50 Fun Facts About Hilton Head

Hilton Head Island belongs to which South Carolina county?

It is a barrier island in the Lowcountry about 20 miles north-east of Savannah, Georgia.

In which year did Captain William Hilton, the island's namesake, sight a headland near Port Royal Sound?

He sailed from Barbados to explore lands granted by Charles II; mapmakers wrote 'Hilton's Headland'.

Which Georgia city lies about 20 miles south-west of Hilton Head?

The island's airport is small; many visitors fly into Savannah/Hilton Head International on the Georgia side.

Seen from the air, Hilton Head Island is often described as being shaped like what?

The 'toe' points toward Savannah; the town covers about 69 square miles, 41 of them land.

What was Hilton Head's year-round population at the 2020 census?

In peak summer season the number on the island can swell to around 150,000.

Roughly how many visitors does Hilton Head attract each year?

They come for 12 miles of Atlantic beach, golf, tennis and about 70% of the island tucked inside gated communities.

How many miles of Atlantic beachfront does Hilton Head have?

Coligny Beach Park is the best-known free public access point.

Which Spanish explorer's 1521 expedition made first European contact with tribes near Hilton Head?

The English arrived 140 years later; in 1698 the island was granted as a barony to John Bayley of Tipperary.

Which crop did William Elliott II first grow in South Carolina on Hilton Head in 1790?

The long-staple cotton made Lowcountry planters rich; Elliott farmed at Myrtle Bank Plantation.

Which Confederate fort on Hilton Head fell to Union forces in the Battle of Port Royal (1861)?

It was renamed Fort Welles after the Navy Secretary and the island became a base for the Union blockade.

The Union naval force that sailed to seize Port Royal in October 1861 was described as what?

Over 12,000 troops landed after the naval bombardment.

Mitchelville, the freedmen's town founded on Hilton Head in 1862, was named after whom?

General Ormsby M. Mitchel commanded the Department of the South; the town had elected officials, quarter-acre lots and its own laws.

Mitchelville passed what is thought to be the first law of its kind in the South. What did it require?

About 1,500 people lived there by November 1865, earning $4-12 a month working for the military.

The Gullah people of the Sea Islands speak a creole based on which European language?

Its grammar and loanwords come from West African languages; sweetgrass baskets are a signature Gullah craft.

Congress created the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor in which year?

It came with $10 million over ten years to preserve Lowcountry sites; the name Geechee is more common in Georgia.

Charleston records show the largest share of enslaved Africans in the Lowcountry came from which region?

About 39%; planters also sought people from the rice coast of Sierra Leone for their farming expertise.

Which small Episcopal church, built in 1788 for planters, is one of Hilton Head's oldest religious sites?

Its cemetery holds the Baynard Mausoleum of 1846, the oldest intact structure on the island.

What is the oldest intact structure on Hilton Head Island?

It dates from 1846 and stands in the Zion Chapel of Ease cemetery.

Which crossing, opened in 1956, first connected Hilton Head to the mainland by car?

The same year Charles Fraser began developing Sea Pines; the Cross Island Parkway followed in 1997.

Which developer, sometimes called the inventor of the modern American resort, started Sea Pines in 1956?

He formed the Sea Pines Company with Joseph B. Fraser Jr. in June 1957.

Sea Pines' marina village, anchored by a famous striped lighthouse, is called what?

The 90-foot lighthouse was built as a landmark rather than a coastal navigation aid and appears behind the 18th green every April.

How tall is the striped lighthouse at the Sea Pines marina village?

Its red-and-white bands make it one of the most photographed structures in South Carolina.

Which PGA Tour event has been played at the Sea Pines golf links every year since 1969?

It began as the Heritage Golf Classic and now falls the week after the Masters, with a tartan jacket for the winner.

Who won the first Heritage Classic at Sea Pines in November 1969?

The 40-year-old's one-under 283 was his 55th tour win and ended a long drought; Nicklaus had helped design the course.

Which architect designed the Sea Pines links that host the Heritage, with Jack Nicklaus consulting?

The par-71 course is famous for narrow, tree-lined fairways and small greens rather than length.

What does the Heritage tournament winner receive along with the cheque?

The tournament's Scottish theme is a nod to golf's roots; the purse reached $3.6 million.

At what point in the golf calendar is the Heritage tournament played?

The tournament moved from its original late-November date to mid-April.

In which year was the Town of Hilton Head Island incorporated as a municipality?

The town is known for eco-friendly rules; its 1987 Land Management Ordinance governs building style and tree cover.

Roughly what share of Hilton Head Island lies inside gated communities?

That includes most of the tourist areas; the plantations began dropping the word 'Plantation' from their names in the 2000s.

Which sea turtle nests on Hilton Head, prompting an ordinance that beachfront lights be shielded?

The Coastal Discovery Museum runs summer 'Turtle Talk & Walk' programmes with the state Department of Natural Resources.

The Sea Pines shell ring, a Native American midden of oyster shell, is thought to be roughly how old?

The ring is 150 feet across and sits in the Sea Pines Forest Preserve.

Which company opened a vacation resort on Hilton Head on 1 March 1996?

Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort is a Disney Vacation Club property built in a 1940s Lowcountry style.

Which toll road opened in January 1997 to speed traffic across Hilton Head?

The main road, William Hilton Parkway, is US 278; the parkway spares drivers the mid-island traffic lights.

Which of these animals is NOT listed among Hilton Head's notable wildlife?

Deer and loggerhead turtles round out the list; alligators sun themselves beside many golf-course lagoons.

Which 1987 town law is credited with Hilton Head's unusual tree cover for such a developed island?

It regulates building style and tree preservation, which is why you will not see billboards or neon on the island.

After it fell in 1861 the Confederate stronghold at Port Royal was renamed Fort Welles in honour of whom?

Gideon Welles ran the Navy Department; hundreds of formerly enslaved people soon flocked to the Union-held island.

Hilton Head was granted as part of a barony in 1698 to John Bayley, a landowner from which Irish county?

The name Bayley survives in the Baynard family and mausoleum on the island.

Sea Pines dropped which word from its name when the Riverstone Group took over in 2005?

It became The Sea Pines Resort; several other island communities have made the same change.

Which ship carried Captain William Hilton from Barbados to the Carolina coast in 1663?

He was exploring lands granted by King Charles II to the Lords Proprietors.

Which woven craft, resembling Senegalese coilwork, is a signature of Gullah culture in the Lowcountry?

Rice-based cooking and the ring shout are other traditions the Gullah carried from West Africa.

Which NBA legend owned a house on Hilton Head from 1988 to 1999?

Other notable part-time residents have included NHL great Mark Messier and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who has a home in Sea Pines.

Shipping magnate William P. Clyde bought 9,000 island acres in 1890 for what purpose?

Three years later the 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane swept across the Lowcountry with a 16-foot storm surge, killing more than 1,000 people.

Tycoon Alfred Lee Loomis bought over 63% of the island in 1931 for about how much?

He and his brother-in-law Landon Thorne picked up 17,000 acres as a private game reserve. Loomis later bankrolled radar research at his own Tuxedo Park lab.

Before 1956, besides private boats, how could you reach Hilton Head?

The island had only about 300 residents in the early 1950s, and its economy ran on shipbuilding, cotton, lumber and fishing.

What hit the island's 1956 swing bridge in 1974, cutting off all road traffic for a time?

The Army Corps of Engineers built and manned a pontoon bridge in the meantime. The two-lane toll swing bridge was replaced by a four-lane span in 1982.

Dolphins around Hilton Head are famous for which rare way of catching fish?

The dolphins herd fish onto mud banks, then lie on their sides to eat before sliding back into the water. It is seen in only a handful of places worldwide.

The last two holes at Harbour Town Golf Links run along which body of water?

The tide moves the water line on those holes, and at 7,099 yards the par-71 course is short for a PGA Tour venue, with famously small Bermuda-grass greens.

The first Heritage Golf Classic in 1969 was played over which holiday weekend?

The winner's share was $20,000 and the course was set at just 6,655 yards. The event has since moved to April, the week after the Masters.

Which 'Barely Breathing' singer, raised on Hilton Head, went on to write Spring Awakening?

Sheik's 1996 hit earned a Grammy nomination; Spring Awakening later won him two Tonys. Reggae-folk singer Trevor Hall also grew up on the island.

Charles Fraser redesigned the Harbour Town marina to save an old live oak now called what?

Children's singer Gregg Russell performed under it for more than 25 years, and Fraser was buried beside the tree when he died in 2002.