History of Hilton Head Island

Hundreds of ex-slaves flocked to Hilton Head Island, where they could buy land, go to school, live in government housing, and serve in what was called the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers (although in the beginning, many were "recruited" at the point of a bayonet). A community called Mitchelville (in honor of General Ormsby M. Mitchel) was constructed on the north end of the island to house them.

The Leamington Lighthouse was built in the 1870s on the southern edge of what is now Palmetto Dunes.

On August 27, 1893, the Sea Islands Hurricane made landfall near Savannah, Georgia, with a storm surge of 16 feet (5 m) and swept north across South Carolina, killing over a thousand and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

20th century

Experimental steam cannon guarding Port Royal Sound was built around 1900 in what is now Port Royal Plantation. The cannon were fixed but its propulsion system allowed for long range shots for the time.

In 1931, Wall Street tycoon, physicist, and patron of scientific research, Alfred Lee Loomis along with his brother-in-law and partner, Landon K. Thorne, purchased 17,000 acres (69 km) on the island (over 63% of the total land mass) for about $120,000 to