Spring Island is the centerpiece of the great, private sea islands on the Atlantic coast. A land seemingly frozen in time, its stunning natural beauty is profoundly etched in the deep legendary history of the Carolina Lowcountry. immediate and profound. Spring Island always was, and still is, one of the rarest and most beautiful places in America.

A phenomenon of nature, Spring Island has not been spoiled by civilization and never will be. Remarkably, for two centuries only four families owned Spring Island prior to the creation of the current community. For those 200 years, these four families preserved the island in its natural state for unparalleled hunting, fishing and complete enjoyment of nature. The mission of the current Spring Island owners is the same that it has been for 200 years. It is, in a single word, preservation.

Now that the stewardship of the island has passed to this new generation of owners, the tradition of preservation continues, taking pleasure in the glorious enjoyment of pristine rivers, marshes and forests. The island’s mystical ability to capture a restorative sense of solitude will never vanish. It will be forever protected by the mandate of permitting fewer than 400 families to share the uniqueness of Spring Island.

The island’s rookeries will always teem with bird life, the creeks and ponds will always abound with fish. Everything that is natural and beautiful will be maintained. Human presence will always be subtle and unassuming.

-3,000 acres of maritime forest.
-3,500 acres of pristine marshland.
-All this for fewer than 400 families.

The ancillary benefits are magnificent. Spectacular fishing and hunting. A golf course you can enjoy day after day for the rest of your life. A 30-acre equestrian facility with 35 miles of riding trails. A nature center and a 1,200-acre nature preserve. Plus all the other amenities you expect from any highest-level community: tennis, fitness center, fine dining, swimming pool complex, private boat ramp and docks, etc.

Spring Island. For the best time of your life, you can’t find a better place.

Nature

After one visit to Spring Island, one might well believe that Mother Nature was born here. In the fertile places where King Cotton once flourished, grand old live oaks now sprawl in splendiferous abundance across the island landscape. Spring Island today boasts hundreds of these magnificent specimens. There are also giant black walnut trees among the 90 other identified tree species that naturalists have identified on the island, more than three times that found on neighboring barrier islands. Trees aren’t the only abundant species. There are 600 floral types, 700 kinds of fauna and 19 varieties of soil on the island.

"The last great maritime forest" is how one resident describes Spring Island. Perched on an aquifer of limitless fresh water and surrounded by salt water estuaries, the island is nature’s most ideal setting for coexistence of woods and wetland. There are several salt water ponds along the island’s shore. In addition, there are dozens of fresh water ponds throughout the island’s forest. Where to fish depends on your appetite: salt water for shrimp, crab, oyster, redfish, sea trout or flounder -- fresh water for largemouth bass or bream.

One of the beautiful truisms about Spring Island is that the views are constantly changing, whether it is spotting a wild turkey or bald eagle or simply watching yet another glorious sunset. Salt water marshes are always far more interesting than, say, the ocean. The light changes not only by the season but by the hour; so does the marsh itself. The number of plants and animals that live in this habitat of mixing and slushing water is mind boggling. Biologists claim that salt marshes produce up to 10 tons of organic matter per acre a year. The Atlantic Ocean’s food chain starts here.

Golf

Our Old Tabby Links golf course epitomizes our nature-first philosophy. The front nine of this Arnold Palmer course weaves through a 150-year-old live oak forest. The back nine presents a totally different look. The first six holes meander through what used to be quail-hunting pastures. The last three border the marsh and present magnificent views of the Chechessee River with the Broad River, Parris Island and Port Royal off on the horizon.

Thoughtfully shaped to respect its natural surroundings, the course is distinguished not only by its playability but also by for its respect to its natural surroundings. Nary a home nor another fairway can be seen from many of the holes. The 17th hole has become famous. Our signature hole, it has been ranked as one of the top 18 holes Palmer has created.

One dramatic feature of the course is at the ninth hole, a hole that’s considered by South Carolina pros to have one of the best risk-reward par fives anywhere. To the right side of this hole, across a large pond, are our Tabby Ruins, the remnants of the mansion of former proprietor George Edwards.

The course has received enthusiastic praise from reviewers. Last year Golf Week Magazine ranked us 19th among the top 100 residential courses in America.

The 17th Hole -Here is Arnie’s description “…you’ll either need a Presidential order or a member’s invitation to play it. If you do find your way onto this gorgeous link-style course, you’d better bring your ‘A’ game, especially as you step up to the tee of the 17th.

It's a beautiful 180 yarder on a thin spit of land sandwiched between the golden marshes of the Chechessee River on the right, and the spring-fed rookery on the left.”

Activities

One of the great things about nature is that it never wears you out. You can never get enough of it. Nature is the linchpin of everything we do here. It not only sets our island apart, it also sets our activities apart from those of other communities.

Walker Landing is our activities hub. It is our launch pad for excursions by bike or on foot into our moss-draped oak forests or by kayak into our creek-laced marshland. Walker Landing is also the home of the River House, our place for fine dining. The River House is also the address of our post office and our gathering room and its back patio offers a favorite rocker for watching sunsets.

Walker Landing is also the site of our swimming pool, Summer House for summer picnics and pool parties, fitness center, tennis courts, ball field, croquet lawn and volleyball court. Our Nature Center is here and our equestrian facility is just down the road. A couple of hundred yards past our main horse pasture is the Shrimp Pond, featuring shrimp in the early fall and abundant amounts of redfish and flounder all year long.

Walker Landing is about to get even more special. The membership just approved plans for a major project: the construction of a new Sports Complex. It will boast of a state-of-the-art fitness center, a lap pool, a new zero-entry swimming pool, two new Har-Tru tennis courts, a new croquet field and a magnificent side porch for relaxing and viewing.

Culture

Spring Island is secluded from the sprawl connected to nearby resort areas. One might conjecture that being apart from the action makes us somewhat forlorn. We’re too smart for that. We enjoy the arts but we’re not crazy about fighting traffic on a daily or even occasional basis, so we import our culture. We have a full schedule of cultural events and activities right here on the island.

The credit for much of these activities goes to the Spring Island Trust, which not only works to preserve the island’s pristine environment but also organizes numerous on-island events. These include classical, jazz and other musical performances, workshops for owners contemplating building a home, kids’ camps and a visiting artists program. This program entails inviting renowned artists to come here and create for a week or so. We’ll put them up in grand style and when they leave they are gracious enough to donate a work of art to our collection. This has been going on for over 10 years and our art collection has become quite impressive. Also, many of these visiting artists conduct workshops in which members, from novices to the more accomplished, can participate.

Specialists and professors in a variety of fields from photography and sculpture to native wildlife or regional history speak at weekly lectures that have become a staple of island living. And, of course, many gatherings are just for fun, whether it’s a Lowcountry crab boil, an oyster roast, a family-oriented holiday celebration or simply an evening with friends in the waterfront gazebo to watch the sun throw its last colors across the rivers and marshes.

Real Estate

Few homes exist so naturally with their surroundings as those at Spring Island, where they blend seamlessly with the virtually undisturbed forests of 150-year-old oaks that line the island’s winding roads. Set back from the roads and often invisible to passerby or neighbors, the unique and often award-winning homes at Spring Island don’t intrude into nature. Rather, they fit within it.