October 2021 Sun City Sun

Oct. 19, 2021 • SECTION SC Volume 24, I­ ssue 20

Barrel Landing Club: Sun City’s First 100 Buyers See pg. 4SC

Dick Roy, left, and Maria Biancheri display numbers representing their membership number for the Barrel Landing Club, composed of the first 100 purchasers of homes in Sun City Hilton Head.

PHOTO BY TOM MILLS

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Oct. 19, 2021

No. 32 and No. 35 discuss early days of living in Sun City

By Katherine Mace CONTRIBUTOR

Maria Biancheri and Dick Roy were pioneer residents in the new Sun City Hilton Head, and they are still neighbors 26 years later.

The day after Thanksgiving 1994, a temporary sales center for Sun City Hilton Head (SCHH) opened in a trailer, just inside what is now the Lake Somerset gate. According to the 2015 SunSations 20th Anniversary edition, 25 homes were sold the first day.

Dick Roy and his wife, Lorraine, came not long after. They were No. 32, and the people across the street, Joseph and Maria Pilar Biancheri, were No. 35.

Both couples moved into the Historic Village.

The Roys were from New England, and had a desire to get back to the ocean. When he retired, they moved to Hendersonville, N.C. “The first winter we had 19 inches of snow, so we decid-

TOM MILLS

TOM MILLS

No. 32 resident Dick Roy describes early living in Sun City.

No. 35 resident Maria Biancheri makes a point about the early days in Sun City.

ed to look around,” Roy said. “We read in the paper that Del Webb was going to build their first community east of the Mississippi. We bought this house off a sketch on a piece of paper. I think

we moved in Oct. 25, 1995.

“Originally, Del Webb put pine straw everywhere. There was no landscaping; and that year we had a 100-year rain,” Roy continued. “The pine straw washed

into the sewers and clogged everything up. Del Webb put a group of us up in Port Royal for about a month while they fixed things. We had a great time!”

Biancheri said her husband read about the new SCHH development in the New York Times. “Every year we would drive between Long Island and Florida,” she said. “The first time we stopped, they were digging Lake Somerset and they couldn’t show us anything.

“The following year we put a down payment. It was a rainy summer,” she said. “They gave us boots that were too big. The mud was incredible. When I took a step, the boot would stay behind – stuck. It was a jungle. We looked from the road, and the salesman pointed. ‘See that stick over there? That’s where your house will be.’”

Roy and Biancheri are both members of the Barrel Landing Club. Plaques were given to the first 100 homeowners

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Oct. 19, 2021

VETERANS DAY NOV. 11 Sun City Veterans Association has scheduled the community’s Veterans Day event at 10 a.m. Nov. 11 in the parking lot of Magnolia Hall.

Our speaker will be the former South Carolina Sen. Lewis Vaughn, a Korean War Veteran and Past National President of the Korean War Veterans Association.

This year, the event will be recognizing the service of Korean War veterans who are living in Sun City.

The event is free and open to all residents.

PIONEERS from page 4SC for exhibiting a pioneering spirit. (On the plaques, “Barrell” is spelled with two L’s. Various spellings appear in different versions of the history.)

Roy explained how it got its name.

Barges used to come up Okatie Creek to Barrel Landing (where the Goodyear tire store is). The settler-farmers brought their crops, packed in barrels. The barges then took the goods to Hilton Head Island and Savannah. This was just after the Revolutionary War. The Barrel Landing School was established between the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States.

It operated continuously until 1919.

According to Roy, “The Barrel Landing School originally stood on ground which is now the site of Sun City’s first neighborhood.”

Roy went on to describe what living in Sun City was like. “There was one grocery store, a Piggly Wiggly, in Bluffton, and a small Publix and bank on Hilton Head Island. If you needed a hardware store you had to go to Savannah. We waited anxiously for Town Square to be built, and then the Okatie golf course.”

Biancheri says that everyone knew everyone in the early days. “We were here as the buildings were built. My husband was a bike rider, and he would ride the roads and come back to tell me what was new,” she said. “I remember when they opened four tennis courts.

I learned to play tennis here, and I still play almost every day. We were Super Senior Carolina Champions in 2011.”

Roy described when the model homes were built. “I was a resident host; six

or eight of us worked part-time at the model home park where we baked cookies using dough we got from the Hilton Head Cookie Company,” he said.

“When prospective buyers came to the models, we’d serve them cookies and coffee, and talk to them, and then hand them off to the salesmen.”

When asked who closed the deal, Roy smiled and said, “Officially, the salesmen did.”

Clubs began to be formed right away.

“I was a Korean war vet, and six of us started the Veterans club,” Roy said.

“We were involved in the start-up of everything. “ There were three hobby clubs – Ceramics, All About Art, and the Sewing Club, said Biancheri. “I was the first VP of the Sewing Club. The people from Del Webb asked what we needed, and then gave us four Bernina sewing machines, and two sergers,” she said.

“These are very expensive machines and we’re still using them.

“They added the Computer Club right next to the sewing club, and put an accordion door to separate us, but apparently, we were too noisy,” Biancheri said, “because after a few months the Del Webb folks came in and built a wall!”

What is different now? Biancheri and Roy agree: “Everything!”

“We sure did feel like pioneers,” Biancheri said. “Every day was an adventure, and at the end of the day … it was a good day.”

Katherine Mace is a writer who lives in Sun City.

Oct. 19, 2021

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The Seabrook of Hilton Head Invites You to

A COMPLIMENTARY LUNCHEON PRESENTATION AND TOUR OF VILLAS Hear our panel of residents tell their Seabrook stories and provide insights into retirement living!

YOU MUST RSVP—ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED!

seating available for up to 20 guests.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 LUNCH AT 1:00 PM Masks are required except when eating

tours to follow lunch and presentation learn how you can “live the seabrook life” before you sell your home!

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Oct. 19, 2021

Procrastinating while moving a chair, many discoveries arise

By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR

I have achieved PhD-level procrastination!

I decided I needed to swap out the office chair I have been using since we moved here for the one I was given by my neighbor after her husband died. I had put it in the guest room for guests to use, thinking mine was good for the long haul.

But I have decided it is not helping my back, as much as I use it. I recently I decided I should make the switch now, because I have a lot to write about.

However, moving the one chair out of the office into the guest room meant removing 497 pounds of cat hair because the cats, especially Miss Tigger in recent years, have slept on it.

Well, that wasn’t going to work because as much as I brushed, scraped and used all the cat hair tools, there is still about half a cat in the fabric that is not budging. Surprise, surprise!

I can’t put it in the guest room where my sister stays because she has cat allergies, albeit under control (plant allergies not so much). So that meant taking down the folding chair that I had set up next to the guitar

that I haven’t played in a long while. (I did resist both tuning and dusting said guitar.)

Then I decided I needed to fill the hole occupied by the guest chair, which meant thinking of moving and stacking the tea box and the great-grandmom’s little Welsh trunk … which meant I then had to look inside of said trunks, especially the great-grandmom’s, because that would be on the bottom of a stack.

And that meant wondering who on earth would want all the little tidy boxes of hand-

kerchiefs, all of the parachute silk my dad brought back, and should I still keep my brother’s rubber Davey Crocket toy?

That was the great-grandmom’s trunk where my dads WWII uniform is also, and his Legion hats.

Then I looked in the tea box I brought back from Japan (think slightly smaller wooden, metal-lined trunk – literally stored tea – and I was soon sorting through a pile of cloth material.

If I had gone to the bottom, I would still be there. So I put that on top of the great-grandmom’s trunk set catty-cornered in the corner, and then put the antique washbowl full of guest-needs items on the top, all of my dubious paint-and-pour paintings behind them and then realized I had a big empty space (God forbid!) under the windows.

So I then decided I needed to move the folding end table that had been in the corner of my office between the piano and the music bookcase into the guest room. Which meant I had to empty that of the huge basket of greeting cards, a box of envelopes (thank you, Nancy), a large ceramic Santa head bowl, and a short stack of pictures and frames that need some TLC or SOMEthing!

Now the end table is in the guest room, the guest-needs washbowl is on top of it, the thick winter fleece is on top of the tea box, the decorative pillows are back on the bed, the stuff I need to restuff the couch (still a future project) is on the guest bed until I have guests again, the basket of cards is on top of a large Walker’s Shortbread tin full of tchotchkes – on top of which is a straw box from Harrods that came in a gift basket from my sister-in-law several years ago that is full of photos yet to be sorted and the Santa head is on the floor waiting for a cat to occupy it.

Miss Tigger is in the guest room, the old office chair is in the guitar corner, I am sitting in the new old office chair and I am exhausted!

Gwyneth J. Saunders is a veteran journalist and freelance writer living in Bluffton.

My husband is mesmerized by a voice in the other room

By Chris Roosa CONTRIBUTOR

My husband of 57 years brought another female into our home. She’s intelligent. She is engorged with volumes of information.

She only speaks when spoken to, unlike me. And she has her youth. How am I supposed to compete?

I’m normally not a jealous person. But I think what upset me the most is that the man of the house secretly brought this character into my life without any forewarning.

My husband has always been a quiet man, a man of few words. So it was a stab to my pride when SHE entered my domain. And to make matters worse, he also brought her five sisters.

He never asked me my opinion, nor did he seek my approval. It simply was never

discussed. They just appeared ... one by one – a female in every room of my home and another spy in the garage.

At night, I hear him softly speaking to her before he turns off his lights. Again, first thing in the morning, he has a conversation with her before he even thinks of speaking to me, his wife of 67 years or so it seems.

Her name is Alexa, all six of them.

She turns the lights on, she turns the lights off. She gives him daily weather reports. She can even instruct him on how to cook. She has an answer to his every question.

She’s not just in the house – she also is hooked up to our phone line. The phone rings and Alexa begins screaming out, “Debbie Downer is calling, Debbie Downer is calling.” Even when I pick up the phone, she’s still barking out the caller’s name.

Obviously, the caller wonders who is yell-

ing in the background. I then have to explain that it’s my husband’s “other woman” living in our house – his toy bride. All this after what seems like 77 years of marriage.

If UPS or Amazon makes a delivery, the broad will inform us of the arrival. For Amazon, she will even open the garage door so the package can be left inside rather than on the porch.

Our house is now overrun with devices trying to make our life easier.

I walked into the kitchen and heard beeping. Checked the oven alarm. No! Checked the dishwasher. No! Went to the refrigerator and found the source. The door was ajar.

When I mentioned to the resident male that he left the fridge open, of course he assured me it wasn’t him. I had just come home from running errands, so I knew I was not the culprit. So, he determined it

was the 6-pound dog!

Now, after 87 years of wedded bliss, or so it seems, our world is being run by digital devices and technology. I have a hard enough time turning on a vacuum cleaner, so you can imagine how difficult all this tech stuff is for a person of my age.

I can’t even figure out which end my chip is on when running my credit card through the machine. Nor can I operate a cell phone. My mind is just not wired for these new-fangled devices.

It used to be, when we couldn’t figure out the remote for the television or what’s wrong with my iPad, I’d just borrow a neighbor’s 4-year-old grandchild to fix it.

Now, my life has been simplified. Now, he has Alexa.

Chris Roosa is a resident of Sun City Hilton Head.

Oct. 19, 2021

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Oct. 19, 2021

Is the grass really greener in a manicured lawn?

By David W. Smith CONTRIBUTOR

Many consider lawns to be a European invention. Some of the earliest lawns were the grasslands around medieval castles in France and Britain, kept clear of trees for an unobstructed view of approaching enemies.

Grazing sheep and cattle served as hooved lawn mowers, keeping the grass cropped and fertilized, truly organic.

Closely cut grass lawns first appeared in 17th century England at the homes of the aristocracy. Landowners began to depend on human labor to tend the grass closest to their homes. Only the rich could afford the help needed to scythe and weed the grass.

Lawns became a feature of most American plantations, including Mount Vernon and Monticello, where sheep and slaves maintained them.

The advent of the push mower allowed lawns to begin appearing in more homes in the late 1800s. With no practical value, lawns continued to be had primarily by the

UN DE RC ON TR

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This quarter mile of lawn that few people will ever see is opposite the nature trail.

wealthy throughout the early 20th century.

That began to change after World War II with the availability of affordable government-sponsored home loans and the suburban boom. Developments such as Levittown not only included lawns and landscaping with their new homes, but stressed the importance of proper upkeep.

Lawns and their acceptable appearance have become nearly synonymous with home ownership. Much time and expense are dedicated to lawncare.

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American homeowners have long strived to make their lawns brighter, lusher and more weed-free than their neighbors’ yards.

This competition has a devastating environmental impact.

Every year across the country, lawns consume nearly 3 trillion gallons of water and more than 70 million pounds of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

Herbicides damage the soil, increasing the need for more fertilizer to maintain the coveted green. Pesticides poison far more

than their targeted pests. Runoff from overwatering and rain carry the excess chemicals into our waterways, leading to numerous problems.

More than 200 million gallons of gasoline are burned annually to fuel the machinery needed to maintain the acceptable appearance demanded by our culture. These noise-polluting machines are major contributors to air-pollution and the climate crisis.

Turfgrass is the single largest crop in the United States, yet no living thing is sustained by it. Beyond providing a playing surface for a variety of sports, its only function is aesthetic.

Wouldn’t replacing some of our lawn with native wildflowers and grasses make sense?

Native plants, once established, require no artificial maintenance.

Eliminating lawns would save time and money while contributing to a healthier and more diverse ecosystem.

David W. Smith is a member of the Environmental Action Group of Sun City Hilton Head.

Oct. 19, 2021

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Rick Malon Owner/Broker (843) 338-1360

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