Chronology of Hilton Head Island
This month, we’re exploring the history of Hilton Head Island. As Maya Angelou famously wrote, “you can’t know where you are going until you know here you have been.” Binya is a retail store on 556 Spanish Wells Road on Hilton Head and as you’ve become aware, it’s so much more than a retail store. We’re all about the community that we’re a part of and so we feel it’s important to understand where we came from.
We find the timeline of Hilton Head Island particularly interesting. Discovered by Captain William Hilton in 1663, the town wasn’t incorporated formally until 320 years later…. In 1983. That’s quite a span! In between that there were Yemasee Indians, Plantation holders, a Civil War Battle, the first self-governed town of former slaves, and a whole reconstruction era. Take a peek at the chronology of Hilton Head Island. We find it fascinating!
Compiled by the Rev. Dr. Robert E. H. Peeples via The Heritage Library. See Source: https://heritagelib.org/chronology-of-hilton-head
1663
(Sept. 28) Captain William Hilton, exploring the Carolina coast at the behest of planters of Barbados, reached the Island, giving his name to the headland, a mariners' landmark for safely entering Port Royal Sound from the Atlantic Ocean.
1666
Dr. Henry Woodward was put ashore at either Charles Town Landing or Sullivans Island near Charleston by Captain Robert Sandford as the first permanent English settler.
1670
Charles Town was settled.
1684
Yamassee Indians occupied Hilton Head Island at the invitation of Henry Erskine, Lord Cardrosss
1686
Spanish fleet destroyed Cardross' settlement on Port Royal Island known as Stuart's Town
1698
Hilton Head Island, except for land fronting Port Royal Sound, was granted by the Lords Proprietors to Landgrave John Bayley of Ballinclough, County Tipperary, Ireland.
1715
(April) Yamassee Indians expelled by Governor Craven.
1717
(Dec. 10) Colonel John Barnwell was granted 1500 acres which would become Myrtle Bank and Fish Hall Plantations (Proprietary Land Grant).
1762
(May 7) Only Royal Land Grant: to Edmund Ellis and Samuel Green what would become Coggins Point Plantation.
1767
St. Luke's Parish created by South Carolina General Assembly.
1781
(Oct. 22) Revolutionary War Ambush: Private Charles Davant was killed by British Royal Militia Captain Phillip Martinangele of Daufuskie.
(December) South Carolina Militiamen commanded by Captain John Leacraft, called "the Bloody Legion" by the Charleston newspapers, killed Captain Martinangele and his brother Abraham on Daufuskie Island
1783
Dr. George Mosse had Bayley holdings on Hilton Head Island surveyed; he divided 14,924 acres into 47 land lots for sale.
1788
Zion Chapel of Ease was built by Captain Jack Stoney and Isaac Fripp.
1790
William Elliott grew the first crop of long-stapled Sea Island cotton on Myrtle Bank Plantation.
1793
(Feb. 27) Captain James Stoney married Elizabeth Mosse.
1821
Captain John Stoney died in a hunting accident at Fish Hall; his son Captain James Stoney inherited 5400 acres of Hilton Head Island.
1826
Captain James Stoney of Otterburn Plantation died; his only son, Dr. George Mosse Stoney (1795-1854), inherited his entire estate except for the 1820-acre Callibogia Plantation (the Island's only rice plantation) which was inherited by his only daughter, Martha Sarah Stoney who married Thomas Henry Barksdale (1795-1842) of 2600-acre Scull Creek Plantation and (2) 1836 Rev. Joseph A. Lawton of St. Peter's Parish.
1860
(December) South Carolina seceded from the United States of America.
1861
(Nov. 7) Hilton Head Island was surrendered by Confederate forces following the Battle of Port Royal.
(Nov. 22) Hilton Head Island was renamed Port Royal, South Carolina.
(Nov. 22) Port Royal, SC was designated Headquarters, Department of the South, U.S. Army with General Thomas West Sherman as Commanding General.
1862
(September) General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel succeeded General Sherman in command of the Department of the South. Fort Mitchel on Skull Creek is named for General Mitchel. (The battlements of Fort Mitchel in Hilton Head Plantation next to the Old Fort Pub are open to the public and may be visited.)
The first self-governed, freed-slave community, Mitchelville, was founded on Hilton Head Island.
1863
(Jan. 1) Emancipation Proclamation.
(Jan. 1) U.S. Direct Tax Commission confiscated all Hilton Head Island land and began selling same, mostly to speculators.
1865
(May 15) Confederate President Jefferson Davis was brought to Hilton Head Island for transfer to Fortress Monroe in Virginia.
1872
Redemption Act enabled some planters to reclaim their lands.
1880
Will P. Clyde began buying Island plantations for a hunting preserve.
1931
Landon K. Thorne and Alfred L. Loomis bought two-thirds of the Island for a hunting preserve.
1950
The Hilton Head Company was organized.
1953
S.C. Highway Service ferry service to the Island began.
1956
James F. Byrnes Bridge was opened. Sea Pines Company was organized.
1961
(Oct. 1) Hilton Head Island Historical Society organized.
1969
(November) First Heritage Classic Golf Tournament was won by Arnold Palmer.
1983
(August) Town of Hilton Head Island was incorporated.