Botany Bay Airstrip
Wordpress' rivereagle has this story about the airstrip that was on Botany Bay Heritage Preserve (then called Greenway Plantation) in 1948:
"It has been said that, “A Lycoming radial engine ran as smooth as sipping whiskey, and sounded . . . . .well, there is no sound on earth like a round engine, up close and far away. Especially far away, when you are on the ground and the sound comes from the sky, a deep low hum. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, when I hear that radial engine sound, I freeze and search the sky. If I’m lucky, I spot the airplane moving sedately against a blue or cloudy sky, singing of flight. Even when she disappears, I close my eyes and listen to the throb of that engine. Sometimes I can feel it even after it has completely faded from view.”. So it was on that late August morning in 1948 that I began my romance with the land that is now called Botany Bay Plantation. As my cousins and I splashed in the surf of Edisto Beach, near the newly built palmetto log groin, a low rumble came along the coast from the north. A bright shining Stearman bi-plane came just overhead and the pilot’s wave from the open cockpit made us feel a huge connection with the mysterious world of flight. Who was this genial pilot and where did he come from? The answer to these questions came from the fount of Edisto knowledge, Marion H. Whaley Sr., who along with his wife Becky, operated a tin shed “store” inappropriately named “South Point Services” at the site of what is now Bay Creek Park. Marion informed us that the pilot was Dr. Greenway’s son, John Cowan Greenway Jr., who kept his plane at a private air strip on Indian Point on what was then know as Greenway Plantation.
After a bit of prodding, my father agreed to drive us out to the plantation to see the plane close up. The basic trip was a familiar one since Wilkinson’s Landing and Frampton Inlet were my Dad’s favorite fishing spot in those early years. An unfamiliar left turn at the end of the county road took us through a white board fence and gate and down the lane toward Indian Point. The woods on either side, through what was originally Sharegold Plantation, were much as they remain today, but leaving them, the land was completely open with the exception of the acreage immediately surrounding Dr. Greenway’s house, which had been built in 1940. The airstrip ran along the left of Indian Point and a small hanger was just beyond a farm gate.
James Greenway Jr. was a quiet, but pleasant, gentleman who allows us to take turns sitting in the cockpit and taking photos. My Mother asked if it would be possible for us to visit Botany Bay Beach and he readily agreed. The only stipulation was that we should record our visit in the guest register that Dr. Greenway maintained on the beach. The drive over to the beach was far different then as there were two arched white bridges that crossed the creeks. The first located at the site of the current bridge and a second that was about fifty yards south of Pockoy Island(both bridges were destroyed by Hurricane Gracie in 1959). In 1948 the road to the beach continued almost a half mile past Pockoy and the “bone-yard” of trees on the beach was a residual of what had been Botany Bay Island. The great hurricane of 1893 had taken much of the island and the hurricane of 1940 had taken the old Townsend cottages and the last of the big woods. At the end of the beach road was an oyster shell parking lot that would hold a dozen or more vehicles and a large wooded box that contained the guest register with columns for names, addresses, and comments on what fish you had caught and shells you had found."
Botany Bay Airstrip
Wordpress' rivereagle has this story about the airstrip that was on Botany Bay Heritage Preserve (then called Greenway Plantation) in 1948:
"It has been said that, “A Lycoming radial engine ran as smooth as sipping whiskey, and sounded . . . . .well, there is no sound on earth like a round engine, up close and far away. Especially far away, when you are on the ground and the sound comes from the sky, a deep low hum. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, when I hear that radial engine sound, I freeze and search the sky. If I’m lucky, I spot the airplane moving sedately against a blue or cloudy sky, singing of flight. Even when she disappears, I close my eyes and listen to the throb of that engine. Sometimes I can feel it even after it has completely faded from view.”. So it was on that late August morning in 1948 that I began my romance with the land that is now called Botany Bay Plantation. As my cousins and I splashed in the surf of Edisto Beach, near the newly built palmetto log groin, a low rumble came along the coast from the north. A bright shining Stearman bi-plane came just overhead and the pilot’s wave from the open cockpit made us feel a huge connection with the mysterious world of flight. Who was this genial pilot and where did he come from? The answer to these questions came from the fount of Edisto knowledge, Marion H. Whaley Sr., who along with his wife Becky, operated a tin shed “store” inappropriately named “South Point Services” at the site of what is now Bay Creek Park. Marion informed us that the pilot was Dr. Greenway’s son, John Cowan Greenway Jr., who kept his plane at a private air strip on Indian Point on what was then know as Greenway Plantation.
After a bit of prodding, my father agreed to drive us out to the plantation to see the plane close up. The basic trip was a familiar one since Wilkinson’s Landing and Frampton Inlet were my Dad’s favorite fishing spot in those early years. An unfamiliar left turn at the end of the county road took us through a white board fence and gate and down the lane toward Indian Point. The woods on either side, through what was originally Sharegold Plantation, were much as they remain today, but leaving them, the land was completely open with the exception of the acreage immediately surrounding Dr. Greenway’s house, which had been built in 1940. The airstrip ran along the left of Indian Point and a small hanger was just beyond a farm gate.
James Greenway Jr. was a quiet, but pleasant, gentleman who allows us to take turns sitting in the cockpit and taking photos. My Mother asked if it would be possible for us to visit Botany Bay Beach and he readily agreed. The only stipulation was that we should record our visit in the guest register that Dr. Greenway maintained on the beach. The drive over to the beach was far different then as there were two arched white bridges that crossed the creeks. The first located at the site of the current bridge and a second that was about fifty yards south of Pockoy Island(both bridges were destroyed by Hurricane Gracie in 1959). In 1948 the road to the beach continued almost a half mile past Pockoy and the “bone-yard” of trees on the beach was a residual of what had been Botany Bay Island. The great hurricane of 1893 had taken much of the island and the hurricane of 1940 had taken the old Townsend cottages and the last of the big woods. At the end of the beach road was an oyster shell parking lot that would hold a dozen or more vehicles and a large wooded box that contained the guest register with columns for names, addresses, and comments on what fish you had caught and shells you had found."