Outdoor life lures city slickers to Brays Island.

Brays Island Plantation in South Carolina is not your typical homeowners association. With 311 homesites on 5,200 acres, the residents have plenty to boast about.

Located near the gentle Southern town of Beaufort, as well as the touristy, ocean-front Hilton Head, the plantation is a quiet respite from the world. Brays Island reflects the casual elegance and appreciation of outdoor sports by its upscale residents, who have located here from two dozen states and Canada.

Early this year, 40 of the homeowners formed the Shelbray Group and purchased the remaining 195 one-acre lots from the sponsor, Sumner Pingree in an $7.7 million no-debt all equity deal.

Since that time, the homeowners have upgraded the premises, constructed a modern hunting lodge, spruced up the snowy white golf club, are planning to build a huge boat storage facility and have restored the main mansion that acts as a guest house and dining hall for the residents.

They have also opened the premises up to a limited number of resort visitors, hoping the Brays magic will have time to work and the visitors will be charmed into becoming owners.

At Brays Island, the indoor and outdoor pools overlooking the Pocotaligo River are usually deserted, as are the HarTru tennis courts. A Scottish-links style golf course wends it's way through the natural rolling landscape and is an early morning attraction, along with serving as a lunch spot. But it is never crowded.

It's not that the homeowners don't like to play tennis, swim or over-indulge their golf game, it's that the 1,500 acres plus of hunting preserve, the 3,500 acres of wildlife sanctuary, the excellent fly fishing and the equestrian areas are what the members adore.

"You can play golf and tennis and swim anywhere," says one member, who asked not to be identified. "But here, I can hunt quail with the dogs on foot or on horses, round up a group for a dove hunt, and shoot trap and skeet or the sporting clays courses. Another day my wife and I can fly-fish for largemouth bass or tarpon or catch shrimp from the dock and cook them for dinner. I can't do any of those as easily by my other homes."

Residents often have one or two homes elsewhere. While less than a dozen people have moved to the sprawling plantation full-time, more members are on the way and million dollar homes are sprouting on high ground around the marshes and bird preserves.

Dick Sturgis, a California real estate executive and his wife, Nancy, had their home featured in Architectural Digest in June and have moved to Brays full-time. "I came here out of a magazine ad," he said. "I was really on my way to a friend's place in Florida. And I stopped here and never left. It just was overwhelmingly wonderful for us. We bought our place that weekend."

They both love all of the things that have to do with the outdoors, he says. "To say that I'm a hunter is a misnomer. I'm not a hunter but I enjoy quail hunting, I'm not a golfer but I enjoy golfing, and I'm not a fisherman but I enjoy fishing," explained Sturgis. "The facilities are all first class."

Sturgis was a major force in structuring the buy-out from the sponsor, primarily to invest in capital improvements after the sponsor asked for financial help.

"We paid off all of the indebtedness to all of the banks and all of the past due bills and accumulated property taxes and put in enough money to operate for a year even if we didn't sell a single lot," he said.

A limited partnership under the name Shelbray Group was established as the ownership entity of the unsold lots and is charged with the responsibility of marketing the unsold property. "From the proceeds, we are funding the Shelbray part of the operating expenses," Sturgis said.

Shelbray will self-destruct once its initial investment is paid back along with a 15 percent return. Any remaining lots are expected to be given back to the homeowners association. "At this point we have about 170 lots," he explained. "We're probably going to sell between 90 and 120 of those and stop."

Because it took longer than expected to complete the new HUD filings, their marketing effort was delayed until May of this year. "Low and behold it's taken off," said Sturgis. Between resale and pending closings in the 10 months that Shelbray has held the property, they have conducted $8,75 million in sales comprised of $2.7 million in resale, $3.1 million in new closings and $3.1 million in pending closings. The circular, non--contiguous lots run between $175,000 and $500,000 each.

Betty and J. Huxley Walters, who developed the 250-acre Airport Distribution Center in Orlando, Florida, came to Brays at the behest of a friend and bought a lot two weeks later.

Their Mediterranean home is now on the market and Betty, who handles the couple's real estate marketing on behalf of their international clients, says their friends and business associates were shocked. Nevertheless, the couple is proceeding with plans to build what she calls a "casually elegant," house on Mean's Bluff, nestled among the stately live oaks that are flecked with Spanish Moss.

Means Bluff was the site of Yemassee Indian encampments, and Brays Island itself is steeped in a history that parallels the growth of the American colonies. The current Brays Plantation is comprised of the lands of several families.

In the earliest Colonial days it was home to trappers and farmers who moved Hunting, horseback riding, fishing and other outdoor activities among over 5,000 acres of unspoiled nature is drawing many city dwellers to Brays Island. into the Indian territories. According to historical accounts, William Bray himself sold the natives into slavery and was rewarded by having himself, his wife and two children massacred during the Yemassee uprising. Another trader, F.B. Fraser, who had befriended Sanute, an important brave, was warned of the attack and fled with his new bride. A small island is named after the warrior.

The Revolutionary War brought order to the area but not until the local Sheldon church was burned and each side blamed the other. It suffered once again when General Sherman marched into the area in 1864, camping in Beaufort and leaving troops on the high land of Beech Hill while they waited for rains to abate before proceeding on their march.

In 1937, U.S. Rubber executive F.B. Davis purchased the various lands and began raising blue black Angus cattle. In the heydays of the 1950s and 1960s, the cattle were auctioned for sums that fetched $5,000 or more per head, primarily as breeding stock. The auctions were held on the property to the accompaniment of bag-pipers, and were attended by cattle breeders from all over the world, including Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee.

Sumner Pingree bought the lands in 1963, sold out to the Dixons of Dallas, Texas, and then bought them back once again in 1977. Hogs replaced the beef and in its last year in the mid-1980s, 1 million pounds of pork were shipped from the plantation.

Today, the cultivated fields have been turned into bird habitats, including 3,500 protected acres where egrets, storks, ducks and other water fowl nest.

Horseback riders trotting on the levees that are maintained for marsh and pond control watch a baby alligator float nearby, its head appearing to be merely a small log at first glance. A group of ducks swim away quaking and shaking their tails, while a pure white heron lifts off into the sky in a majestic sweep.

Along the lower marshlands, tiny black fiddler crabs seek shelter in the black mud while a great red-tailed hawk seeks prey in the grass.

A rabbit lives close-by the fence line and a mother bluebird flies out of a wooden nesting box nailed to the top of the 5-foot high paddock rail. The pair of matched red mules watches in amusement from the other side.

Near the inn and its surrounding outbuildings is a herd of deer that will tolerate a close-by car but fear walkers with cameras as much as hunters. Nighttime drivers are as likely to hit a six-point buck as a 'possum or skunk if not traveling slowly along the hard-packed dirt and oyster shell roads.

The deer graze under the pecan and live oaks along the fairways while black and grey fox squirrels stare down from the limbs, showing off their two-toned faces and perky fox-like ears.

It's hard to visit Bray's Island and not be attracted by the outdoors and easy--going lifestyle: a place to stop the stress of real world living. "You get here and say what am I going to do and you look up and you are busy," laughed Sturigs, who also bikes around the plantation.

Members pay a very small real estate tax until their homes are constructed and then it runs between .6 and 1 percent of fair market value. At this time, residents are watching a court battle that began when the Beaufort County tax assessor attempted to tax common areas in that resort area.

"They know it's going to have to be resolved," sighed Sturgis. "The assessment board understands that you can't tax the value of these lost at $170,000. What are they really worth if you don't have the amenities? It's a one acre lot out in the country."

Brays maintenance currently is a "realistic" $600 a month, said Sturgis, while each activity is paid for on a use by use basis. "The wages are certainly not comparable to New York," he said, noting labor costs less in the rural South.

Residents can board their horses cheaper than they can board their dogs because all the grains are grown on-site. Rounds of trap and skeet or sporting clays are paid for by the use of the course. People can bring their own shells or buy them at the gun club.

"Its an addictive place," Sturgis noted. "We have many owners who said 'I'm going to buy a lot and we'll move here when we retire,' and six months later you see them with an architect. It grows on you."

Homeowners go through a thorough architecture review before final building plans are approved. Architects are encouraged to form small compounds with separate guest houses and garages to give the site a plantation without buildings feel. Tin roofs are encouraged, as are board and batten construction. Basements are unnecessary because of the high water table and high frost line.

During meal times at the inn, those that have already purchased lots often compare architectural and decorating notes. Group activities like Oyster Roasts at the gazebo by the boat dock are planned often.

"It's a friendly place," Sturgis observed. "The main decision is Brays' lifestyle. Once you make that decision, it's just a matter of picking a homesite."