The Hilton Head Homes Blog - History of the Lowcountry

Test Your Knowledge: Hilton Head and Bluffton History Fun Quiz!

We're going to put your Hilton Head and Bluffton history knowledge to the test with a fun quiz! From the first inhabitants to the present day, Hilton Head and Bluffton have a rich and fascinating history that is worth exploring. Noel Turner, who successfully completed the Hilton Head Ambassador Program through USCB, has put together this quiz to challenge your knowledge and inspire you to learn more.  Don't worry, this quiz won't be graded! Our goal is to have fun and learn a thing or two about the fascinating history of Hilton Head and Bluffton. Grab a pen and paper, and let's get started with the quiz!

1. How did Hilton Head get named?
a. An English Captain named William Hilton, was exploring Port Royal Sound and saw the headlands of the island and…

1068 Views, 0 Comments

Life on Daufuskie Island - A Resident’s Insight on Island Living

An early morning cup of coffee on your Daufuskie Island porch awakens your senses as you begin a typical spring day like many Americans. Yet, in the absence of rumbling motors and horns, you hear an osprey’s babies chirping for breakfast from their eyries. The fresh, pollutant-free air swirls scents of Southern magnolia and Carolina jessamine, along with droplets of moist seawater that beckon you to venture deeper into the surrounding nature. A peaceful stroll along the unpaved road leads you down a path once traveled by Native Americans, British soldiers, the Gullah community, and many others throughout Daufuskie Island’s impressive history. 

Denny Jaskowiak is one of approximately 400 full-time residents that dwell across the 2.5-mile-wide and…

4151 Views, 0 Comments

Hilton Head Creates a Unique Footprint!

Discover hidden details artfully woven throughout this shoe-shaped island that make this admirable town stand out! Hilton Head is a tropical paradise that economically grows while taking huge strides in preservation and has successfully created its mark on the world.

 With only 300 island residents in 1956, Charles Fraser developed an environmentally friendly Sea Pines Resort. At the same time, a swing bridge brought more residents, visitors, and investors to this gorgeous land. The vision to improve and not destroy the island's natural appeal spread into additional neighborhoods. Expansion continued, and Hilton Head's four-lane bridge, built in 1982, quickly connected the island with outside communities at the shoe's opening. Today nearly 40,000…

448 Views, 0 Comments

Lowcountry Spotlight: Oldfield

One of the many attributes of the marvelous South Carolina Lowcountry that visitors and new residents of the area find fascinating is the area’s history.

You can stroll down the lanes of large and small communities, drop into a fifty-year-old restaurant or spend a few hours inside a 177-year-old home. Once in this residence you will experience the culture and history of Bluffton, from inside one of the few structures left standing after the end of the Civil War.

For those who enjoy ‘feeling’ history, visiting some of the historic sites in Bluffton and on Hilton Head Island, the experience is sometimes a bit surreal, like being transported back in time 100, 200 or even 300 years.

Now let your imagination run a little wild and envision living in a…

3761 Views, 0 Comments

A Brief History of Bluffton

Part of the allure of living in Bluffton, South Carolina is being a part of a town that has so much history.

Nuggets of this past can be found all over town, in everything from ancient oak trees to wooden churches.

Discover the heart of the city with this brief history of Bluffton:

A City on the Rise

The area has a history that spans thousands of years. Bluffton was first established in 1825 when settlers inhabited the land on top of the river bluffs that overlook the May River.

Bluffton was a small vacation town where cotton and rice planters could escape the harsh conditions of the plantations.

Working in these plantations was unpleasant to say the least. The land was rife with mosquitos carrying yellow fever and malaria that…

1007 Views, 0 Comments

Lowcountry Dining: A Culinary Journey Through Bluffton & Hilton Head

Lowcountry dining has been an experience in healthy, nourishing, fresh foods for as far back as human history in the South Carolina Lowcountry can be traced, 8,000 BC.

Shrimp and Grits, probably the most popular and most consumed dish of the Lowcountry, has been being prepared in much the same way since the mid sixteenth century when it was introduced to the European settlers by the South Carolina coastal tribes of Native Americans.

We are not exactly sure when Native Americans devised the making of Grits from corn, but we do know that Indians were growing maize (an ancestor of modern corn) in South Carolina long before Vasquez de Ayllon, an official in Hispaniola, settled five-hundred colonists on the coast in 1526

Shrimp has been in the…

5054 Views, 0 Comments

Bluffton: A Most Interesting Town & A Most Interesting History

Sensing History

One of the most powerful experiences of being a northerner transplanted to the Lowcountry is the sensation that history is somehow merged into and an integral part of our everyday activities.

This may be due to the fact that there are remnants of yesterdays throughout the Lowcountry, that we pass every day, and researching those remnants is so available that a question as to a church, building or a tree can be answered before one puts one’s head on their pillow for the night

Old Town Bluffton is one of those mixed environments that entice the observer to learn more.

Bluffton is a lot older than one thinks

I, of course, was driven to take my discovery efforts back to the very beginnings of Bluffton being populated and…

2569 Views, 0 Comments

The History of Tennis on Hilton Head Island

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who know the history of tourism, recreation and retirement on our piece of paradise known as Hilton Head Island, that tennis was launched as a serious participant in the menu of sports activities at Sea Pines Plantation.

Originally, Charles E. Fraser, the developer of Sea Pines Plantation included courts as another recreational amenity like golf, fishing, biking and kayaking. That all changed in 1971, fifteen years after Fraser offered up his plans for the spectacular community and resort, which included the fledgling Sea Pines Racquet Club.

In that year Stan Smith—the top-ranked player in the world—joined The Sea Pines Resort as its touring pro, lending enormous credibility to the fledgling racquet club.…

2682 Views, 0 Comments

History of PGA at Harbour Town in Sea Pines

One of the best annual events on Hilton Head Island!  Get your tickets HERE for the 2018 RBC Heritage, April 9-15th.

The PGA - RBC Heritage Golf Tournament celebrates its fiftieth tournament at Hilton Head's Sea Pines Resort with this year's event. It's set to take place from April 9 - 15...and what an event it has grown to become in those 50 years.

From the clubhouse that serves Harbour Town Golf Links to the state-of-the-art course with the supporting infrastructure, the Heritage is not only the must attend PGA tournament, it is the destination of golf loving vacationers from around the globe.

It all started in 1969 as the brainchild of Sea Pines founder Charles E. Fraser. Working with the PGA, he brought Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to…

2621 Views, 0 Comments