Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Located approximately twenty-one
miles south of Charleston is beautiful, scenic Kiawah Island, S.C.
"Kiawah" (KEE-a-wah) is a name derived from the Indians who lived
in this area in the 1600s, where they lived, traded, fished and
hunted. The local Indians had no defense against the modern firearms
form the Europeans explorers and they were also very susceptible to
all types of diseases, such as the flu, measles and small pox, which
rapidly killed off those who were not enslaved and resulted in the
demise of the local Kiawah Indians.
George Raynor,
in 1699, was given title to the land of the Kiawahs, by the Lords
Proprietors of Great Britain. A letter written on February 28, 1700,
by William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, believed that
Mr. Raynor was a pirate: "Carolina is known to be harboring
suspected pirates connected with Captain Kidd. They are settled as
planters, etc., and Raynor, their captain, lives in Carolina."
Despite Penn’s accusation of piracy, the island stayed in Mr.
Raynor’s family until 1719, when Kiawah Island was purchased by John
Stanyarne.
Kiawah Island
passed throughout Stanyarne’s family for over 50 years until it the
Vanderhorst family purchased it. A great Revolutionary War hero,
General Arnoldus Vanderhorst, twice mayor of Charleston, built his
home on the eastern half of the Island in 1802. In Approximately
1802, South Carolina’s first British Consul, James Schoolbred,
acquired the western half of the Island. In the early 19th
century, the Vanderhorsts consolidated the title for Kiawah Island
and both the Vanderhorsts and Schoolbreds, owned and occupied Kiawah
Island.
After the
Vanderhorsts and Schoolbreds consolidated the Island, it passed to
the next generation of the Vanderhorsts, who successfully farmed
cotton until the Civil War. Because of a lack of military protection
during the Civil War, the island was extremely vulnerable to Union
troops. So, the Vanderhorsts abandoned the island and didn’t return
till after the Civil War had ended.
In 1886,
Arnoldus Vanderhorst IV’s and some of his former slaves came back to
Kiawah after the Civil War to continue farming cotton, but Arnoldus
IV was killed in a hunting accident. After his death his ghost of
has reportedly been seen on Kiawah many times. His son, Arnoldus V,
continued farming cotton attempting to continue his father’s legacy,
but a series of natural disasters destroyed his work.
Over 200 the
years of Vanderhorst occupation, many events occurred in the
colonies that affected Kiawah Island. There is no evidence of
actual combat during wars, but there is evidence of soldiers
occupying the island during times of war. During the Revolutionary
War, soldiers were issued passes to allow the wounded or sick junior
officers to pass through the lines to go to Kiawah for recuperation,
rest and recreation, while during the War of 1812, soldiers were
located on Kiawah protected the city of Charleston. On April 2,
1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired on Ft. Sumter in
Charleston harbor and could be heard on Kiawah from approximately
twenty-one away.
Union troops
during the Civil War scribbled the graffiti "How are you General
Beauregard" and "varitas vincit" (truth overcomes) on the walls of
the Vanderhorst Mansion (which still stands on Kiawah today). During
World War II, the U.S. Army assigned teams to guard and patrol
Kiawah’s coast.
In 1951, the
Vanderhorst legacy ended, when C.C. Royal, a lumberman, purchased
Kiawah Island for $125,000. Twenty-three years later, his heirs sold
the same piece of property to a prominent resort developer for $18.2
million.
Kiawah, in 1974
was developed into the world-class Kiawah resort and residential
area. In 1993, the current owner’s purchased the Kiawah Island
Resort, which now owns and operates the Kiawah Island Resort and its
facilities.
|