In the early 1500's, Spanish explorers discovered the harbour to Port Royal. Among them was Francisco Cordillo who claimed the Island for the Spanish Crown. These Spanish explorers found a lush land inhabited by many tribes, with Cherokee, Catawba, Chickasaw and Creek among the largest. In 1562, Admiral Coligny dispatched explorer Jean Ribaut to lead a group of French Huguenots in search of religious freedom. He established a fort near the present community of Port Royal. This was the first Protestant colony in what would become the United States, but it quickly failed.

Sunrise on the Atlantic

In 1663, King Charles II granted eight Lord Proprietors what is now the Low Country coastal area, which they named "Carolina." In the same year, English Captain William Hilton sighted the high bluffs, or headlands, of the island while he was surveying Port Royal Sound for new land for planting sugar cane and indigo (a plant yielding deep purplish-blue dye). Hilton named the Island for himself, "Hilton Head," and claimed it for the British Crown.

In 1698, John Bailey was granted a barony of 16,200 acres on the Island and the first English development began. Indian attacks, sponsored by the Spanish, harassed these settlers for many years. In 1742, the South Carolina colonial half-galley Beaufort, commanded by Captain David Cutler Braddock, was stationed in the cove at the southern point of the island to guard against Spanish intrusion. The point and cove have carried the name Braddock ever since.

Same Beaches Capt. Hilton Found

During the Revolutionary War, Hilton Head Island sided with the Colonists. Daufuskie Island, just 1 mile away, was occupied by the Torries. The British frequently raided Hilton Head Island, burning plantations and capturing slaves who were later sold in the West Indies. The period between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars became the "Golden Years" for the Island as crops of Sea Island cotton, indigo and rice flourished, as did the "Gullah" Culture. "Gullah", a blend of slave, native, cadence and Elizabethian English was spoken on the island. This rich Culture, developed over the years of slavery, survives to this day.

Old spirituals and songs were made up as messages for freedom and used by slaves as codes for meeting times and places. The songs and stories also spoke of storms and other events in the lives of the slaves. As interest in the history of African-Americans on Hilton Head Island grows, more evidence of their lifestyle is being preserved. The Gullah Culture continues as community leaders encourage its preservation.

During the Civil War, Hilton Head was one of the earliest targets of Union forces. Just a few short months after the shots fired at Fort Sumter, a Federal armada took the coastal area of Port Royal Sound and, for the remainder of the war, the Island played a critical role in the successful blockade of the Port of Savannah. With nearly 50,000 troops on the Island, the Union army pressed natives in the area into service as the first Black troops for the Union. After the war, the money they earned enabled them to buy land on the Island.

By 1931, most of the Island was used as grounds for hunt clubs and the local population was down to 300 residents or so. In 1951, electric lines were run to the Island and, in 1953, ferry service began. A bridge was built in 1956 and the modern age of Hilton Head began. In the early 50s, Charles Fraser realized that the Island was good for more than just timber and, in 1956, he purchased 19,000 acres of land on the South End of the Island. Through his development of Sea Pines, which strategically preserved much of the natural beauty of the Island, Fraser developed a new model for ecologically-sensitive resort development.

Sunset Over Daufuskie

In 1983, the Town of Hilton Head Island was incorporated and, in 1998, the Charles E. Fraser bridge and Cross Island Expressway were completed. Today, the permanent population of the Island exceeds 35,000 with over 2 million visitors coming every year.

*Sources used for this brief history include "Our Roots Reach Deep," by The Sea Pines Real Estate Company, and the excellent summary of author Margaret Greer's book, "The Sands Of Time, A History of Hilton Head Island," compiled by www.hiltonheadisland.com whose link here provides more detailed history and other information about the Island.