Plantation Life on Hilton Head Island
Today Hilton Head Island is divided into several "Plantations": Planned communities comprised of single family homes, condos, harbors, golf courses, and resorts, with shopping and recreation areas. Not really "Plantations" at all, this was probably another stroke of the genius of Charles Fraser, as the name conjures up romantic visualizations of the antebellum south; of elaborate mansions surrounded by gardens and filled with ornate wood work and marble staircases. When we think of "Plantations", we think of "Scarlet" and "Rhett"; of Tara and Twelve Oaks. Southern gentlemen on finely bred horses and "belles" in hoop skirts, riding in ornate carriages, passing cotton fields being worked by slaves and mules, while overseers look on. The idea of living, or vacationing, on a "Plantation" is far more enticing and idealistic than simply thinking of "going to the beach" or "the island", or even "the resort".
The ten plantations that make up Hilton Head today, although equally quixotic, are nothing like the twenty-four that originally occupied the island. True, cotton was once "King" on Hilton Head, as it was all over the south, in fact the cotton grown here, and on other southern barrier islands, was the most valuable ever raised, having longer and softer fibers than any other. It wasn't until the invasion of the Boll Weevil that the much desired "Sea Isle Cotton" ceased to be the heart of the Hilton Head economy. This is also true of Indigo, once raised by the thousands of acres on the island, for the production of fabric dye; in fact, the search for a place to raise Indigo was the reason that brought William Hilton to the island! Eventually we discovered it was more cost efficient and less labor intensive to dye our blue jeans with man made solutions, and the farming of indigo was no longer a gainful activity.
Nowadays, fairways, bunkers, water hazards and greens cover fields that once stood tall with Indigo or were white with the extraordinary variety of cotton. Today electric golf carts travel over ground once plowed and cultivated by draft horses and mules. Caddies now carry bags of golf clubs, recovering the same foot steps made by slaves carrying bags of cotton and hoes and shovels. Country Clubs, Restaurants and Hotels stand over ground once occupied by Cotton Gins, warehouses and barns. Where servants once beached their small wooden skiffs: used harvesting seafood, to feed master and slave alike; long rows of pleasure boats and private yachts tug at their mooring lines.
Hilton Head is itself a statement to our modern way of life; having replaced hard work, sweat, toil and servitude with recreation, leisure and entertainment. The name Plantation is as appropriate today as it was 200 years ago, as it also defines a unique and special place; filled with comforts and amenities not found in the ordinary everyday world. Just as the island has traded cotton fields for golf courses, people can come to Hilton Heads Plantations and trade suits and ties for blue jeans and swim suits, and replace their desks and cubicles with beach towels and umbrellas.
