Stephanie Trunzo used to jet around America as global vice president at Oracle from her base in a 6,800-square-foot Raleigh, N.C., house. These days, she can be found watching alligators snack on seafood from the back porch of her three-bedroom, three-bathroom Daufuskie Island, S.C., home, where she retreated with her husband, Ryan Malynn, and daughter to ride out the pandemic.
“We looked at is as a bunker, a bubble away from fear,’’ said Ms. Trunzo, 43. She and her husband, 43, purchased the $920,000 home a year ago. “It’s as if we’ve returned to childhood and are playing outside. We are like Davy Crockett off exploring in the wilderness.”
Ms. Trunzo and Mr. Malynn are far from alone in their newfound appreciation for a more basic life. From New York to San Francisco, urbanites have escaped to bucolic second homes and found a deeper connection to the nature that surrounds