Written by Brian Bushard
Photography by Kit Noble

Some 750 nautical miles south-southwest of Nantucket, the wooden motor yacht Grace might be a familiar sight for anyone who’s sailed on Nantucket Harbor. Grace, a fully restored wooden yacht named in honor of Grace Graham Vanderbilt, has been lauded as the “Belle of the Ball” of Palmetto Bluff, a residential and recreational community in South Carolina’s iconic Lowcountry in the coastal waterways between Charleston and Savannah.

Taking Grace on the water is like a step back in time. Built with cedar and southern pine planking, it became a prototype for yachts that followed suit. While there were once hundreds of wooden yachts just like Grace along the Eastern Seaboard that connected New England to the Lowcountry through the early- and mid-1900s, only a handful remain.

At The Westmoor Club, her 77-foot sister ship, Belle, also serves as a gateway to a previous era on the water and as a reminder of that connection between Nantucket and Coastal South Carolina. Grace now operates out of Palmetto Bluff, in Bluffton, South Carolina—a community steeped in nautical tradition with endless ties to Nantucket. “Nothing says elegance, uniqueness and timeless beauty more than a century-old wooden motoryacht,” said Grace’s Captain, Lee Leonard.

The connection began with Christine Reid, a realtor with Charter One Realty serving Bluffton, Palmetto Bluff, Beaufort, Hilton Head Island and Savannah, with long-standing family ties to Nantucket, who wanted to celebrate the sister ships. She united The Westmoor Club General Manager John Cowden with Leonard, his wife Penny Baldwin Leonard, and Earl McMillen—whose restoration of Grace and Belle through McMillen Yachts brought both wooden motor yachts back to life.

What drew you to Palmetto Bluff?

LEE: A lot of things. The weather, the boating. You could spend your whole life [boating] and not see a fraction of it, and that was a draw for us.

PENNY: We were both really surprised by how quickly we fell in love with Palmetto Bluff. I’m a born-and-raised Californian, and I had never lived anywhere outside of California my entire life. To be in a position to pick up and move across the country was nuts. If you had said to me 20 years ago that someday I’ll be living in South Carolina, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy,’ and yet here we are.

What surprises first-time visitors to Bluffton?

PENNY: They’re completely captivated by the beauty, the waterways, the amenities and the lifestyle. It’s a very active community. Nobody asks you what you do, they always ask what you like to do—are you a boater, a golfer, a pickleball player? There’s something really delightfully embracing about that notion.

LEE: There must be a reason it’s the fastest growing area in South Carolina and that South Carolina is the fastest growing state in the country.

CHRISTINE: Having called both Nantucket and the South Carolina Lowcountry home for more than 42 years, I am passionate about sharing the unique character of Palmetto Bluff, Bluffton, Beaufort and Savannah. These communities offer a rare blend of natural beauty, coastal heritage, relaxed sophistication and exceptional lifestyle value.