Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

After being in Charleston we drove down to Hilton Head Island. That is where we stayed at our Marriott Vacation property.  Hilton Head is truly an island. The only way there is across a bridge.


    A little history about it for those who want to know.
In 1521 the Spanish explored there and entered claiming the entire eastern seaboard for Spain and calling the region Florida. In 1663 an English captain William Hilton sailed from Barbados to the island and it was named after him. In 1860, the island was divided into 24 plantations which harvested mainly cotton, sugar cane, rice and indigo (a plant used for dye)
In Nov. of 1861 the largest naval battle in American waters took place off the coast. 12,000 union troops in less than 5 hours captured both  Ft. Beauregard in Beaufort and Ft. Walker there on HHI.
After the war, for the next 90 years HHI was basically forgotten. The boll weevil ruined the cotton farming. There are still a handful of blacks who are the descendants of slaves and are called the Gullah.
In 1940 a wealthy sportsman bought up a lot of the island for hunting. In the 50's there was logging also of the big seapines.

Hilton Head Island is shaped liked a foot. We stayed kinda by the heel.

It is still divided up by the names of the 24 plantations.
There is a nice wide main road that goes through the island. The locals there have done a great job in keeping the island looking natural and lovely. No billboards, no neon signs, no big tall high rise condos, no real commercial downtown. There are 25 golf courses and 50 miles of FLAT bike paths. We rented bikes and rode nearly every day. I got one with a basket!! You didn't have to wear a helmet and the bikes had 1 gear and old fashioned foot brakes. I kept trying to squeeze the handles!!! Took me back a few years!!!!!

The most interesting thing about this island is that along with the palm trees, there are thousands of huge big oak trees. Everywhere you go you can find shade because of all the trees. They actually use the big pine needles as mulch on the planting beds all over the island.
The beaches there are lovely. Wide, shallow, soft sand, hardly any big waves....perfect for children. You often have to walk over a boardwalk and a marsh to get to the beaches.... unlike any other place we have been. The bottom of the sand, down by your feet, is full of LIVE starfish and sand dollars. Such fun to find them, but illegal to take them home!!!

We went over to the "toe" part of the island where there is a lovely old lighthouse. There are rocking chairs or swings on  all the porches of all the buildings.

We played shuffleboard and horseshoes, walked along the beach, swam in the ocean every day. Our weather was fabulous until the last day when it got cloudy. It was hot and humid and tropical. We ate out most of the nights. Lots of great restaurants. It was a great place to go and I would recommend it to anybody. Summers are way hot and humid and that is when most of the 2 million visitors a year show up!!!!!...or so I hear. We went in September and it was very uncrowded and a lovely vacation.