Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity to work with two of my colleagues as instructors for a two hour seminar on the history of Daufuskie Island through the University of South Carolina on Hilton Head. I researched and handled the history from 1500 to 1900. The other two focused on the recent history and what the future of the island will bring. We had a great turn out, 45 students.
I have decided to periodically blog about the history of the LowCountry and Creative Coast. These installments will come out about every four to six weeks.
To start with the more modern history, we need to go back over 500 years to 1492, that is when Christopher Columbus sailed westward and announced to the world that there was land and opportunity in the so called 'New World.' Almost immediately, conquistadors from Spain saw their chance for wealth and fame. These explorers were basically looking for a way to get rich quick, they were looking for gold. Their expeditions fanned out from South America to the South East of the United States and every place in between.
Locally, Hernando De Soto passed on foot, just west of Savannah in the late 1530's. A hotel in downtown Savannah is named for him, the De Soto Hilton. As some of these expeditions were successful in finding gold, Spain needed to protect her fleet of galleons carrying gold back to the Iberian Peninsula. These ships would find refuge in Port Royal Sound, between Hilton Head and Parris Islands. It is the largest natural harbor south of New York City. They used the Sound to wait for favorable westward winds, to ride out tropical storms and to escape British sanctioned pirates.
They soon established St. Augustine, just south of present day Jacksonville, Florida and claimed all the land north to Parris Island as Spanish Florida, which included Daufuskie Island.
The French, who are also active in looking for riches had established two outposts in Spanish Florida in 1564, Fort Caroline near Jacksonville and a settlement on Parris Island. Within a year the Spanish crushed both of these French intrusions. France would later explore other areas and lay other claims out side of Spanish Florida. In 1566, the Spanish established their own base at Parris Island, but that only lasted until 1587, it was to help secure the northern frontier of Spanish Florida.
In 1588, Spain's fortunes change after the defeat of her Armada by the British, her star started to set and Britain and France would begin their rise to their zenith points.
ENGLAND COMES OF AGE
Within 20 years after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the English established their first permanent colony in 1607 at Jamestown, Virgina. Thirteen years later, they landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Over the next fifty years, the British concentrateds on New England, the Mid-Atlantic and some of Caribbean Islands. By the middle of the century, the English had started to explore the South Carolina coast with more interest, most notably the Sea Islands and would establish Charleston in 1670.
Why were the English coming? They were looking for furs, which were in great demand in Europe. They traded with the Cusabo, Native-Americans that inhabited Daufuskie, Hilton Head and the South Carolina coast. The English traded pots, pans and trinkets for these furs, but a problem aroused in 1686. The Cusabo were not immune to European diseases and were virtually wiped out.
The English needing help, negotiated with the Yemassee in Florida who were allied with the Spanish. In the mean time, the English had settled Beaufort and offered it's first land grant to property ownership on Daufuskie Island in 1707. These lands had been opened because there was limited pportunities in the Caribbean, so they decided to entice migration to South Carolina by offering land. The working relation ship between the English and Yemassee was strained, but held for almost thirty years, but that will be another story.
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