A Profound Story Found on Hilton Head Island
Gullah Geechee refers not only to a language but also to a culture and a still-vibrant community, bolstered by the resilience of its people and the heritage of its forefathers. Brought to America as enslaved people, the Gullah Geechee remains one of the most culturally distinctive African American populations in the United States. From Reconstruction to the Depression, the Gullah Geechee lived in isolated coastal settlements on the Sea Islands along the southeastern US, including Hilton Head Island. During this time, they established a rich culture with authentic West African components including a distinctive language, history, economic system and artistic traditions.
Native American Presence
Escamacu Tribes & Muskogean Language
Connection to Land & Sea
Modern-Day Hilton Head
From renowned contemporary and folk artists to historic sites, museums, and annual festivals, exploring Gullah culture is as easy as visiting Hilton Head Island!
[NATIVE AMERICAN LAND - 1571]
The island’s rich history stretches back thousands of years, with its earliest known inhabitants, the Escamacu Indians, calling this land home as far back as 4,000 years ago.
Over the centuries, its shores have welcomed a tapestry of cultures, each leaving an indelible mark on its story. English, Spanish, and French colonists set foot on its pristine beaches, while African Americans of various ancestries shaped its cultural landscape.
Even pirates and intrepid explorers, sailing under the banners of distant nations, navigated these waters, adding layers of adventure, struggle, and resilience to the island’s enduring legacy.
Recognition of Native American Culture on the Island
CONNECTION TO THE LAND & SEA
Natural Landscape
How the natural environment shaped life on Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head Economy
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
ECONOMY - OYSTERS & FISHING
Early Businesses
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
EARLY BUSINESSES
PERIOD TITLE [1600s]
1663:
Island surveyed by William Hilton, an English sea captain, sailing from Barbados in search of tropical lands on which to establish profitable English plantations.... becoming “Hilton's Headland” as it was written about in Capt. Hilton’s journal.
1698:
John Bayley of Ireland took title to 16,200 acres. 24 years later his son appointed Alexander Trench, to be the first real estate agent. The Island was referred to as Trench's Island.
PERIOD TITLE [1700s]
Early 1700s:
Enslaved West Africans begin being brought to the Georgia and South Carolina sea islands, including Hilton Head Island, to tend the rice and cotton fields.
1730-39: About 20,000 enslaved Africans are brought to South Carolina.
1740: Indigo introduced on the Island. Cultivated and tended by the growing population of enslaved Africans, the indigo bricks became an important export sold to the English for dye.
1790: The first successful crop of long-staple or Sea Island cotton is grown at Myrtle Bank Plantation, now known as Dolphin Head in Hilton Head Plantation.
CIVIL WAR TO HILTON HEAD [ 1861 ]
1813: British forces land on Hilton Head and burned most of the houses that existed at the time
November 7, 1861: Union troops take over the Island following the Battle of Port Royal at Fort Walker. 13,000 Union troops flooded onto the Island immediately following the battle to establish the main Union blockade base on the South Atlantic coast.
May 1862: Robert Smalls, a slave, pilots a Confederate steamship, Planter, from Charleston, past two Confederate checkpoints to Union waters, and is guided to Hilton Head Island and freedom.
MITCHELVILLE [ 1862 ]
END OF CIVIL WAR [ 1865 → ]
1862: General Ormsby Mitchel established the town of Mitchelville to house the Island's contraband community. This was the first self-governing Freedmen’s Village in the United States - now along Beach City Road.
1862: The Port Royal Experiment was a program organized by the Philadelphia Freedom Society and begun during the Civil War in which former slaves successfully worked on the land abandoned by fleeing plantation owners. Penn School, later renamed Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School, was part of this program, providing education, teacher training, training in wheelwrighting, carpentry, cobbling, blacksmithing, and the agricultural sciences.
1862: The First African Baptist Church is founded on Hilton Head Island.
1864: Fort Howell, an excellent example of the defensive earthworks common to the Civil War era, is completed by the 32nd U.S. Colored Infantry Volunteers. Its purpose was to protect the freedmen’s village of nearby Mitchelville.
1865: The Queen Chapel A.M.E. Church is founded. Sometimes referred to as Quinn Chapel, this was the first AME church established in the south, when missionaries arrived under the protection of the Union forces.
February 1, 1865: President Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment. It was then ratified on December 6, 1865 and is the only Constitutional amendment signed by a President.
1865: Following the war, white South Carolinians rewrite the state constitution in order to return to the union. They restrict the right to vote and elect an all-white legislature that then passes the “Black Codes,” which restrict rights of the newly freed people. Congress responds by passing the Reconstruction Acts, which require that the state rewrite the Constitution. African-Americans participated under federal military supervision.
1893: An enormous hurricane and tidal surge hit the Island and 2,000 people died in the Beaufort County area. Clara Barton and the Red Cross stayed in Beaufort County for 9 months assisting victims.
CHARLIE SIMMONS, SR. [1905-2005]
Before the Island had a bridge, Charlie Simmons, Sr., became known as "Mr. Transportation" among the local community, which consisted of Gullah descendants of freed slaves following the Civil War.
Until the late 1920's sailboats were the primary means of transportation to and from the Island. Mr. Simmons piloted sailboats, then bought the first locally owned motorboat. That boat meant that Islanders could make three trips to Savannah each week, rather than one. "Cap'n Charlie" spent the greater part of his life on the sea transporting goods and people to and from Hilton Head before a bridge connected the island to the mainland in 1956. He would bring butter beans, watermelons, shrimp, oysters, crabs, cows, and chickens to the market in Savannah. He also transported students to school and midwives to bedsides. Much of what the Native Islanders needed that they did not grow, they could purchase in one of the two general stores that Mr. Simmons owned, including kerosene for lamps before electricity. When Islanders asked for an item he didn't have, he'd have it the next day.
"Cap'n Charlie's" last boat was the "Alligator." In it, he transported Charles E. Fraser, who would lead the development that turned the world's eyes to Hilton Head. Mr. Transportation established a network of land vehicles after the bridge was built to transport people to work and deliver supplies.
Simmons Fishing Camp was constructed in 1955, the year before the bridge was built. The lumber was cut at the Ulmer sawmill in Bluffton from pine trees that were felled on the Simmons property and floated from Broad Creek to the May River.
[1900s]
First Resort (1956)
PRESERVING GULLAH GEECHEE CULTURE [2000s]
Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was designated by Congress.
Gullah-Geechee
Culture Today
Rooted in resilience, Gullah culture thrives through language, cuisine, music, and art. It stands as a living testament to strength, heritage, and community.
