Middleton Pond covers about 40 acres on the Arcadia East tract, just north of DeBordieu Colony. Each winter it holds roughly 10,000 ducks. It has been a waterfowl sanctuary since the grandfather of the current owners closed it to hunting. Migrating birds use it as a stopover on their way up and down the coast.
For more than twenty years, the same land around that pond has carried county approval for a resort, a corporate park and a golf community. In September 2026 that changed. Georgetown County backed a plan to take the 3,492-acre tract off the development market for good. A state approval vote this fall now stands between the plan and a closing.
What was approved on the other side of the line
Arcadia East sits east of Highway 17, between DeBordieu Colony and Prince George. It includes about 2,200 feet of beachfront. The Coastal Observer calls it the largest undeveloped tract of privately owned land on the Waccamaw Neck. The Open Space Institute goes further and believes it is the largest remaining undeveloped oceanfront property in South Carolina.
The approved plan was far bigger than most people realize. The county describes the Arcadia East Planned Development as a corporate park, a village center, single-family neighborhoods, a retirement village, a patio home community, a golf course community and a resort. Two current accounts give different housing totals:
| Plan element | Georgetown County, Sept. 2026 | Coastal Observer, Sept. 3, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Residential units | 3,332 to 3,392 | 2,451 dwellings |
| Office space | 1.26 million sq ft | Included, no figure given |
| Commercial space | 400,000 sq ft plus a hotel | Included, with a 500-room resort hotel |
| Year approved | Not stated | 2002 |
| Construction started | Not stated | None |
Neither source explains the gap between the two counts. DeBordieu Colony is a useful baseline. The DeBordieu Colony Community Association describes the community as 2,700 acres with 1,220 homesites. Using the county's figure, the approved plan held nearly three times as many homes as the whole DeBordieu gate. The lower Coastal Observer figure is still about double. The Coastal Observer reports the project was planned as a 30-year build.
Local officials have been open about how heavily that possibility weighed on them. County Council Chairman Clint Elliott told the Post and Courier, "Everybody here was scared to death." Council Member Bob Anderson represents the district that includes the property. He said the development plan "was one of the things that kept me up at night," and he called the day he learned of the conservation plan "the happiest day of my political life."
DeBordieu came out of the same estate
The tract next door and the community inside the gate share a family history. Isaac Emerson made his fortune with the headache remedy Bromo-Seltzer. He was an avid duck hunter, and in 1906 he bought Prospect Hill Plantation. He then added other Waccamaw Neck plantations, and together they became Arcadia Plantation. The Coastal Observer says Arcadia covers seven former rice plantations and a house dating to 1794.
Emerson left the land to his grandson, George Washington Vanderbilt III. Vanderbilt's daughter, Lucille Pate, inherited it at 21. According to her son Matt Balding, she was under steady pressure to sell. She cut timber to keep the bulk of the property. She did sell the land that became DeBordieu Colony and Prince George. The family credits Neal Cox with helping her hold the rest. Emerson hired him as a gardener in 1929, and he worked on the property until the late 1990s.
That makes DeBordieu and Prince George the two pieces of Arcadia that were sold for development. The piece between them is the one the family is now steering toward conservation. The families had met with developers and discussed joint ventures over the years, but they always hoped the land could be conserved. Driving through the woods with a Post and Courier reporter, Balding put it this way:
"You can imagine, if all this was developed, what it would do to the area. It would change Waccamaw Neck, Georgetown County, everything forever."
The family has done this before. Their mother worked with Ducks Unlimited to put conservation easements on nearly 4,000 acres west of Highway 17, in 2007 and 2015. The September announcement brings the same approach to the oceanfront side of the road.
How the deal is supposed to close
The deal is still pending. The transfer runs through several hands, and only the first two steps are finished:
- County support, done. On Sept. 8, 2026, Georgetown County Council voted unanimously for a resolution supporting the acquisition. The state approval process requires the county's support.
- School district support, done. The Georgetown County School District also sent a letter of support. The district had a say because a sale to the state takes the property off the tax map.
- State review, fall 2026. The proposed purchase is going through state approval processes this fall. That includes the South Carolina Joint Bond Review Committee, which the South Carolina Office of Resilience expects to hear the project later this year.
- Nonprofit purchase, targeted for Q1 2027. If the deal is approved, Ducks Unlimited and the Open Space Institute would buy the property together. The money would come from state funding through the Office of Resilience, administered by the South Carolina Conservation Bank.
- State ownership, later. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is working through the procedures to acquire the land from the two nonprofits at a future date.
The Post and Courier explains why land trusts hold the property first. Private groups can move faster than state agencies and face fewer layers of bureaucracy. As of the Open Space Institute's Sept. 8 announcement, the project was in due diligence.
What hasn't been decided
Three questions that matter to anyone living next to the tract still have no public answers.
Public use. SCDNR says it will explore public use of the land and "looks forward to revealing plans for public use and opportunities." No plan has been released. Whether there will ever be a trail, a parking area or beach access next to DeBordieu's north side is an open question.
Price. No purchase price appears in the county, Open Space Institute or local news accounts published so far.
Emergency access. At the Sept. 8 meeting, Chairman Elliott said the resolution "puts the county and state on record working together toward emergency access solutions that have been a priority for this community for a long time." The county announcement does not name a route, an easement or a construction plan. The conservation announcements do not mention a road across the tract. For now, the commitment is to keep working on it. Anyone who wants to hear the discussion can watch the county's recording, which starts about an hour into the 5:30 p.m. meeting on the Georgetown County Council video.
Protected land on both sides of the gate
On a map, DeBordieu's position is clear. Its southern end borders Hobcaw Barony, the 16,000-acre research reserve. Its north side borders Arcadia East. If the deal closes, DeBordieu's 2,700 acres would sit between about 19,500 acres of protected land: Hobcaw to the south and Arcadia East to the north. The Open Space Institute describes the tract as a link in a corridor of more than 400,000 acres of conserved public and private land across coastal South Carolina.
Arcadia East's future public use is still undecided, but the protected land to the south already has a full fall schedule. Hobcaw Barony's programs for the rest of 2026 include:
- Fall Candle Making Workshop, October 8. Led by Jackie Williams, the workshop pairs candle making with Gullah Geechee cultural traditions. $60 per person.
- Sweetgrass Basket Making with Barbara McCormick, October 16. A hands-on session at the Discovery Center. Materials are included. $65.
- Christmas Oyster Roast at Bellefield Plantation, December 12. A Lowcountry oyster roast and barbecue with chicken bog, sides, dessert, wine and beer. $75 per person.
- Guided tours. Weekday Discover tours run at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. for $30. Seasonal Saturday Explore tours start at 10 a.m. for $40. All tours require reservations.
The next public milestone for the north side is the Joint Bond Review Committee's review, which the state expects later this year. If the committee approves, Ducks Unlimited and the Open Space Institute plan to complete the purchase in the first quarter of 2027.
If you own in DeBordieu and want to know how a protected neighbor could affect your plans to keep, renovate or eventually sell, Taylor Keenan follows this deal closely and is happy to talk it through. Start your Lowcountry search, or just your next question about the Waccamaw Neck, and contact our team today.
