“Many people realized they could move anywhere else,” Irv said. In what is now called Fish Haul Creek Park on the “heel” of the island, the community of Mitchelville was created. Due to the land’s low elevation and hot summers, the wealthy landowners spent little time on the Island, opting to locate their beautiful townhouses in less tropical environments on the mainland. However, Hilton Head Island did not gain worldwide recognition until 1790 when another planter, William Elliott, successfully raised the first crop of long-staple Sea Island cotton. Shortly after the war, the main house was destroyed by fire. Their Gullah culture and language survive today as a living legacy of their strength and perseverance. Origin of name – Legend says Honey Horn got its name from the … Beaufort County, which includes the island of Hilton Head, was founded in 1711. “The Gullah people are the descendants of the slaves who worked on the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia,” said historian Joseph Opala. It is the oldest structure still standing on the island, and more Revolutionary War soldiers are buried in this coastal cemetery than anywhere else on the coast other than Charleston. Hilton Head Island Publishing Company, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The Island fell into the hands of Federal troops, forcing Island families to evacuate their plantation homes. Siem Reap Day Trip: Phnom Kulen and Kbal Spean, descendants of the slaves who worked on the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia, the very first former slaves to earn wages and actually get paid for their labor. Mr. Campbell was an excellent tour guide and took the time to connect with our group personally. He also encountered the native Escamacus Indians, but little is known of the earlier native civilization that inhabited the Island as far back as 4,000 years ago. In less than five hours, the Union fleet captured both Fort Beauregard on St. Philips Island and Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island. The Civil War and the subsequent abolition of slavery altered the prosperous and patrician lifestyle of the plantation owners forever. “People come to the island and complain they can’t find anything!” Irv said. But long before Hilton Head’s resorts arrived, the island had been home to cotton, indigo and rice plantations that relied on slave labor. Union troops quickly took over Hilton Head Island from the Confederacy during the Battle of Port Royal. We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Gradually a plan was formulated for the education, welfare, and employment of the blacks, combining both government and missionary efforts. But travel is so much more than just ticking sites off your itinerary. “You could get anything at these stores, from penny candy to a piece of equipment for your horse harness,” he told us. Sure, we cover the basics — where to go, what to see. Top Rated Tennis Facilities. When William Hilton landed in the Lowcountry in 1663, he was greeted by Spanish-speaking Indians from the Yemassee tribe, who had migrated north from Florida 100 years prior. But once the bridge that connected the island to mainland was built in 1956, there was an influx of people to the island. Once the island fell to Union troops, hundreds of ex-slaves flocked to Hilton Head, which is still home to many of whom are descendants of freed slaves known as the Gullah (or Geechee) who have managed to hold on to much of their ethnic and cultural identity. When Union forces took Hilton Head on November 7, 1861, in the Battle of Port Royal, more than 1,000 Hilton Head Islanders became some of the first freed slaves of the Civil War. Venue: Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn. “In fact, the reports of the success of Mitchelville were so glowing, that the famous Underground Railroad freedom fighter, Harriet Tubman, was sent to Hilton Head to see this bustling town, so she could share the story of Mitchelville’s self-governed success with future freedmen towns.”. Stunning Resorts. Today, you can view these artifacts of Hilton Head Island history at Sea Pines Forest Preserve and on the north end of the Island, off Squire Pope Road in Green Shell Park. This was a fantastic experience and provided excellent background history of Hilton Head. After the war, the Island made a healthy recovery. In 1698, the Lord Proprietors granted several islands and some of the Lowcountry’s mainland to John Bayley. Drayton's negro quarters, Hilton Head, S.C. Summary Photograph shows soldiers and slaves in front of the slave quarters on Drayton's plantation. Over the centuries, Hilton Head Island’s natural beauty, spectacular seascapes, exceptional ecology and South Carolina historical sites have beckoned generations of explorers—with Native Americans, English, Spanish, French colonists, pirates, African-Americans and soldiers all leaving their footprints on the sands of South Carolina’s Treasured Coast. Origin of name – Named for Captain David Cutler Braddock, commander of the colonial half-galley Beaufort in 1742.. Other names – Braddock Cove, Calibogue Point, Stoney-Baynard Hall The Gullahs of Hilton Head Island were descended from African slaves and are a key part of the history of the Civil War and Restoration. His efforts were aided by the construction of a bridge to the mainland the same year. During the American Civil War, Union troops wanted to stop trade in the Confederacy, which led to an attack at Port Royal Sound, off of Hilton Head Island. Mitchelville lasted from 1862 to 1877, when it finally dissolved. John Barnwell became Hilton Head Island’s first English settler in 1717 after receiving a grant of 1,000 acres in what is now Hilton Head Plantation. The Civil War changed the lives of both planters and slaves on Hilton Head Island. Whatever was left was given to Simmons, who would sail off to Savannah, Georgia once a week to sell the goods. Armed with vision, energy, modern air conditioning and investment dollars, he created a master plan for a resort community. My great-grandfather was a slave,” he said. Named to the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery and mausoleum is owned and maintained by the Heritage Library and the site is open to the public for respectful visits. In the Chaplin neighborhood, Irv told us about beach pavilions. Other structures were salvaged for building materials. During the war, the British burned plantations on the Island and captured slaves to sell in the West Indies. Northern businessmen, called carpetbaggers for the soft-sided bags they traveled with, bought the entire island and sold it off. Missionaries, teachers, doctors and ministers came from New York and Pennsylvania to educate and help shape the African-American community. He confiscated some land on Confederate General Thomas Fenwick Drayton’s Fish Haul Plantation, laid put streets and lots, and provided lumber for the former slaves to build their homes in a town that would be called Mitchelville. The antebellum Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery and Baynard Mausoleum, situated among ancient moss draped oaks and facing the waters of Broad Creek, is the burial place of several of Hilton Head Island’s original colonial families. 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