My brother, Claude Ivey Burkhead, Jr., flew the family Ercoupe down from the grass strip in Apex, NC to Charleston for a visit in late January. We had to wipe ice off the wings of the 1946 plane before take off at Johns Island Airport.
I love this plane. It was my Grandfather’s and then my Daddy’s airplane. My career would have been impossible without the pilots taking me up for my aerial photographic adventures. This time Burke (that is what I call my brother) and I wanted to shoot the Kiawah Spit.
The dialogue over development is not over. I hope that the courts with the help of the Coastal Conservation League will persevere and be able to save this moving and disappearing end of Kiawah. The plans of where to build a road for more mansions on sand are so scary when you see from the air what a narrow strip is to be used. It is a folly for the rich and an environmental nightmare.
Historic aerial photograph of Kiawah Spit, 1949
One Comment
Mary Edna,
I just love so much what you are doing… your eye, your heart, your hands, your spirit!
As you may recall, I grew up on Aquidneck Island, born in Newport, RI, so have always said I have salt water in my veins. I see in miniature, under foot along any shore, the huge swirls you see from the air. We know they are fractals, and the ocean is doing the same work on the barrier islands, despite our silly futile (and expensive) efforts to stop the erosion.
Your work, with Pilkey’s, to preserve the evidence for future generations, and maybe raise consciousness to stop what may be hastening the losses (like building huge houses too close) is awesome. Thank you.