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Health Department closes Daufuskie Oyster Beds

I know it is hard to believe but the headline above is exactly what happened in the late Fall of 1959. A once flourishing business built by the Maggioni family and hiring thousands of Daufuskie residents was history. Raw sewage dumped into the Savannah River along with waste from Savannah's flourishing companies flowed by Daufuskie's Cooper River and Mongin Creek and choked the life out of quality oysters that were renowned world wide. Today these waters are again pristine and I wait patiently each year for months ending in an R to harvest a few of the tasty morsels.

I pontificate about Daufuskie's past history as a result of a front page article and picture in last weeks Island Packet. It shows two bike riders in some city in China....or should I say the photographer was attempting to show two bike riders. You see, there was a profound brown haze surrounded them accentuated by an ugly brownish yellow sky. It kind of reminded me of  a Sci Fi movie but this was for real. The U.N. Environment Program just released a report called "Atmospheric Brown Clouds" which are a mile thick that cover thirteen cities from the Arabian Peninsula to the Yellow Sea and drift as far East as California. This report made me feel very lucky to live on an Island like Daufuskie where the air is pure and the water from deep well aquifers is fresh.

But one does not have to travel far from our beautiful Lowcountry to experience serious air pollution. A trip to the North Carolina Mountains in Summer will reveal thousands of trees killed by acid rain. And recent reports show Asheville Tennessee, Knoxville and Atlanta as extremely high with airborne particulates. And to my dismay that same recent report cites my hometown of Pittsburgh as being the most highly polluted in the USA with Los Angeles winning the second spot.

Now the clean air and water we are blessed with does not come by accident. Some one or some agency not long ago fought hard to keep a steel mill from being erected at what is now Colleton River Plantation just over the bridge from Hilton Head. A short trip north to the historic coastal town of Georgetown will show that they definitely were not that lucky. The acrid smell of burning steel permeates the air and a fine dust attaches itself to sailboats in the picturesque marina.

I usually have a moral to my writings but today is different. I guess I am just attempting to pass on to folks out there that ...there are still places on God's good earth that are sweet and pure. I am just trying to pass these written words to folks that are searching for places like Daufuskie Island and still do not know it exists. I am attempting to reach out to folks that won't complain about a boat ride to get groceries and revel being surrounded by magnificent nature at every turn. I am attempting to reach out to people that enjoy a clear glass of water fresh from a well and dine on oysters, shrimp, crabs, flounder and sea trout just caught at the county dock. I am attempting to reach out to folks that are now searching for a refreshing new life, where walks on pristine beaches are the norm and where dreams still come true.

See ya on the high tide.

LowCountry Joe 

 

Daufuskie Crime

Now I knew that headline would capture a lot of attention!!!!! But in these days when the news is full of very bad people doing very terrible things Daufuskie Island is blessed to be virtually crime free. Now I ain't sayin' someone wont take your golf cart by mistake after a fun night at one of our local gin mills or cash might quietly disappear from an unattended resort cash box,  I am talking serious crime against "our person" and those we love.

I will never forget the time a few years ago when I was "showing" the Island to a prospective client that just happened to be from New Jersey. As we toodled down a quiet remote Daufuskie lane we came upon a group of children on their bikes. The cute little girls with their long blond hair streaming behind them waved and greeted us with a friendly hello. It was at that point the "Grandma" sitting next to me said "Oh my God" what are those kids doing way out here all by themselves". I calmly replied "their Mom probably told them to git out of the house and go play just like in the old days". Mam....This is Daufuskie".

A wise man once wrote...Money does not buy happiness, but it does buy you two (2) things. It enables one to provide the best of health care for your family from the best specialists anywhere in the world. And....it enables you to purchase a home in a very desirable area where the chance of a malicious attack on you or someone you love is somewhat reduced.

So, if you have worked hard all your life with the dream of having a primary or second home on a "real" Island please give me a call today. We will toodle around the Island in my golf cart checkin' out this special mystical place. And ...if we get real lucky we will come upon our Beaufort County policeman that makes occasional visits and rides around in a big old white pick um up truck. He kind of reminds me of the Maytag repairman, just a lonely sort of guy with nothin' to do.... so a friendly "Fuskie Wave"  will surely make his day.

See ya on the high tide.......

LowCountry Joe

P.S.  The Grandma from New Jersey bought the next day.