The Shadow Race Park gets an upgrade
by Bill Davis | Current Staff Writer
No doubt, we are blessed with a lot of public parks on Folly Beach.
The Folly Beach County Park stands guard against the Kiawah riffraff out at the west end and the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve protects us from South of Broaders on the east end. Meanwhile, the Bark Park on E. Erie takes care of dogs in the middle and the Wave Watch Playground on W. Cooper and Pirate’s Cove Playground on E. Erie gives little ones a place to frolic, skate, and shoot hoops.
One of Folly’s newest parks is about to be increased in size by a big-hearted gift from a longtime resident in honor of his beloved departed first wife.
Shadow Race Park, as it is currently named, is a passive inland park where visitors are encouraged to do … nothing. Different from all of Folly’s other public parks, which encourage activity, Shadow Race Park is for relaxing. Sit on a pergola bench and read a book or feel the wind while birdwatching.
Sitting at the end of Shadow Race Lane, the park is a little piece of quiet nature on an island getting known more for its volume. Plants populate the pocket park in hopes of attracting bats, bees, and ladybugs.
On one social media post, a resident wrote:
“Please leave baby deer alone if you see them … just saw a woman walking next to one … Often a mother will abandon it if there is a human scent BUT they are NOT abandoned just because you don’t see the mother … There is a small family of deer that lives in the woods around Shadow Race Lane.”
Translation: It’s a chill park.
Longtime resident, property owner and landlord Darus Weathers recently reached out to Folly Beach City Council and asked if he could donate an additional quarter-acre lot that adjoins the park.
In exchange, he only asks that it be renamed Muriel Edge Weathers Shadow Race Park. Weathers, who is in his 90s, lost his first wife in 1974.
Weathers, who is often seen riding about on a small John Deere tractor, declined to comment for this story. According to a family member and a business colleague, he wants to stay mum until the property is fully transferred.
What is known is that Weathers owns a large parcel next to the park and is subdividing it into three smaller parts, with houses going on the other two pieces, according to city administrator Aaron Pope.
Folly planning and zoning director Katherine Gerling says the city has no plans currently to change the programming for the Shadow Race facility, especially since it is so early in the process.
Gerling blanched at setting a value of the donation. “I do not know how much a standard, 10,500-square-foot lot would cost … I’m not an appraiser,” she says.
Vince Perna has a good idea of how much it’s worth. Perna is a Realtor and the sales manager at the Folly office of Dunes Properties for the past 15 years.
“It’s easily $500,000, and as much as $700,000 if it’s on the water or has a view of water: and if its adjacent to the water it should have a view,” says Perna.
So, if everything works out, it will be a chill and valuable park.
