Cherry Point

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This is Cherry Point Seafood Company on Wadmalaw Island, SC. It's an old family business on old family land. The shrimp trawlers pay Cherry Point for dockage, ice and fuel. Many are transient boats which depend upon such facilities for support during the shrimping season. There is a sorting room with packing and storage accommodations available to them. There is also a huge icemaking machine on top of the building as shrimpers must ice down their catches since spoilage happens quickly to neglected shrimp.

This is a cozy spot with a very rustic appearance though quite clean where necessary. The tempo is informal and relaxed. The building is functional, but there is no window dressing. The fellow who owns the property and runs the operation is an island native and frequent missionary to destitute Latin communities. We have no idea what this business brings him because he lives a sample life of modest consumption and isn't a bragging sort. He is the kind of neighbor his neighbors like.

It takes no professional appraiser to quickly see the colossal development potential. Our friend doesn't want the millions he could make on the sale. He likes the life he has and his property the way it is. He's wise enough to know that once he cashes out of this place, the game's up. A lot of Wadmalaw Island's waterfront acreage is preserved in similar fashion for which we're grateful. Few like minded landowners are young folks. We worry a bit about what is ahead when ownership and attitudes might change. What will become of such places?