The year of uncertainty that we are climbing out of right now was merely a blip in the radar of the Sea Pines Resort.

Morbi vitae purus dictum, ultrices tellus in, gravida lectus.

We’ve been their neighbor for more than 30 of the 50-plus years that the resort has seen through thick and thin. From our perspective, the investment of confidence that they bring to the neighborhood has never been stronger.

Our location here, in the middle of the “Miracle Mile,” was part of the plan when Sea Pines founder Charles Fraser envisioned a world-class resort on this quiet, historic sea island. The influence of his ideas was so profound that they are all but taken for granted today, in the way resorts are developed. In that impact, we lose sight of how remarkable his approach really was.

The genius behind the Sea Pines Resort touches us here at Sea Pines Center, not only in where The Center was placed, but also in how it was composed, embracing a sunny plaza – a place where people enjoy encountering each other in the pleasure of our subtropical days. The Sea Pines Resort was intended from the beginning to include the comfort of convenience, and The Shops at Sea Pines Center is an example of that intention come to life.

Endurance by Design

This insight of combining elegance and access, evident throughout the Sea Pines Resort, is an example of what the world’s leading designers call “considerate design.” Today, good design is not for show, they say. “The old luxury” is what designers call the plush, overstuffed look of privilege seen in times past. The idea today is that design features reflect how carefully our needs and desires were considered.

The insights of knowing where something should be placed so it will come to hand easily, of understanding what we will want, and when, of anticipating what we will enjoy – this is the essence of considerate design. We are fortunate to have it built into The Shops at Sea Pines Center, and to be surrounded by a masterpiece of this influence in the Sea Pines Resort.

The Extraordinary Story of the Sea Pines Resort

The founder’s father saw Hilton Head Island as a profitable stand of timber. After graduating Yale Law, Charles Fraser toured popular and prestigious gathering places all along the East Coast, looking for the answer to what attracts people to their favorite places. He sampled some settings in Europe for the perspective of the past. Considering his itinerary, the obvious answer would have been “water” or “coastline.” But Fraser saw it a little differently. He concluded that people’s preferences in resorts had a lot to do with trees.

Preserving the shade, the silhouettes, and the wind songs of the spruce, the loblolly, and the long-leaf pine, the stately stance of the Spanish moss-draped live oaks; saving this beauty for the people he knew would come became essential to the animating mission of the Sea Pines founder. In pursuing this vision to what we see around us today in the Sea Pines Resort, Fraser overcame the inertia of old ideas and the hesitance of new investment as he patiently put together the paradise we see around us today.

Although the Ocean Course was opened in 1960, the story goes that our walking and biking trails got here before golf. Expedient, perhaps, as trails are a low-capital feature. Less obvious is the foresight that exercise would be part of a fortunate vacation in times to come. Remember that in 1957, when the first Sea Pines lot was sold, the generation that had grown up through the Depression and survived World War II considered sitting still to be one of life’s greatest luxuries. As we watch couples and families traversing the trails today, we might recall that this kind of enjoyment was visionary in the beginning.

Harbour Town took shape in 1967, the world-famous Harbour Town Golf Links was designed and built by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye in 1968, and it opened just in time to host the first Heritage Classic golf tournament in 1969. A home movie of the first Heritage Classic trophy award ceremony shows the lighthouse topped out, but not yet enclosed. Someone said the tall, bare framework looked like a little boy coming downstairs in pajamas and wearing a conical hat. From modest beginnings, the clarity of the vision and the persistence of its pursuit led, at last, to the Sea Pines Resort that we are so fortunate to live amidst today.

The High Standards of Experience

The people who settled in Sea Pines had seen a thing or two. Whether as a permanent home, a seasonal residence, or a vacation residence, Sea Pines owners self-selected from among people whose careers had afforded them options. “A lot of people who could have lived anywhere chose to live right here,” one of the early real estate professionals recalled.

With these experienced residents came some high standards, born from having sampled the best. Their preferences, and the ways that sustain those preferences, became the ways of life reflected today in the Sea Pines Resort. It’s not a flashy kind of wealth, but rather a sense of prosperity based on wisdom and awareness. The gentleness and good judgement that abound here make for good company.

We are fortunate, indeed, to have been part of this story, here in The Shops at Sea Pines Center. From time to time, we hear someone refer to The Center as the essence of those Sea Pines ways. We consider this the highest compliment and a benchmark we strive to live up to continually. Please join us here to enjoy this rare sense, and to help us pass it on.