Pioneering residents reflect on 30th anniversary of Daniel Island

Imagine a Daniel Island with no Publix. No Bishop England High School or Daniel Island School. No Daniel Island Park, Pierce Park Pool, or Crow’s Nest. No exits to or from I-526. No street lights, no bustling commercial center, or Credit One Stadium. 

That was the landscape the first residents of Daniel Island’s modern-day community found when they set down roots here 30 years ago this month. As those early homes took shape in Codner’s Ferry Park and Etiwan Park in the fall of 1996, there was still cotton growing in nearby fields. Plentiful wildlife roamed the land and there was only one way on and off the island – via Clements Ferry Road and Thomas Island Drive (unless you came by boat). The island’s initial residents didn’t even have phone lines when they first moved in and had to rely solely on mobile service. 

Joan Vitalo and her late husband, Al, moved into the eighth home built on the island in November of 1996. 

“The feel of the landscape was wild and wonderful, with marshes, creeks, riverfront, wildlife,” Vitalo recalled. “Only dirt roads, a cotton plant in my lot, some huge live oaks … and the plan for an island town.” 

John and Linda Schunck, the first to settle into a new home in Etiwan Park, recalled those pioneering days in a 2006 article in The Daniel Island News. 

"Brady Street was about a block long and they were framing some houses and everything else on the island was just woods," Linda Schunck said. “Our [real estate agent] said, ‘We’re going to have our sales center, and we’re going to have a school, and we’re going to have parks,’ and we’d look around and go, ‘I don’t see anything but woods and fields.’ It was just amazing.” 

"You can’t imagine now, but the darkness was just incredible," added John Schunck. "I would call the City of Charleston every day and ask if they were gonna put a street light out here, and they’d say they didn’t know because there weren’t many houses out here yet.” 

Once there were about four or five homes on the street, the Schuncks got the light they had been lobbying for. 

"We all stood around the light,” Linda Schunck said. “And when it came on, we just applauded because we were so happy!"  

TURKEYS, DEER, AND RETURNED MAIL  

Mac and Linda McBride built a house in the Codner’s Ferry neighborhood on Beresford Creek Street and moved in just before Christmas in 1997.  

“At that time, very few of the roads were even paved on the island,” Mac McBride said. “On our street were only about four houses that were either completed or under construction. And the road was only paved in front of those houses. The island was still pretty wild and when we rode our bikes over to what is now Daniel Island Park, we would often see wild turkeys and deer roaming freely.” 

There was also some early confusion about jurisdictions on the island.  

“We had a Wando address instead of the City of Charleston,” Mac McBride noted. “We had a Mount Pleasant phone exchange and a North Charleston post office. Quite often our mail would be returned as undeliverable.” 

McBride was instrumental in helping to form the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association in 1998, serving as its first president.  

“It turned out to be a very important voice for the community,” he said. 

In 1998, Kay Uhler and her late husband, Bob, moved to the island from California. They built the 70th home here, at 158 Brady Street.  

“There were a lot of undeveloped areas on the island with beautiful views and lots of wildlife,” said Uhler, who now lives in Daniel Island’s Claremont apartment community. “It was exciting to watch the growth and development on the island with new homes, restaurants, and expanding businesses.” 

'EVERYBODY KNEW EACH OTHER' 

Barb and Walt Jenner arrived in 2000, relocating from the Hudson Valley in New York.  

“We were the 250th house built on the Island,” Walt Jenner said. “No downtown was built yet.” 

One of their fondest memories over the years was the island’s first social club – TGIFF (Thank Goodness It’s First Friday). A resident would volunteer to host and everyone would bring a dish to share. 

“It was a wonderful way to meet and make friendships in our new community,” Barb Jenner said.  

Charleston natives Susanne and Benji Dandridge returned to the Holy City from Atlanta in 1999 and joined the Daniel Island community. 

“When we moved here, Daniel Island was a very small community in the Codner’s Ferry area,” Susanne Dandridge noted. “Everybody knew each other at that time. We took turns hosting ‘Supper 8’ at our homes and had monthly gatherings. Gatherings at the Hampton Inn were always fun as well.” 

One of Dandridge’s most memorable moments from those early years was the opening of Tecklenburg’s Cafe, a small general store owned and operated by former Mayor John Tecklenburg, in the space now occupied by Ristorante LIDI. He had a piano in the store that he would play, and customers would gather around to sing, Dandridge recalled. Special visitors, such as the late master blacksmith Philip Simmons, a Daniel Island native, used to pop in as well. 

ON TURNING 30-SOMETHING 

And now, three decades later, memories of days gone by remain fresh for those who still call the island home.  

“Today," Vitalo said, "Daniel Island is still evolving, being developed, and also fully developed into a community of families and individuals who live, work, play, dine, shop, worship in a special island town!” 

“I still love the island,” Susanne Dandridge said. “But I’m disappointed in the overgrowth. I feel there are far too many apartments, townhouses, and condos being built, causing it to be overcrowded. It takes away that small-town feel that we had when we first moved here.” 

“Always happy to exit onto Daniel Island and know we live in a great neighborhood where we know our neighbors,” Barb Jenner said. “It is still a community that offers an oasis in a growing tri-county area. Much of the beautiful natural surroundings have been maintained for all to enjoy."