WINTER 2012

2011 Highlights

Last year was full of memorable headlines. The Packers won Superbowl XLV, a Royal Wedding captivated millions of viewers and we said goodbye to Steve Jobs. The President announced the end of Osama bin Laden and the war in Iraq, and we witnessed the end of a 30-year shuttle program with the Atlantis mission. One less publicized headline, reported by MSNBC, was that American's gave nearly $347 billion to charity.

Here is just a sampling of our own highlights from last year. The Spring Island community is looking forward to a great year ahead!

Spring Island members welcomed General Manager Tom Noyes in the summer of 2011. He has been extremely well received by members and staff for his wealth of knowledge, his strong leadership and his willingness to roll up his sleeves. Noyes is known around the island for "jumping in" and it isn't uncommon to spot him at the River House on a Friday night helping the staff serve dinner to members and their guests. When asked to compare his initial impression of Spring Island now that he’s been here for six months, Noyes said he is even more convinced of just how truly remarkable this community really is. "I have to pinch myself every day in wonderment at the good fortune of all of us who live and work at Spring Island," said Noyes.

A gallery of supporters comprised of members and staff  followed Sampson throughout the last 9 holes, enabling him to finish strong with birdies on #17 and #18 in front of his cheering fans.

Bill Sampson, Spring Island's Director of Golf, played a total of 144 holes and made 15 birdies in the process for Patriot Golf Day last September. As a result, close to $30,000 was raised and proceeds went to the Folds of Honor Foundation, an organization which provides post-secondary educational scholarships for children and spouses of military service men and women killed or disabled while serving their country.

The contemporary waterfront home at 15 Trading Post Trail offers a unique combination of stunning views, a deepwater dock and a location conveniently within walking distance of the Club’s amenities. The two-story home sits high above Chechessee Creek and looks out across an ever changing salt marsh.

The centerpiece of the home is a two-story living room. Floor to ceiling glass floods the room with light filtered by a majestic Live Oak and provides unparalleled views of the river and the marsh. An adjoining kitchen and dining room are related to the living area by a fireplace open on three sides. Also on the main floor are the pantry, laundry and office with his and her computer workstations. On the view side of the home, there is a beautiful screened porch with a built in grill and a fireplace which makes the space inviting year round.

The attention to detail and quality of materials used throughout the home such as Italian limestone flooring, maple and black walnut woodwork and special lighting all contribute a feeling of richness. An open stairway to the second floor features glass treads bounded by black walnut. The second floor contains the master bedroom and bath, guest bedroom and a media room which shares a porch with the master bedroom.

Near the entry to the home, there is a two-story carport and garage with a comfortable, private guest suite above. The Thomas Angel designed landscaping blends seamlessly into the natural environment creating a tranquil setting for this exceptional home.

"The Biting of the Shrew"

I felt a sting on the tip of my finger and at first I could not figure out what had poked, bitten or stung me. Closer inspection revealed a small silvery mammal racing around the bottom of the drift fence bucket (a pitfall trap used for animal surveys). I quickly realized that a shrew had latched on to me, presumably to protect itself. It took a minute to sink in; I had actually been bitten by one of only a couple venomous mammals in the whole world. My finger turned red on the end and ached mildly for a few days but it was totally worth it!

Many people don’t realize that our yards and woods are home to miniscule venomous mammals called shrews. Shrews belong to a family of small mammals called insectivores. This large family also includes moles and hedgehogs. One member of the shrew family, the Etruscan shrew, has the distinction of being the world’s smallest mammal. It weighs only about two grams (less than a penny). The much larger short-tailed shrew (about half the size of a mouse) is a common resident of vacant lots and wooded areas in the lowcountry. There is a good chance that your cat or dog has excavated a shrew tunnel and left the carcass on your doorstep. Shrews secrete a musky odor and apparently have a foul taste so they are often killed but rarely eaten by domestic pets.

Don’t let the short-tailed shrew’s small size fool you. These tiny insectivores are voracious predators, attacking animals much larger than themselves and subduing them with toxic saliva. Venom is the shrew’s meal ticket, allowing it to immobilize insects, worms, frogs, salamanders and small mammals for eating. Shrews often find food using echolocation, a similar system to that used by bats. They send out a series of clicks and chirps through underground tunnels and listen for returning echoes that allow them to differentiate between food and non-edible material. Some shrews will capture and ingest two to three times their body weight in a single day. Shrews owe their insatiable appetites to their spectacular metabolisms. A short-tailed shrew’s resting heart rate can be 800 beats per minute and a relaxing shrew may breathe 168 times in 60 seconds. Shrews often prepare for lean times by caching a selection of snails, worms and beetles and even small snakes to insure ample food supplies for the winter.

Short-tailed shrews mate in any season and females often have three or more litters of 5-7 pups per year. The young shrews are weaned and leave the nest within a month of birth. They may live as long as three years but usually don’t survive past the first. Shrews are intolerant of each other, except during breeding, and will fight and even kill each other in territorial disputes.

Because shrews are very abundant and eat large quantities of invertebrates they are considered beneficial. They feed on a variety of harmful insect species like mole crickets and other pests. It is very unlikely that a person would be harmed by a shrew unless they tried to pick it up. So, while it was pretty silly for me to put my hand in a pitfall trap before looking inside, I feel kind of lucky to have been bitten by the only venomous mammal in this hemisphere.

A visit to Spring Island can be arranged through Spring Island Realty. We recommend a three-day, two-night visit which is available at a special rate of $399 and includes accommodations and access to club amenities. Club dining and personal services are available at members’ rates. To arrange your visit, please call us toll free at (866) 740-0400 or contact us via email at info@springisland.com.