On the first Friday in March, owners gathered for the 2nd Annual Brays Island Pointing Dog Classic in conjunction with a NASTRA sanctioned event over the weekend. Twenty owners ran their dogs in competition with points given for points, backs, kills and retrieves. The sanctioned two day event had some thirty-five entrants. Perfect weather combined with hard flying quail to create a great event.
Waiting my turn.
The judge.
Game on.
The point.
The flush.
Success.
The flushing dog owners, feeling left out, held a competition the next week. There were fifteen entrants for this flush shoot and retrieve with pheasant as the quarry. Brays will do this again next season as dogs are a critical part of life at this sporting Plantation.
I'm next.
The judge.
When's my turn?
The flush.
My shot!
Do you want this?
The winner.
All photographs are courtesy of Nancy Whitehead. More of her work can be seen at her website. www.nancywhitehead.com
Mark and Hope Ingram recently were trout fishing in Patagonia near San Martin.
Mark and his son Max have an annual trip to Argentina for bird hunting and dorado fishing. This father and son trip, for 12 years now, includes many Brays owners and their sons. Estancia Cortaderas offers the “big five”, duck, dove, perdiz pigeons and golden dorado.
The Sixth Annual Brays Island Outdoor & Shooting Exposition was held last weekend under crystal blue skies and ideal temperatures. For sport we had a pigeon ring, partner five stand competion and one hundred bird fun shoot on the sporting clays course.
Seminars include Chris Batha on over and unders versus side by sides, Marty Fischer on wing shooting and a fly casting seminar by Bay Street Outfitters of Beaufort. Jim Arnold, the Brays Island shooting pro, held a ladies five stand clinic attended by some forty women shooters.
Sunday featured a demonstration of upland and waterfowl hunting with English Cocker and Springer Spaniels. The handlers, from Horseshoe and DeeDot Plantations, also had puppies for sale.
Over thirty exhibitors offered everything from art work to clothing to both classic and new shotguns and shooting accessories. A highlight of the show was master engraver, Mario Volpi, creating a quail scene on a sidelock during the three days.
If you were able to attend, we hope you enjoyed yourself. If you could not make it, rest assured we will work diligently to help you become an owner at Brays before next year’s show.
In a prior newsletter we mentioned that the waters around Brays were warming and the fishing was picking up. All these fish came from ponds fed by tidal creeks on Brays Island. They were all released to grow even bigger.
"A true sportman's haven, Brays Island is to the outdoorsman what the Louvre is to the artist. It offers some of the most beautiful scenery, quality hunting and prolific fishing this country has to offer, completely unspoiled by development or commercialism." - Charlotte Magazine
"More thought and planning went into designing Brays Island than any other place I've seen on the Southeastern coast. It looks and feels a little like paradise as described in the book of 'Genesis'." - Pat Conroy, Author of "Prince of Tides"
For the 6th year the
If you can come to this wonderful three day event contact us at Brays Island Realty for a reservation. Accommodations on site will fill quickly so don’t delay!
Brays Island occupies a unique and enviable location in the South Carolina Lowcountry. We own 5,500 acres and control through a long term lease another 1,000 acres on our northern border. Our western border is the Pocotaligo River. Across the river is a 7,000 acre Plantation with a permanent conservation easement which allows only two homes on the property. To the south is the Broad River leading into Port Royal Sound.
We are on the western edge of the Ace Basin, 400,000 acres of mostly undeveloped coastal land on the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers, some 200,000 acres of which are private land placed under conservation easements by individual owners.
Yet, with all this protected open space Brays Island is close to three of the most historic cities in the Lowcountry. Beaufort is twenty minutes away, Savannah and Charleston are each forty-five miles from our front entrance.
Nowhere else will you find such a protected property with easy access to shopping, fine dining and historic cities! There is no equal to Brays Island. Come and see for yourself.
The week after Thanksgiving, three members of Brays Island with three friends journeyed by sea plane from Nassau to Andros Island for a week of fly fishing for bone fish, permit and tarpon. The next week, another group from Brays took the same trip. This is the land of giants, with many double digit bone fish landed. We all raved about the lodge and the fishing. As a result, many more owners at Brays will be visiting this lodge. There is always room for one more.
Isn't this a group of folks that you would like to have as your friends?
Eight couples from Brays Island Plantation traveled to Cornwall for driven pheasants. This is a trip organized by a Brays owner who invites different neighbors from Brays each year. No doubt a great time was had by all.
The Garcia-Valez family is one of many young families who have recently bought at Brays Island Plantation - giving their children a wonderful alternative to city life where they have their primary home. We are very happy to have them here and to see youngsters like Cali, Jr., putting their newly acquired outdoor skills to the test.
Congratulations to all the teams that participated.
Sumner was a rancher in Cuba. When Castro ousted Batista in 1959, Raul Castro knocked on Sumner's door and escorted him off the Island. Sumner came to the Lowcountry and bought Brays in 1963. After twenty-five years of farming, Sumner created this outdoor sporting community for the 325 owners.
We are indebted to Sumner for his vision in preserving the Lowcountry Plantation with the 3,500 acre hunting and wildlife preserve and all the other amenities. We thank him for his vision every day.
Where else is the developer of a community a permanent resident and so admired?
Brays Island was first discovered in 1663 by William Hilton, for whom Hilton Head was named. William Bray, an Indian trader with the Yemassee Indians, settled on the island in the 1690's and gave the island his name. In the 18th and 19th centuries cotton and rice were the staples. After the area was ravished by Sherman the property went through several different owners until it was purchased by Mr. Davis as a farm and hunting retreat.
The next era for Brays begins in 1963, when Sumner Pingree purchased the Plantation from the Davis estate and began a farming operation which lasted for 25 years, until the late 1980's when his love of the property led him to create a community for 325 owners to share a traditional Lowcountry Plantation lifestyle. He set aside 3,500 acres as a wildlife and hunting preserve for dove, quail, deer, duck and turkey. He built a shooting sports center designed by Holland & Holland and an equestrian center with some 60 miles of trails and sand roads. He converted the old Plantation home and an adjacent carriage house into a 13 room Inn for owners and their guests and he provided the obligatory concessions to modernity including an 18 hole golf course, tennis courts and a fitness center with indoor and outdoor pools. Located on a tributary of the Broad River, the property provides boating access and superb fishing in Port Royal Sound and the Atlantic. Sumner is a beloved member at Brays and lives on the Plantation -- a unique accolade for a developer in today's world.
In 1998 the Plantation was turned over to the home owners, debt free with all amenities completed and operational. Since then the Homeowners' Association has operated the Plantation for the benefit of the owners.
By 2007, all 325 properties were individually owned and sales were of resale properties. Brays is in top financial shape with over $3 million in readily available cash for capital and operational purposes. We have a segregated fund for marketing Brays Island Plantation with a current balance adequate for four years of marketing expenses. This means a purchaser of land or a home is guaranteed there will be buyers available in the future if there is a need to sell.
We are a mature community, with some 200 completed homes. Purchase of property at Brays is the only way to become a member and the only requirement. There is no club to join. All owners have equal and unfettered access to all the amenities.
In the current economic environment many developers, who rely solely on property sales to fund debt repayment, operating subsidies and marketing are suffering. Brays Island is entirely owned by the Homeowners' Association, is debt free and in control of our own destiny. This ensures that your choice of Brays Island is a safe and secure investment for your future.
