Sealing the deal....

We loved Charleston. We stayed in a lovely inn centrally located. We walked, we explored historic sites and we ate in some of Charleston's best, and best known restaurants. At Jestine's Kitchen we tasted authentic lowcountry cooking, not the fancy (and delicious) fare offered in the upscale eateries along East Bay. We couldn't have had a better tour guide on our horse drawn carriage ride through this beautiful city.


What we didn't love was Daniel Island. Less than 15 minutes into our appointment we were ready to bolt. The real estate agent was perfectly charming and not just southern pseudo charm. She was sincere. What she had to offer just wasn't for us. We remained attentive for the obligatory time and then some. She was literally in the driver's seat; we were the captives. Unlike Habersham it looked far less perfect than the images we had seen in ads or on the internet. Was it the highway that bisected it, in more ways than one; the rules about who could be club members; or the reality of southern sensibilities so different from our own? It hardly mattered. With a sigh of relief, we finally drove away. Returning to first timers' tourist mode, we knew we had found a place we would always love to visit, but living there simply didn't resonate.


We cut short our last planned day in Charleston to return to Habersham with the sole intent of viewing the West Haven lot one more time before sealing the deal. As we left Beaufort that day the next phase of our adventure - the day dreaming part, took hold. It was an "a bientot" moment.

Discovering Habersham...

For five years we have been visitors here, looking forward to the future when we would call Habersham home. Waking up that first morning in April 2006 was a turning point for us, the beginning of an adventure both exhilarating and fraught with challenges. We arrived at night. With difficulty we found our way to the Marsh Cottage. Confused about the accommodations we eventually realized the entire house was ours. Though late we were hungry after our long drive from Sewanee, TN where we had spent Easter with our daughter, then a student at the University of the South. We found our way into Beaufort where one after another of the restaurants along the waterfront had just closed the kitchen. Off the main street was Emily's, clearly a popular bar that just happened to be a restaurant still serving dinner. Soft shell crabs on the menu won Mel over instantly and Emily's remains a must stop each time we come to Beaufort.


Habersham was not our travel destination. We were headed to Charleston where we had arranged to meet with a real estate agent at Daniel Island, a community Mel had read about and thought might be a better place to retire than Naples, Florida where we had recently purchased a coop only to decide Naples would be a wonderful place to vacation, but not live. The stop in Beaufort was a last minute addition to our travel plans, a fortuitous one we were soon to discover.


We awoke to a picture perfect view of low country marshland. Miraculously we negotiated the winding streets back to town center noticing the homes surrounding the well manicured park and lining the stately boulevard were more lovely that the website pictures has led us to imagine. We were falling in love even before our real estate agent welcomed us and took us to tour spec houses and unsold lots in the first phase of Habersham. Wisely, Bill had saved the best for last - West Haven, the new phase just opening up. The quintessential low country plantation site bordering the marsh where the Habersham Creek joins the Broad River and the graceful ancient live oaks and palmettos won us over. Though unspoken at that moment, for us both the deal was sealed. Reluctant to leave, we thanked Bill and headed off to Charleston, a city we looked forward to visiting.