30 miles NE of Downtown Savannah
The largest sea island between New Jersey and Florida and one of America’s great resort meccas, Hilton Head Island is surrounded by the South Carolina Lowcountry. Palms mingle with live oaks, dogwood, and pines, and everything is draped in Spanish moss. Far more sophisticated and upscale than Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, Hilton Head’s “plantations” (as most resort areas here call themselves) offer visitors something of the traditional leisurely lifestyle that’s always held sway here.
Although it covers only 42 square miles (it’s 12 miles long and 5 miles wide at its broadest point), Hilton Head feels spacious, thanks to judicious planning from the beginning of its development in 1952. And that’s a blessing, because about 2.5 million resort guests visit annually (the permanent population is about 35,000). The expansive beaches on its ocean side; sea marshes on the sound; and natural wooded areas of live- and water-oak, pine, bay, and palmetto trees in between have all been carefully preserved amid commercial explosion. This lovely setting attracts artists, writers, musicians, theater groups, and craftspeople. The only city (of sorts) is Harbour Town, at Sea Pines Resort, a Mediterranean-style cluster of shops and restaurants.
The island’s recorded origins go back to visits from Spanish sailors in 1521, and its later “discovery” by an English sea captain, William Hilton, in 1663. By 1860, it boasted 24 plantations, most of them cultivating long-stem Sea Island cotton as well as indigo, rice, and sugar cane. On November 7, 1861, Hilton Head became the scene of the largest naval battle ever fought in American waters. More than 12,000 Union soldiers and marines invaded the island as part of a plan to blockade shipping in and out of nearby Charleston and Savannah. After the Civil War, and with the subsequent destruction of its cotton crops by the boll weevil, Hilton Head slid into obscurity, inhabited mostly by descendants of former slaves, who survived on small farms and as hunters and fishermen. An unusual result of the island’s obscurity involved the survival of their language and culture, Gullah.
In 1956, Charles Fraser, son of one of the families that owned the island, embarked on an ambitious plan to develop it as a modern resort and residential community. Under Fraser, the Sea Pines Plantation (today the Sea Pines Resort) became a much-studied prototype of an ecologically desirable resort community, and was copied worldwide.
Kisiwa kikubwa zaidi cha bahari kati ya New Jersey na Florida na moja ya Amerika's kubwa mapumziko meccas, Hilton Head Island ni kuzungukwa na South Carolina Lowcountry. Miti ya mitende inachangamana na mialoni, miti ya dogwood, na misonobari, na kila kitu kimefunikwa kwa mwani wa Hispania. Zaidi sophisticated na upscale kuliko Myrtle Beach na Grand Strand, Hilton Head ya <unk>mimea<unk> (kama maeneo mengi ya mapumziko hapa wito wenyewe) kutoa wageni kitu cha jadi leisurely maisha ambayo <unk>ni daima uliofanyika sway hapa. Ingawa ina eneo la kilomita 42 za mraba (mrefu ni kilomita 12 na upana ni kilomita 5 katika sehemu yake pana), Hilton Head inaonekana kuwa kubwa, shukrani kwa mipango ya busara tangu mwanzo wa maendeleo yake mnamo 1952. Hii ni kwa sababu kila mwaka, wageni milioni 2.5 hutembelea kituo hicho, na idadi ya watu ni 35,000. Pwani zake kubwa zilizo upande wa bahari; mabwawa ya bahari yaliyo upande wa bahari; na maeneo ya kiasili yenye miti ya mwaloni, mialoni, na mitende iliyo katikati ya pwani, yote yamehifadhiwa kwa uangalifu katikati ya mlipuko wa kibiashara. Eneo hilo maridadi huvutia wasanii, waandishi, wanamuziki, vikundi vya maonyesho ya kuigiza, na mafundi. Jiji pekee (la aina) ni Harbour Town, katika Sea Pines Resort, kikundi cha maduka na mikahawa ya mtindo wa Mediterania. Kisiwa hicho kilitambuliwa na wahamiaji wa Hispania mwaka wa 1521, na baadaye kiligunduliwa na nahodha Mwingereza William Hilton mwaka wa 1663. Kufikia mwaka wa 1860, kulikuwa na mashamba 24 ya kupanda pamba, na wengi wao walilima pamba ya aina ya Sea Island, pamoja na mimea ya indigo, mchele, na miwa. Mnamo Novemba 7, 1861, vita vya Hilton Head vilikuwa vita vikubwa zaidi vya baharini katika bahari ya Marekani. Wanajeshi zaidi ya 12,000 wa Umoja wa Mataifa na wanajeshi wa majini walivamia kisiwa hicho kama sehemu ya mpango wa kuzuia usafirishaji ndani na nje ya Charleston na Savannah. Baada ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe, na baada ya uharibifu wa mazao yake ya pamba na boll weevil, Hilton Head ilishuka katika giza, ikikaa hasa na wazao wa watumwa wa zamani, ambao waliishi katika mashamba madogo na kama wawindaji na wavuvi. Matokeo yasiyo ya kawaida ya ukosefu wa umaarufu wa kisiwa hicho yalitia ndani kuokoka kwa lugha na utamaduni wao, Gullah. Charles Fraser, mwana wa mmoja wa familia zilizomiliki kisiwa hicho, alianzisha mpango wa kuendeleza kisiwa hicho kuwa kituo cha kisasa cha mapumziko na makazi. Chini ya Fraser, Sea Pines Plantation (leo Sea Pines Resort) ikawa mfano wa utafiti wa jamii ya mapumziko ya mazingira, na ilirekodiwa ulimwenguni kote.