Spring Island: Tabby Ruins

I was visiting my brothers family on Callawassie Island last week, and got rained out when we tried to go golfing. Instead of sitting inside and waiting for the thunderstorms to pass, I drove out to nearby Spring Island. This is a private island which is adjacent to Callawassie, and was able to get out there without incident. I was amazed at the long stretches of live oak forests, and enough landscape to fill a couple of weeks of photography without getting bored. I went in search of the Tabby Ruins, which is suppose to be one of the best preserved tabby houses from 200 years ago. Tabby is a native material made of crushed oaster shells, and was one of the main building materials of its time. Back before the Civil War, Spring Island was owned by George Edwards, who made his money as the Cotton King, and was one of the richest men in the country for 50 years. I did not find the tabby ruins on my first trip driving around the island, but decided that I would need additional time to photograph anything I did find, and decided to make the trip out there the following morning. After asking the internet where to find these ruins, it turns out that they are near the clubhouse for the Old Tabby Links, which are themselves one of the more beautiful golf courses I've ever seen. It was raining when I arrived on Spring Island on the second day, and used an umbrella to start my photo session. I quickly learned that it had stopped raining, but since I was under a huge canopy of live oaks, it just kept dripping on me. I spent the next couple of hours capturing the ruins from as many different angles as I could think of with different lenses. I knew that these would make incredible HDR images, and took 6 different exposures for each shot I was looking for. Here are a couple of samples:








I'd definitely like to go back again the next time I am down there, and try to capture the ruins from my Kite Aerial Photography rig. Since I was the only one out there, it was very peaceful, and would return just to spend some more time on the grounds.

For additonal images from the Tabby Ruins on Spring Island, click here.