Hilton Head Island History

The following timeline information and photographs were provided by the Coastal Discovery Museum and the Town of Hilton Head Island. The Museum gathered some of the information for the timeline from Town residents and long-time Islanders.

A book entitled "Images of America Hilton Head Island" covers the Island's history and is available for sale at the museum, 843-689-6767.

Native American Occupation 8000 B.C. - 1500 A.D.

• 8000 B.C. - 1000 B.C. - Archaic Period Native Americans visited this area seasonally.
• 1335 A.D. Green's Shell Enclosure, a 4-foot-tall shell ridge that encloses 2 acres, was built along the banks of Skull Creek.

European Explorers 1500 - 1700

• 1521 - A Spanish expedition, led by Francisco Cordillo, explored this area, initiating European contact with local tribes.
  
• 1663 - Capt. William Hilton sailed from Barbados, on the Adventure, to explore lands granted by King Charles II to the eight Lords Proprietors. Hilton Head Island takes its name from a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound.
• 1698 - John Bayley, of Ireland, was given most of Hilton Head Island as a barony. Twenty-four years later, his son appointed Alexander Trench as his agent in charge of selling the land. For a short time, Hilton Head was called Trench's Island on some 18th century maps.

Plantation Era 1700 - 1860

• 1711 - Beaufort, South Carolina was founded.

• 1760s - Beaufort County's shipbuilding industry was one of the largest in the 13 colonies. The deep-water creeks around Hilton Head and the prevalence of hardwoods (like live oak) made the island a popular place for shipbuilding. The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides," was rebuilt in 1997 using live oaks felled during construction of Hilton Head Island's Cross Island Parkway.
• 1779 - Privateers sailing with the British navy burned many houses on Skull Creek and around the island on their way to Beaufort and Charleston. Hilton Head residents tended to be Patriots, while Daufuskie residents were Tories.
• 1780 - Daufuskie Islanders burned several Hilton Head homes, including the Talbird home.
• 1788 - The Zion Chapel of Ease, a small wooden Episcopal church for plantation owners was constructed. All that remains is the cemetery, home to the Baynard Mausoleum, near Mathews Drive.
• 1790 - William Elliott II, of Myrtle Bank Plantation, grew the first successful crop of long-staple, or Sea Island, cotton in South Carolina on Hilton Head Island.
• 1813 - During the War of 1812, British forces landed on Hilton Head Island, burning many of the houses along Skull Creek.
• 1860 - There were more than 20 working plantations on the island before the Civil War. Most plantation owners did not live on Hilton Head. The island was populated with enslaved people and overseers.

The Civil War and the Union Occupation 1860 - 1865

• 1861 - Beginning in July, Fort Walker was built on Hilton Head Island at the entrance to Port Royal Sound in Order to protect the port from Union attacks.
• 1861 - On November 7th, Union forces attacked Fort Walker (later renamed Fort Welles in honor of Gideon Welles, secretary of the Navy) and Fort Beauregard in the Battle of Port Royal. Nearly 13,000 Union troops flooded onto the island in the days after the battle.
• 1862 - Hilton Head Island was also referred to as Port Royal, in reference to the Port Royal military installation. Port Royal was the home to the Department of the South.
• 1862 - Hilton Head's population swelled to over 40,000, including Union troops, civilian store-keepers, missionaries, prisoners of war, and slaves seeking refuge from their owners.
  
  One of the oldest structures on the island, the Queen Chapel, A.M.E. Church is located on Beach City Road. African Methodist-Episcopal missionaries founded the Queen Chapel in 1865. The original building has been a praise house used by slaves on the Pope plantation. The structure was updated in 1892 and 1952.
• 1862 - Gen. Ormsby Mitchel set up the town of Mitchelville to house the island's first freedman's village. Mitchelville residents elected their own officials, passed their own laws, and established the first compulsory education law in the state. The Mitchelville community was built along modern-day Beach City Road.
• 1862 - Fort Mitchel was built as a battery to protect Skull Creek from Confederate attacks. Fort Sherman, which circled the military installation, was completed.
• 1865 - The First African Baptist Church was founded in August. Several island churches formed out of this church, including St. James (1886), Goodwill, Central Oak Grove (1887), and Mt. Calvary (1914).

Reconstruction and Resilience 1870s - 1940s

• 1868 - Large-scale military occupation of the island had ended. The island's population dropped to only a few thousand.
• 1870s -Some of Hilton Head Island's plantations were reclaimed by their antebellum owners after paying back taxes charged to their property. Other properties were held by the United States government, sold to speculators, or sold to freedmen who remained on the island after the Civil War.
• 1872 - The island was once again referred to as Hilton Head Island.
• 
  1893 - An enormous hurricane hit Beaufort County, killing at least 2,000 people in the county and flooding parts of the island with its 12-foot surge. Many of Hilton Head Island's structures were destroyed in this storm.
• 1901 - A 15-inch steam cannon was installed and tested on the beach at Coggins Point (modern-day Port Royal Plantation). It was 1 of 13 designed to protect the United States coast.
• 1917 - Troops were stationed at the former Union Fort Walker during World War I as lookouts for possible submarine attacks.
  
• 1920s - Gullah native islanders sailed bateaux from Hilton Head to the mainland, carrying people, crops, and livestock to the market on River Street in Savannah. Charlie Simmons Sr. operated the first mechanized ferry in 1930 from Simmons Fish Camp, located near Marshland Road. The Lola, a 30-foot boat with a 15-horsepower engine, ran three times a week. The last ferry, the Alligator, was larger, quicker, and ran more frequently.
• 1920s -The Hudsons and Toomers operated oyster factories on Hilton Head Island from the 1890s until the 1950s. By this time, the boll weevil had destroyed almost all of the Sea Island Cotton in the region.
• 1940 - The island's population was approximately 1,100 most of whom were descendants from freedmen who had made their homes on Hilton Head.
• 1941 - Marines were stationed at Camp McDougal near the Leamington Lighthouse. The lighthouse had been built in the 1870's and was known as the Hilton Head Lighthouse until the Palmetto Dunes development, Leamington, began. Marines paved the first road on the island, which ran from the ferry landing at Jenkins Island (now Outdoor Resorts) to the lighthouse.

Mainland Connection and Modern Era 1949-1990s

• 1949 - A group of lumber associates from Hinesville, Georgia, bought a total of 20,000 acres of pine forest on Hilton Head's southern end for an average of nearly $60 an acre. They formed The Hilton Head Company to handle the timber operation. The associates were Gen. Joseph B. Fraser, Fred C. Hack, Olin T. McIntosh, and C.C. Stebbins.
• 1950 - Logging took place on 19,000 acres of the island. There were three lumbermills built to harvest the timber. The island population was only 300 residents.
• 1950 - The first electricity was brought to the island by Palmetto Electric Cooperative.
• 1953 - A state-operated car ferry began running from Buckingham Landing (near Bluffton, on the mainland) to Jenkins Island (at Outdoor Resorts).
• 1954 - Hilton Head Elementary School opened for the island's black students. Isaac Wilborn was the principal of the elementary school from 1954 until it closed in 1974. The school was replaced by a new integrated school constructed on a new site in 1975.

• 1955 - Beaufort County state representative Wilton Graves opened the Sea Crest Motel on Forest Beach. At first, it consisted of two rooms. The first vacation cottages were developed on Folly Field Road.
• 1955 - Coligny Shopping Plaza is established.
• 1956 - James F. Byrnes Bridge, a two-lane toll swing bridge, was constructed at a cost of $1.5 million. This opened the island to automobile traffic from the mainland. This year, forty-eight thousand cars traveled across the bridge. The toll was discontinued in December 1959.
• 1956 - Charles E. Fraser, bought his father's interest in The Hilton Head Company and began developing it into Sea Pines Plantation.
• 1956 - Norris and Lois Richardson opened the first supermarket on the island, located near Coligny Circle in the North Forest Beach area.
• 1956 - The Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce was established.
• 1958 - First deed to a lot in Sea Pines Plantation was signed. Beachfront lots initially sold for $5,350. By 1962, they were selling for $9,600.
• 1958 - Telephone service was offered by Hargray Telephone Company. The first Hilton Head office did not open until 1960.
• 1958 - Palmetto Bay Marina opened.
• 1960 - The island's first golf course, the Ocean Course, designed by George Cobb, was built in Sea Pines Plantation.
• 1961 - The McIntosh family subdivided 360 acres of The Hilton Head Company to start Spanish Wells.
• 1962 - Port Royal Plantation was developed by Hilton Head Company, led by Fred Hack.
• 1965 - The Sea Pines Medical Center was built. It was staffed by a retired doctor who lived in Sea Pines but served the entire island community.
• 1965 - Hilton Head Island had its first rural mail route established.

• 1967 - Sea Pines Plantation installed the island's first gates.
• 1967 - The Children's Center established provide daycare for working parents on Hilton Head Island.
• 1967 - The Palmetto Dunes area was acquired from the Hilton Head Agricultural Company by Palmetto Dunes Corporation, headed by William T. Gregory, for $1,000 per acre.
• 1967 - A group of more than a dozen local shrimpers founded the Hilton Head Fishing Cooperative along Skull Creek. By 1969 the Cooperative produced 200,000 pounds of headed shrimp in a year.
• 1967 - The Hilton Head Airport opened.
• 1969 - Harbour Town village was completed. The full-time population of the island was 2,500.
• 1969 - The first Heritage Golf Classic played at Sea Pine's Harbour Town Links.
• 1970 - Island Packet newspaper was first published.
• 1970 - Deep Well Project began.

• 1970 - The Hilton Head Company started Shipyard Plantation.
• 1970 - A coalition of Hilton Head Island citizens including Hilton Head Fishing Cooperative members, developers, and environmentalists protested the BASF corporation's plans for a petrochemical plant along the Colleton River. The demonstration included the Captain Dave trawler carrying petitions to Washington D.C. for delivery to Secretary of the Interior, Walter Hickel.
• 1971 - Sea Pines acquired land on the north end of the island, which was developed into Hilton Head Plantation.
• 1974 - The swing-bridge was struck by a barge which force island residents to travel off the island on a pontoon bridge constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The bridge was closed for six weeks.
• 1975 - The island's full-time population by this time was 6,500. Over 250,000 visitors came to Hilton Head.
• 1975 - Hilton Head Hospital was completed.
• 1979 - Hurricane David missed the island, but high winds left beached eroded and destroyed several Singleton Beach homes.
• 1982 - A four-lane bridge was built to replace the two-lane swing-bridge to the island. The island's full-time population was 12,500. More than 500,000 visitors came to Hilton Head in 1982.
• 1982 - Wexford Plantation and Long Cove Club were developed.

• 1983 - The Town of Hilton Head Island incorporated as a municipality.
• 1985 - Hilton Head Island's Comprehensive Plan was adopted by the Town Council and Council adopted new Comprehensive Plans (1991, 1999, 2004, 2010, 2012).
• 1985 - The population was over 17,000 full-time residents.
• 1987 - The Town Council adopted the Land Management Ordinance (LMO), including the first sign ordinance and first tree protection ordinance.
• 1988 - Purchased 5 acres for Coligny Beach Park (1989) and parking lot.
• 1989 - The concept of a Cross Island Parkway is approved. The Parkway's bridge spans Broad Creek and links the south end of the island to the north end.
• 1989 - Adopted Road Impact Fee Program, first in the state.
• 1989 - Purchased 1 acre for the Folly Field Beach Park (1991).
• 1989 - Town received its first Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Award and has received the award every year since.
• 1989 - 1st Pathway project (William Hilton Parkway-Sea Pines Circle to Palmetto Dunes).
• 1989 - Town officials implemented a beach renourishment plan to restore heavily eroded beaches by pumping sand from offshore.
• 1990 - 1st Beach Renourishment project (Atlantic Shorefront Fill Project).
• 1990 - Real Estate Transfer Fee is adopted and takes effect January 1, 1991.

• 1991 - The Growth Management Task Force is created.
• 1992 - The Municipal Court is created.
• 1992 - Purchased 16 acres for the Islanders Beach Park (1998).
• 1992 - Purchased 14 acres and in 1993, purchased 1 acres for the Driessen Family Beach Park (1995).
• 1992 - The existing Town Hall opened on 13 acres along William Hilton Parkway.
• 1992 - Purchased 85 acres, the first acquisition under the Town's new Land Banking Program, for the first recreational facility, the Crossings Park (1996), and Bristol Sports Arena (1997).
• 1992 - Purchased 65 acres of the North Ridge Tract for the Beaufort County Library (1998) and Volunteers in Medicine location (1993) and placed a conservation easement on a portion of property to protect from further development.

• 1993 - The Beach Preservation Fee is adopted and is the first dedicated local funding source for beach renourishment in the state.
• 1993 - State Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of Real Estate Transfer Fee and concept of home rule.
• 1993 - The Sea Pines/ Forest Beach Public Service District, the Hilton Head Island Fire District and the non-profit Hilton Head Rescue Squad merge to form the Town of Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue Department.
• 1993 - 1^st major road improvement project (New Orleans Road Rehabilitation).
• 1994 - Traffic Light Synchronization began.
• 1994 - Pembroke Drive (partnership with Indigo Run) completed.

• 1995 - Adopted Island-wide stormwater management plan with over $20 million in identified projects.
• 1995 - Voters approve change from 2 year terms for Mayor and Council to staggered 4 year terms.
• 1995 - The permanent year-round population exceeded 28,000 people. The island had over 1.5 million visitors.
• 1995 - Purchased 67 acres for Chaplin Community Park (2001).
• 1995 - Construction on the Cross-Island Parkway began.
• 1996 - Purchased 53 acres for Jarvis Creek Community Park (2003).
• 1996 - Beach City Road Realignment.
• 1996 - The Master Land Use Plan for Ward One was started by the Town.

• 1996 - Self Family Arts Center Opened.
• 1997 - Crossings Park, near the Palmetto Bay Road entrance to the Cross Island Parkway, opened.
• 1997 - First Gullah Celebration sponsored by the Native Island Business and Community Association was held.
• 1997 - Atlantic Shorefront Fill Project (including Port Royal).
• 1997 - Paving of Leg O' Mutton Road and Jonesville Road.
• 1997 - Town annexed a portion of Jenkins Island.
• 1997 - Cross Island Parkway opened in January. The total cost was $81 million for construction, land acquisition, and planning.
• 1998 - Repealed the LMO and replaced with a new streamlined LMO.

• 1998 - Purchased 17 acres for the Fish Haul Creek Park (2005).
• 1998 - Dual Route Phase I and Dual Route Phase II road projects (1999).
• 1999 - Tax Increment Financing Districts are created.
• 1999 - South Beach Fill Renourishment Project.
• 1999 - Purchased 26 acres for the Shelter Cove Community Park (2001).

A New Century

• 2000 - Census population is 33,862.
• 2000 - Jarvis Creek Pump Station and South Forest Beach Phase I and Phase 2 (2001) Drainage Projects.
• 2000 - Opened new Fire Station #3 at 534 William Hilton Parkway. 2001 - Purchased 3 acres for the Green Shell Park (2004).
• 2001 - Purchased 3 acres for Compass Rose Park (2008).
• 2001 - Purchased 18 acres for the Mitchelville Beach Park (2007).
• 2001 - Purchased 13 acres for the Barker Field Expansion Recreational area (2006).
• 2001 - The International Building Codes (IBC) and amendments are adopted, and the Town converts from Southern Building Code to IBC.
• 2002 - The Coastal Discovery Museum relocated to Honey Horn and began a multi-million dollar public-private renovation/restoration effort. The official ribbon cutting was in October 2007.
  
• 2002 - The Town's Fire & Rescue received its 1st International Accreditation from the Commission on Fire Service Accreditation International and was the second in the state and the 53^rd agency worldwide to be accredited.
• 2003 - Gullah Museum founded, interpreting Gullah history at the "Little House" and through community events and programs.
• 2003 - Opened new Fire Station #7 at 1001 Marshland Road.

• 2004 - Powerline burial project began.
• 2004 - Even-year elections for the Mayor and Town Council are adopted.
• 2004 - North Forest Beach Wexford Pump Station and North Forest Beach Phase II Drainage Project completed.
• 2005 - The U.S. Census Bureau Population estimate is 34,855.
• 2005 - Opened new Fire Station #4 at 400 Squire Pope Road.
• 2006 - The Disaster Recovery Commission is created and completed its work in 2012.
• 2006 - Atlantic Shorefront Fill Project.

• 2007 - The Town's Fire & Rescue received its 2^nd International Accreditation from the Commission on Fire Service Accreditation International.
• 2007 - Office Park Road Realignment.
• 2007 - Pope Avenue pathway and boardwalks built.
• 2008 - Mathews Drive Corridor Improvements (roadway, pathway, drainage).
• 2009 - Coligny Beach Park Renovation is completed.
• 2009 - Opened the new Fire & Rescue Training Center at Dillon Road.
• 2009 - Opened the new Facilities Management Building at Gateway Circle.
• 2010 - Census population is 37,099.

• 2010 - The Town supported the Heritage Golf Tournament in year 2011 with a $1 million commitment.
• 2011 - Stormwater Utility is created countywide with significant Town leadership in the creation.
• 2011 - The Town committed funds for advertising to secure the RBC Heritage from 2012 to 2016.
• 2011 - LMO Rewrite Committee formed.
• 2011 - Opened new Fire Station #5 at 20 Whooping Crane Way.
• 2011 - Port Royal Sound Shoreline Rehabilitation completed.
• 2012 - Cherry Hill School added to the National Register of Historic Places. It operated from 1937-1954.

• 2012 - Major changes to streamline the LMO permitting process.
• 2012 - Town/Shelter Cove Town Center, LLC Developer Agreement for the redevelopment of the Mall at Shelter Cove is approved.
• 2012 - Town purchased a 23,500 square foot building on Shelter Cove Lane for the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office Island location.
• 2012 - The Town's Fire Rescue received its 3^rd International Accreditation from the Commission on Fire Service Accreditation International.
• 2012 - The Town's Fire Rescue received the Heart Safe Community Award from the International Fire Chief's Association.
• 2013 - The Economic Development Corporation is created.
• 2013 - The former SHARE Center, now renamed the Hilton Head Island Senior Center, opens in expanded space at Shelter Cove Lane.

• 2013 - Opened new Fire Station #1 at 70 Cordillo Parkway.
• 2013 - Construction on new Fire Station #6 at the entrance to Palmetto Dune began.
• 2013 - Town celebrates its 30^th Anniversary of Incorporation.
• 2014 - The bridge crossing Jarvis Creek on Spanish Wells Road will be named Charlie Simmons Sr. Memorial Bridge.

• 2014 - The Rowing and Sailing Center at Squire Pope Community Park opened.
• 2015 - Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue Receives Lifeline EMS Recognition Award.
• 2015 - Hilton Head Island Named a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
• 2015 - The Town Receives StormReady Designation.
• 2016 - Third Renourishment of Atlantic Shorefront.
• 2016 - Hurricane Matthew impacted Hilton Head Island with category one conditions prior to making landfall north of Charleston.
• 2017 - South Island Emergency Beach Fill Project.

• 2017 - Island Recreation Center Expansion.
• 2017 - Airport Runway Extension.
• 2017 - Audubon International certified the Town as the first public Audubon Sustainable Community in South Carolina.
• 2018 - The Breeze Trolley service is launched.
• 2018 - The Office of Cultural Affairs created.
• 2018 - USCB Hospitality Management Program Facility opened.
• 2019 - Inaugural Hilton Head Island Lantern Parade.
• 2020 - Lowcountry Celebration Park opened.
• 2021 - Opened new Fire Station# 2 in Sea Pines.
• 2021 - Toll collection end on the Cross Island Parkway.
• 2022 - Town Names Road into Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park as Harriet Tubman Way.
• 2022 - Town launches Wheelchair Program to help provide access to the beach.
• 2022 - The Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation created.
• 2022 - A Regional Housing Trust Fund in cooperation with Beaufort and Jasper Counties' Municipalities established.
• 2022 - North End Post Office renamed as the Caesar H. Wright Jr. Post Office Building.
• 2023 - Shelter Cove Sculpture Trail, connecting Shelter Cove Community Park and Shelter Cove and Shelter Cove Veteran's Memorial Park to a new trailhead parking area, opens.
• 2023 - Town celebrates its 40^th Anniversary of Incorporation.