It wasn’t that long ago that I was talking to a friend of mine, Brian Duffy, about the history of his neighborhood Raven’s Run and how the developer was into flying at the time. ‘Why do you think you live in a neighborhood that has a private air strip?’ I asked him. ‘Bill,’ he went on to say, ‘The amount of information you have about the different neighborhoods in and around Mount Pleasant’ is interesting.’
A few days later, I met up with Brian and told him thank you. He looked at me with question marks in his eyes and asked me why I was saying thank you. I replied, ‘you gave me an idea,’ and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind sharing some of his Raven’s Run neighbors’ contact info for an article I’m planning on writing about Mount Pleasant’s fly-in and fly-out community. Over the many years I would be hard-pressed to give anyone the number of times I’ve said Raven’s Run is Mount Pleasant’s first move-up community and only fly-in and fly-out community.
If you lived in Mount Pleasant five decades ago you would have moved up. There were a few neighborhoods like Hobcaw Creek in 1976 that were part of the early suburban growth, as well as some others, but nothing like Raven’s Run. That’s why I often say it’s Mount Pleasant’s first move-up community. It all started in early 1980 when R.A.C. Enterprises, headed up by Robert Causey, began subdividing a track of land known as Yaupon Plantation, which made up the neighborhoods we know today as East Crossing, Crown Pointe and Raven’s Run.
Developing Raven’s Run coincided with Causey’s newfound passion for flying. According to town records the earliest builder permits issued for Raven’s Run were in 1985; that same year the private runway FAA identifier SC65 was activated for its airport, and in 1986 the first of 93 homes was completed.
Where did I get the idea that Raven’s Run was Mount Pleasant’s first move up community? It wasn’t the private coded gate or the neighborhood airstrip, but rather the conversations Causey and I had about Raven’s Run marketing. Because of his passion for flying, he was placing ads in national aviation magazines about Raven’s Run being a fly-in, fly-out community. The private Raven’s Run airstrip is 2,400 feet long and 100 feet wide, and in some places it is wider. In one of our conversations, I suggested crunching the data of the current Raven’s Run property owners whether it was a lot or homeowner. After analyzing the available data, we found that most everyone who had bought lots or built houses either knew Causey or had lived somewhere else in Mount Pleasant and decided to make Raven’s Run their new home.
Speaking of Raven’s Run being a fly-in and fly-out community the Scott family moved to Raven’s Run in 2021. When William told me his story, although there were a lot of moving parts at the center of them moving was the community airport. When William tells the story of the family moving to Mount Pleasant it was the result of his wife telling him she found a fly-in and fly-out community. He is a man with passion for being in the clouds, although he did not really want to move, but when his wife told him she found a Mount Pleasant community with a private airstrip his interest level had risen significantly. He was ecstatic but had to see it for himself, as he tells the story he not only had to hold back his excitement when told he had to see the airstrip. After seeing it for himself he could hardly want to move to Raven’s Run. For the Scott family as well as other Raven’s Run families it’s not only about the beauty but for some having a neighborhood airstrip is what Raven’s Run is all about. Obviously the photos of Alina taking off from the Raven’s Run air strip makes it even more special for her.
After talking to several Raven’s Run residents, including Realtor Timme Spanos with Carolina One Real Estate, who has called the community home for seven years, she reminded me of the community’s tranquility and the feeling of sanctuary, which no other neighborhood leading up to the development of Raven’s Run could duplicate.
By Bill Macchio
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