COLLECTED BY
Web crawl data from Common Crawl.
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20080724002833/http://www.bcgov.net/lib_hh/referenc.htm
Beaufort
County Public Library
Hilton
Head Island Location

Reference
services are available at all library branches. See Locations Countywide for your nearest Beaufort
County Public Library branch.
Reference
and information referral assistance is available as well as help
with brief telephone queries.
�
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
about Hilton Head Island
Select a letter:
|A |B |C |D| E |F |G| H |I |J |K
|L | M |
|N |O |P |Q |R
|S |T |U
|V| W |X Y Z
|
�
- This list contains some of
the most frequently asked questions concerning Hitlon
Head Island History.
- Choose the letter that
matches the first letter of your inquiry.
Ex. For information on hurricane history, click on the
letter H.
B
- BATTLE OF PORT
ROYAL - On November 7, the Battle of Port Royal took
place in Port Royal Sound. The Union was successful in
capturing Hilton Head Island. Union troops set up the
Headquarters of the Department of the South on the
island.
- BAYNARD MAUSOLEUM
- see oldest building
- BEAUFORT -
Beaufort County and City history
- BOOKS-USED - The
Library is not accepting used books at this time.
Magazines are still welcome in the lobby.
- BRIDGE - The first
bridge to connect the island with the mainland was the
Byrnes Bridge. It opened in 1956 with a toll gate that
charged $2.50. In 1978, U.S. 278 and the bridge were
widened to four lanes. The bridge is actually
interconnecting twin spans. The one nearest Hilton Head,
crossing Skull Creek, is the J. Wilton Graves Bridge. The
other, crossing MacKays Creek, is the Karl S. Bowers
Bridge.
C
- CALIBOGUE SOUND -
The name comes from a Creek Indian word meaning
"deep spring" - calaobe.
- CEMETERIES - see Zion Chapel of Ease
- COLIGENY PLAZA -
named for admiral Gaspard de Coligny of France who
obtained permission from Charles IX of France to
establish a colony in Carolina.
E
F
- FERRY SERVICE -In
1953 the South Carolina highway department began ferry
service on the Gay Time, which could carry 5 cars.
- FORT MITCHELL -
built in 1812 overlooking Skull Creek. Served as a
defense for the northern part of the island.
�
G
- GENEALOGY - The
Heritage Library Foundation was formed in July 1997 to
promote and support a library on Hilton Head Island
dedicated to the study of history and genealogy. The
library is located in Suite 302, 32 Office Park Road,
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928. Phone - (803)689-9558. Also
visit SC Historical and
Genealogical Internet Resources.
- GOVERNOR
- GRANTS - The
Hilton Head Foundation Library helps nonprofit
organizations find public and private funding. The
library's collection contains print and electronic
resources. Reservations are required for use. Phone -
(803)681-9100.
- GULLAH -The term Gullah
describes the language and culture of the Black people
who have inhabited the Sea Islands since the eighteenth
century. Gullah is spoken chiefly on the coastal
islands-the rice islands-that stretch for 160 miles along
the seaboard of South Carolina and Georgia. Until recent
years, these settlements were isolated, so that the Black
inhabitants, who worked the rice fields, had little
contact with the English languages of the communities
ashore. The language was influenced both by Creole spoken
by the natives of the West Indies and by the English
dialects used by the overseers of plantations in the
American colonies. Gullah sounds like English, but there
is a certain flavor of the West African coast in its
intonation. Gullah is recognized by linguists as a
language rather than a dialect.
Taken from Gullah for You!
by Virginia Mixson Geraty.
H
- WILLIAM HILTON -
Captain William Hilton sailed from Barbados on the Adventure
in 1663. The name Hilton Head
derives from a point of land he named for himself near
the entrance to Port Royal Sound.
- HISTORY - see history of Hilton Head Island
- HONEY HORN
PLANTATION - See Plantations
- HURRICANES - When
is Hurricane season and what were the worst hurricanes to
hit the South Carolina area? In the United States, most
hurricanes affect areas near the Atlantic Ocean or the
Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes occur in the North Atlantic
and North Pacific Oceans from June to November - most of
them in September. Hurricanes that have affected the
Beaufort County area include:
-Big Storm of 1893-
On August 27, 1893 a great hurricane swept the coast of South
Carolina. The number of fatalities is estimated at 1,000.
Property damage was estimated at $10,000.000. Outside help
came from all quarters of the state and nation. Clara Barton,
American Red Cross founder, came down to the island to lead
the relief expedition.
-1954 Oct. 15,
"Hazel"- This storm was most destructive in terms
of lost property ever to trouble coastal S. C.; whole
communities were swept away. Property losses totaled 27
million, but there was only one death reported.
-1959 Sept 29,
"Gracie"- This was an extreme storm with hurricane
force winds at SE 80 mph. Property loss amounted to $12
million and 11 lives were lost. The storm arrived on the
lower SC coast at dead low tide which limited the amount of
damage.
-1989 September 22,
"Hugo"- Struck the West Indies and South Carolina.
Caused 60 deaths and $7 billion in damage.
I
- INCORPORATION -
When did Hilton Head become incorporated as a town? 1983.
Hilton Head was incorporated as a "limited
services" town, primarily to wrest planning and
development oversight from county government. There was
an election of the town's first mayor and council in
August of 1983.
- INDIAN SHELL RING
- A ring of shells and bones piled several feet high that
dates back to 1450 B. C. is located in the Sea Pines
Forest Preserve. It was used by Indians as a refuse heap
and is one of twenty shell rings still in existence. The
builders are believed to have invented pottery in North
America.
L
- LENGTH - How long
is Hilton Head Island and what is its width? Hilton Head
Island is 12 miles long and 5 miles wide.
- LIGHTHOUSES
-Harbour
Town Lighthouse-built in 1970 in Sea Pines
Plantation, it is South Carolina's newest lighthouse.
-Hilton Head Lighthouse-built in 1879 in Lemington
Plantation (near Palmetto Dunes). The lighthouse was
built by the United States Lighthouse Board to guide
shipping to Port Royal Sound and to the Port of
Savannah.
M
- MITCHELVILLE:
Commander Ormsby Mitchel, a Civil War Union commanding
officer at Hilton Head constructed housing for the
island's growing slave population. The community was
called Mitchelville. In this town, the inhabitants
demonstrated their ability to govern themselves before
they were officially freed by the Emancipation
Proclamation in 1863. Mitchelville was established along
present day Beach City Road.
O
P
- PLANTATIONS
-HONEY HORN
PLANTATION is the oldest and only surviving
plantation home on Hilton Head Island. It is
privately owned by the Hack family and was built
before the Civil War. Part of the original land has
been turned into the Cross Island Parkway.
S
- SPANISH MOSS - Spanish moss is a flowering plant
that hangs from trees in the southeastern United States
and in tropical South America. It is neither a true moss
nor a parasite; it is deemed an "epiphyte" or
air plant. The plant has no roots, it absorbs water
directly from the air and obtains nutrients from airborne
dust.
- STATE SYMBOLS AND
EMBLEMS
of South Carolina.
- STEAM POWERED
CANNON - Installed in 1898 at the site of the Confederate
Fort Walker in Port Royal Plantation. Its purpose was to
protect the island from invasion after the Spanish
American war. However, the steam cannon never fired a
shot in the defense of Port Royal Harbor.
Z
- ZION CHAPEL OF EASE - Hilton Head Island's
oldest cemetery, the Zion Chapel of Ease, is located on
Highway 278 at the intersection of Matthew's Drive and
Folly Field Road on Hilton Head Island. Buried there is
Charles Davant, a prominent island planter during the
Revolutionary War who was shot and killed by Daufuskie
Island's Captain Martinangel in 1781.
| TOP |

�
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
The following electronic resources are available at the Hilton
Head
Island Public Library.
�
The
American Business Disc: this database contains
current information on over 10.5 million businesses
nationwide. It is searchable by company name, SIC Code or
Yellow Page heading.
Discus: Full-text Articles and Documents
& Online Encyclopedias.
InfoTrac
General Reference Center: allows researchers to
draw full-text articles, abstracts and citations from
popular magazines and journals, reference books and
newswire services in one easy step.
InfoTrac
Health Reference Center: a multi-source
database for health and wellness research. Health
Reference Center draws from medical and consumer
periodicals, health newsletters, reference books,
referral information, topical overviews and pamphlets. It
is designed especially for lay research.
Internet: public Internet access
is available to those who have signed use agreement
forms. Parental signatures are required for anyone under
18.
Newsbank Online: The Newsfile Collection
provides full-text newspaper articles on a wide range of
topics, plus headline and world map databases (Available from our
in-house public Internet terminals only).
NewsBank
ScienceSource: a comprehensive learning resource that
provides access to information on a wide variety of
science topics. It contains thousands of article
summaries on the Life, Earth, Physical, Medical, Health
and Applied Sciences. Articles are selected based on
their research value and benefit to science curriculums,
then summarized to clarify complex concepts and simplify
the research process.
ProQuest
BusinessLink: this resource contains full-text
articles from 100 journals covering business, management,
trade and industry information over the last 18 months.
SIRS Researcher: a general reference
CD-ROM with thousands of full-text articles on social,
scientific, historic, economic, political and global
issues. Sources include more than 1,200 newspapers,
magazines, journals and government publications.
STAT-USA/Internet: available from our
in-house public Internet terminals only. A service of the
US Department of Commerce, it covers export and
international trade information, domestic economic news,
business leads, national trade database information and
much more. Users must have a reference librarian enter
the password before searching.
StreetFinder: a U.S. street atlas
that finds locations by address, street, intersection,
city, ZIP and area code. Also details thousands of places
located on the map including hotels, restaurants,
museums, historical sites and interesting places for
kids.
Word
Processing: Microsoft Works 3 is available for word
processing needs. A DeskJet printer is available with
this resource.
| HOME |
Send
comments on this website to [email protected]
Last Revised 3/25/1999
�