The Lowcountry -- as the hundreds of miles of beaches, marshland and barrier islands stretching from Charleston, S.C., to Savannah, Ga., is called -- has long been a vacation destination. But now the area's historic homes, golf course communities and new developments are luring Baby Boomers and retirees who want to live like golf pros, southern sea captains, country club scions or plantation owners.

Hilton Head Island, population 35,000, has 28 golf courses, many of them famous for tournament play, and the 42-square-mile island attracts two million visitors each summer. But Hilton Head is also attracting young families and Baby Boomers who are moving there permanently, drawn by the scenery and the chance to play golf and tennis year round.

Almost 60% of the island's 25,000 housing units are occupied full time, and over one-third of those households include children. The average age is 44, "which is younger than most people think," says Carolyn Adams, a broker with Sea Pines Real Estate, who moved from Illinois with her husband Daniel Fuller, a Smith Barney financial adviser, 11 years ago, when they were both in their 30s.

Residential units on Hilton Head Island have doubled in value in the past five years, Ms. Adams says, and the average single-family home costs $670,000. A four-bedroom, four-bath house with a golf course view sells for $600,000 to $1 million. Real estate taxes are low, Ms. Adams says, as are utility bills and the cost of living in general but, because of the threat of hurricanes, homeowners' insurance is very expensive.

Many newcomers, like retirees Carol and Bill Capshaw, opt to enjoy Hilton Head Island's amenities from a home a few miles to the west, on South Carolina's mainland. When Mr. Capshaw retired last year, the couple moved from Indianapolis to Bluffton, a town of about 6,000 on the May River. They purchased a four-bedroom house on the Crescent Pointe Golf Course, in a golf club community where houses sell in the $350,000 to $500,000 range.

Golf club communities in inland Lowcountry towns are developing rapidly -- and very nicely. When Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine listed America's Top 100 Golf Communities in January, 10 were in the Lowcountry. Two listings, Sea Pines and Long Cove, are on Hilton Head Island, and three -- BelFair, the Colleton River Plantation and Palmetto Bluff -- are in Bluffton.

History buffs are also discovering Lowcountry towns. Beaufort, a South Carolina town of about 15,000 people, halfway between Charleston and Savannah, is home to three major military installations -- the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, the Marine Corps Air Station, and the Naval Hospital -- and a growing population of new residents from the Northeast and Midwest. The area is developing so quickly, says Matt Flewelling, a realtor and property manager with Ballenger Realty. "We're getting 20 new listings a day."

Although a few houses are available in the $200,000 range, buyers are bidding up the prices of restored antebellum homes in Beaufort's historic downtown, says Jerry Marlow, a broker with Coldwell Banker Keyserling. "Houses that sold for $100,000 15 years ago are now selling for over $1 million," Mr. Marlow says, "It's becoming a mini-Charleston."

Second-home buyers and retirees keen on sea lore are buying homes and condos overlooking the harbor, in Charleston itself. Daniel Ravenel, owner of the Daniel Ravenel Real Estate Company, says downtown Charleston has about 2,500 historic properties, houses built in the 1700s and 1800s for the merchant seamen and their families who first settled there. Home values, Mr.Ravenel says, are increasing 10% to 15% a year. Historic houses with porches and widow's walks sell in the $2 million to $3 million range. One even sold for $6 million this year.

Charleston has a huge naval shipyard and during World War II the government asked residents to provide housing for sailors working there, Mr. Ravenel says. Some of the houses that were chopped up into small apartments have been renovated into upscale condos that sell for $400,000 to $2.6 million, he says. People who consider moving into one, Mr. Ravenel adds, should be aware that Charleston is a professional, working city of about 110,000 people, not just a vacation spot.

If you'd prefer to live in rural luxury, you might consider Ford Plantation, the site of three pre- Civil War rice plantations and, during the early 1900s, the vacation retreat of Henry Ford. The Ford Plantation, located in Richmond Hill, Ga., 18 miles south of Savannah, is developing its 1,800 acres as a private playground for 400 homeowners and their families.

You can buy an existing home for $1 million to $3 million, or pay $230,000 to $2.6 million for a homesite. A three-bedroom Lowcountry-style cottage with a separate carriage house in the Silk Hope Plantation neighborhood, for example, is available for about $1.2 million. But you must also purchase a $118,000 membership in the plantation's sporting club and pay $11,600 in annual dues. These payments give access to the Ford Plantation's highly rated golf course and to the sports barn -- a fitness center with exercise equipment and squash courts -- plus an equestrian center, a spa and a full-service hair salon.

Eighty percent of the homesites are sold, says a Ford Plantation spokeswoman, and buyers are mostly Baby Boomers in their 40s who plan to vacation there with their children.

The population of another exclusive enclave, Seabrook Island, near Charleston, is considerably older. According to the 2000 census, half of the island's 1,250 permanent residents are over 60 and an impressive 6.5% are over 80. Almost two-thirds of the island's 2,500 housing units are vacation homes.

Like at the Ford Plantation, all homeowners must pay $8,000 to $30,000 to join the Seabrook Island Club and pay dues of about $1,500 a year. But all of Seabrook Island is organized as a private country club, which owns and operates the island's three restaurants and its real estate company, as well as its golf course, tennis courts, beach club, equestrian center and other sporting facilities. The island has no hotels and, until very recently, had no supermarket.

"It's a real hideaway," says Pam Bash, 52, a Charlotte, N.C., teacher who recently purchased a vacation home with her husband Steven, 51, an international banker. "We owned a condo on Seabrook when our three daughters were young, and they complained it was too boring. Now that they're older, they love the slow pace, too. Steve and I plan to retire there," Mrs. Bash says.

Joe Salvo, a broker with Seabrook Island Real Estate, says the island is almost all developed -- only about 600 buildable lots remain -- and has become so popular that the prices of the island's condo units (called villas) almost doubled in the past two years, to $250,000 for an inland unit to over $1 million for an ocean view. The average price of a single-family home is $1.2 million.

Besides the annual threat of hurricanes, Mrs. Bash says the downsides to moving to the Lowcountry include the lack of nightlife on Seabrook and many of the other island communities, the hazard of alligators and heavy traffic during tourist season.

Mrs. Capshaw, who now lives in Bluffton, says she and her husband moved to the Lowcountry for a warm climate and all those nearby golf courses. Everyone is friendly, she says, and the area offers a great variety of clubs and volunteer opportunities. "What we've found," she says, "is heaven on earth."