The closest thing to a traffic jam on this remote island happens on Sunday mornings, when most of the community's half-dozen working automobiles converge on New Bethel Baptist Church. It is the spiritual and social center of the African-American community that makes its home here between the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers. The island's 120 or so residents make up one of the most private communities in South Carolina. With no bridge to the mainland, boats are more plentiful than cars. No one comes here by accident.
Islanders live a kind of dual existence.
Although their homes are remote, they still belong to the world at large. Islanders attend college and pursue careers in a higher proportion than South Carolinians as a whole. Yet theirs is a place apart. They have no paved roads, no police, no stores, no corner bars and few regrets. They have thrived by keeping to themselves.