Hilton head

Our plan today is to explore Hilton Head Island -- we chose two primary places to see: the Honey Horn Plantation would give us a sense of its history and culture and a visit to Harbor Town would show us a bustling shopping and harbor district of today. The Honey Horn museum was only a couple of miles from our marina but Harbor Town was at the other end of the island -- cabs would be our primary way of getting around..

Hilton Head Island's early history and economy was Plantation based -- so-called "Sea Island Cotton" (it had extra long fibers) was the primary crop. At its peak, there were 13 major plantations on the Island -- slaves and their overseers were the permanent residents with owners visiting periodically to manage their holdings. The Union captured Hilton Head early in the Civil War and it became a POW camp and a refuge for emancipated slaves -- Mitchelville, the island's first freedman's village, was established during the war -- its residents elected their own officials, passed their own laws, and established the first compulsory education law in the state.  After the collapse of the plantation economy at the end of the war, the island's population collapsed and hunting lodges and shell fishing (by the Gullah community) were the main sources of income until the mid-20the century. In the 1950's, a swing bridge was built to the island, starting the land development boom that continues to this very day, turning the island into a vacation destination.

In addition to laying out the Island's history, the Honey Horn had nature trail with some interesting sights. A butterfly garden was full of colorful flowers and butterflies; a garden full of indigenous carnivorous plants; a reproduction of a shell ring -- constructed by local Indians 4000 or so years ago, these are large ring-shaped middens (piles of discarded shells of local oysters, clams, snails ...) with an empty flat area in the center -- some archaeologists believe the rings were used in ceremonies -- the have been found all over the southeast riverbanks and sea islands-- indeed, there is a large one in a park elsewhere on the island (which we wouldn't get to see, so seeing the reproduction was helpful). Finally, a barn and paddock that housed two so-called Marsh Tackys -- indigenous horses descended from original Spanish stock left on the island.

A resident of the butterfly garden

Venus fly traps are only found in South Carolina

This Marsh Tacky was muzzled -- guess he doesn't play nice with Museum Visitors

The museum grounds were filled with stately, moss covered oaks

Selfie under the oaks !

From the museum, we took a cab down to Harbor Town. On the edge of the oldest residential development on the Island, Sea Pine resort, this is a small keyhole harbor with a privately built lighthouse, a marina and a set of shops and restaurants. The lighthouse was built by the Charles Fraser, the resorts developer, as an "attraction" to get people to come and buy real-estate -- the lighthouse has become the most recognizable symbol for the resort and the island

Harbortown Marina and its light -- the shops are under the trees on the right

We were thinking it would be a fun place to have lunch and spend the afternoon -- lunch was nothing special and we quickly tired of looking through the few shops that were there -- it was sunny and hot and there was little to keep us there, so we soon called a cab, headed back and relaxed by the Marina's pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Moonrise over the marina, lovely !