island community of Spring Island, located midway between Hilton Head Island and the coastal town of Beaufort, S.C., surely fits the bill. Secluded and modest in size, Spring Island was considered somewhat remote when it was first developed in the 1990s. Today, with South Carolina’s Lowcountry one of the country’s most popular places to call home, Spring Island lives like a private oasis hidden in the center of the coastal region’s charms and attractions.
Spring Island’s 3,000 acres (1,200 of which is preserved) set the stage for a community where nature is revered. Members keep busy with a native plant nursery and a 7½-acre farm that alternates between summer and winter crops. They take pride in the golf course’s designation as an Audubon International Certified Cooperative Sanctuary (20+ years running). And they take full advantage of an expanded program of outdoor pursuits that include fresh and saltwater fishing, hunting, horseback riding, sporting clays, and nature programs. Four naturalists, plus a wilderness director, help Members make the most of their natural surroundings.
Members also relish the shared experiences and connections they enjoy within the community. Wine connoisseurs and horticulturists, artists and golfers, shooters and paddlers all share a collective appreciation for the endless possibilities to be discovered together. This is a place driven by the passions of its Members. A full menu of amenities helps fulfill those passions: a Sports Complex with a fully-equipped gym, pool, tennis, croquet, and pickleball; the Art Barn that serves an active art community; and dining experiences that includes two restaurants and a full-time sommelier. And, of course, their prized golf course.
Arnold Palmer’s design at Spring Island, Old Tabby Golf Links, is a point of pride for Members, as it was for Palmer himself. Arguably, one of Palmer’s two greatest designs, the King told Members at the reopening ceremony for the course (after a seven-month restoration of his original design) that it was “absolutely” his favorite. The course weaves through the rugged beauty of the marsh and one of the Southeast’s largest live oak forests with hardly a home in sight. The stunning beauty reaches its epitome at the marsh-hugging, par-3 17th, one of Palmer’s most-photographed holes. With the number of homes on Spring Island capped, the Members-only course always plays at a relaxed pace.
Equestrian living has been integral to Spring Island’s culture and landscape since the 1700s. Members ride the same trails that quail hunters rode over a century ago. Over 30 miles of manicured trails on the island wind through salt marsh, live oak forests, pine savannas, and old agricultural fields.
At the heart of its equestrian lifestyle is the full-service Equestrian Center with 24 stalls, 16 paddocks, grass and sand arenas, and 30 acres of grazing pasture. This busy social hub is where equestrian enthusiasts board their horses and want to spend time every day. The Equestrian Center also provides a sense of community that appeals to those who don’t have horses. Club horses are available so they can join in equestrian activities.
Perhaps their greatest enthusiasm is for the breathtaking natural beauty of Spring Island’s setting. Surrounded by the Colleton and Chechessee Rivers, nature is this island’s prized commodity. Members say this isn’t a community with a nature preserve but a community within a nature preserve. With only 400 homes, each surrounded by a “nature curtain” of trees and native plants, the opportunity to own here is as incomparable as the quality of life Spring Island offers.