Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

 My friends Ronni and Ken live in a stylish planned community called I'on in Mount Pleasant, S.C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27On,_Mount_Pleasant,_South_Carolina 

Each house is different but there is a continuity of features among them.  For example,  from the many choices of design, one needs to have a front porch of not less than eight feet in depth,  floor heights of about 3.1 meters and raised foundations.  Most houses are two stories high on smallish lots which gives the community a compact, vertical feel.   There are sidewalks,  green trails and spaces for all to enjoy.  Among special features of the community are the narrowish streets.  You might have to pull over to let another car pass.  This is to prevent speeding, encourage garage parking and gives the feeling of intimacy to the neighborhood.   

The community, though young, is already extensive with resident businesses, churches and a school of about 150 students included in the plan.  Many of the houses are but 12 years of age but the maturity of the trees gives the place a feeling of an older community.  It is so very lovely. 

A communal seating looking over the marshes on the trail in back of the house. 

Ken relaxes on the pier closest the house.  This is where he greets the morning each day. 

The area is home to all the fauna of a great marsh.

The trail in back of the house

Some back yards face the marsh and the trail.

There are boat piers, others only for lingering

The front yard of a lovely old Southern style home

Ronni in her classy "décapotable"

A typical  Southern style house would have the sleeping porch facing the water for the cool breeze.  This is a new "old" style house in the community of I'on.

Large houses on the lake are not as large as many of the seafront houses I saw in Charleston.

Wild ducks and bird life abound even on the man-made lakes

This was the only one story house I saw in I'on and quite charming it is.  

And this is Ken and Ronni's well proportioned two story house.  It has three large bedrooms, a study and a half, two dens, a kitchen/dining area and a half width back porch.   I adored staying here. 

And this is the Jack O Lantern I carved for the porch.  We had perhaps 25" trick or treaters".