Travel magazine Conde Nast recently published its 20th Annual Readers Survey results in which Charleston, our neighbor to the south, ranked 3rd best US city. I’m sure “The Holy City” holds many other trophies in her case. It is a beautiful city, but its also expensive, crowded, and has a high crime rate. I think buyers looking for the quaint southern experience they hear that Charleston offers, end up buying into the lies of many developers and find themselves living in an area that wasn’t what they had envisioned, because they are led to believe that that place doesn’t exist. South Carolina is a great place to live! Like our slogan “Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places”, says we have a warm tropical climate, friendly people, and also a lower cost of living. Charleston, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and Summerville are expanding at an alarming rate though. Developers are all racing for new home buyers dollars, but nobody is thinking about infrastructure, education, and what effect this all has on the environment. The pristine coastal waterways and forests which used to be the areas strongest asset are being stressed and exploited.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I must admit that I do get a little tired of ad after ad for developments in Lowcountry with eye catching pictures and poetic descriptions of pristine waterfront views of beaches and marshes, quaint examples of Southern hospitality, breathtaking glimpses down an oak-lined roads, graceful historic homes, and friends and family joined together on the ends of docks in candid poses. I get tired of it all because it rarely matches the advertised product. Most of the pictures used arent even taken at or near the developments but are suppose to match “the type of lifestyle that people living here could experience”.
I’m proud to say that the pictures used on this website were taken in McClellanville (probably by myself or my uncle, Billy Baldwin, who contributed many including the one of the sunset used here). I try to paint an accurate portrait of McClellanville living and give people an honest view of the town. I don’t want people to read my posts and then come here and be disappointed, I want them to say, “Wow, why didn’t he mention how great ___ was too”. I do include beautiful pictures and poetic speech in my ads, but I hope you find it to be true.
