postandcourier.com
This family is preserving nearly 3,500 acres of coastal Georgetown County. It's a long tradition.
GEORGETOWN — Matt Balding and Dawn Pate remember an old way of life at the beach. They played flashlight tag out on the wild dunes, chased ghost crabs and feasted at fish fries on their family's stretch of land on the Waccamaw Neck. "This has always been home to us," Balding said. "Whether it's me riding around the woods, young in my Jeep, or her riding her horses through the woods, we both have a very strong affection for the property." Coastal Georgetown County has seen a lot of change over the years, with new developments replacing natural landscapes. But a 3,492-acre view of that past is set to be preserved forever as the S.C. Department of Natural Resources prepares to acquire part of this estate. It is not the family's first effort to protect the coastal haven that has been under its stewardship for 120 years. The DeBordieu Colony and Prince George communities sitting on the northern and southern boundaries of the undeveloped parcel were once part of the estate. The Arcadia East tract, as it is called, has been zoned for a massive development for years. While the families have met with developers and discussed joint ventures in...
