New World discovery , November 7, 1861 The
Sea Pines shell ring can be seen near the east entrance to the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. The ring, one of at least 50 known to exist, is in diameter and is believed to be over 4,000 years old. Archeologists believe that the ring was a refuse heap, created by Indians who lived in the interior of the ring, which was kept clear and used as a common area. Two other shell rings on Hilton Head were destroyed when the shells were removed and used to make
tabby for roads and buildings. The
Green's Shell Enclosure, Sea Pines, and
Skull Creek shell rings are listed in the
National Register of Historic Places and are protected by law. Since the beginning of recorded history in the New World, the waters around Hilton Head Island have been known, occupied and fought for in turn by the English, Spanish, French, and Scots. A Spanish expedition led by Francisco Cordillo explored the area in 1521, initiating European contact with local tribes. In 1663, Captain
William Hilton sailed on the
Adventure from
Barbados to explore lands granted by King
Charles II of England to the eight
Lords Proprietor. In his travels, he identified a headland near the entrance to
Port Royal Sound. He named it "Hilton's Head" after himself. He stayed for several days, making note of the trees, crops, "sweet water", and "clear sweet air".
17th to 19th centuries "refugee quarters," 1864 In 1698, Hilton Head Island was granted as part of a barony to John Bayley of Ballingclough,
County of Tipperary, Kingdom of Ireland. Another John Bayley, son of the first, appointed Alexander Trench as the island's first retail agent. For a time, Hilton Head was known as Trench's Island. In 1729, Trench sold some land to John Gascoine which Gascoine named "John's Island" after himself. The land later came to be known as Jenkin's Island after another owner. In the mid-1740s, the South Carolina provincial half-galley
Beaufort was stationed in a cove at the southern tip of Hilton Head to guard against intrusions by the Spanish of
St. Augustine. The point and cove are named after Captain David Cutler Braddock, commander of the
Beaufort. Captain Braddock was a mariner and
privateer of note in Colonial times. Earlier, he had been placed in command of the Georgia schooner
Norfolk by
James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, and helped chase the Spanish back to St. Augustine after their failed 1742 invasion of
St. Simons Island. After relocating to Savannah in 1746, he served two terms in the Georgia Commons House of Assembly while earning a living as a highly active privateer. He drew a well-known chart of the
Florida Keys while on a privateering venture in 1756. The chart is in the
Library of Congress. During the revolution there was only a very small population of farmers living on Hilton Head Island. This population was exclusively Loyalist, remaining allied to Parliament and the King throughout the entirety of the revolution. However, after the revolution they chose to simply "stay on" in South Carolina and make the best of living under the new republican form of government. In 1788, a small
Episcopal church called the Zion Chapel of Ease was constructed for plantation owners. The chapel's old cemetery, located near the corner of William Hilton Parkway and Mathews Drive (Folly Field), is all that remains. Charles Davant, a prominent island planter during the Revolutionary War, is memorialized there. Davant was shot by Captain Martinangel of
Daufuskie Island in 1781.
Martin Delany, the only black officer to reach the rank of major in the United States military during the Civil War, was also stationed at Hilton Head during this time. The Leamington Lighthouse, also known as the Hilton Head Rear Range Lighthouse, was built in the 1870s on the southern edge of what is now Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort. In 1890, the wealthy shipping magnate
William P. Clyde purchased 9,000 acres on Hilton Head Island for use as a private hunting preserve. On August 27, 1893, the
Sea Islands Hurricane made landfall near
Savannah, with a storm surge of , and swept north across South Carolina, killing over 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
20th and 21st centuries Mounted Beach Patrol training on HHI during World War II. An experimental
steam cannon guarding Port Royal Sound was built around 1900, in what is now Port Royal Plantation. The cannon was fixed but its propulsion system allowed for long-range shots for the time. In 1931, Wall Street tycoon, physicist, and patron of scientific research
Alfred Lee Loomis, along with his brother-in-law and partner Landon K. Thorne, purchased on the island (over 63% of the total landmass) for about $120,000 to be used as a private game reserve. On the Atlantic coast of the island, large concrete gun platforms were built to defend against a possible invasion by the
Axis powers of World War II. Platforms like these can be found all along the
Eastern Seaboard. The Mounted Beach Patrol and Dog Training Center on Hilton Head Island trained
U.S. Coast Guard Beach Patrol personnel to use horses and dogs to protect the southeastern coastline of the U.S. In the early 1950s, three lumber mills contributed to the logging of of the island. Fraser was a committed
environmentalist who changed the whole configuration of the marina at Harbour Town to save an ancient
live oak. Fraser was buried next to the tree when he died in 2002. The Heritage Golf Classic was first played in
Sea Pines Resort in 1969 and has been a regular stop on the
PGA Tour ever since. These events helped to energize the community, and the Chamber of Commerce started drumming up support for the town to incorporate as a municipality. After the Four Seasons Resort (now Hilton Head Resort) was built along William Hilton Parkway, a referendum of incorporation was passed in May 1983, where Hilton Head Island became a town.
Shelter Cove Towne Centre opened in 2014.
Fort Howell, Fort Mitchel, the Zion Cemetery and Baynard Mausoleum,
Cherry Hill School,
Daufuskie Island Historic District,
Fish Haul Archaeological Site,
Green's Shell Enclosure,
Hilton Head Range Rear Light,
Sea Pines,
Skull Creek,
SS William Lawrence Shipwreck Site, and
Stoney-Baynard Plantation are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. ==Geography==