Kiawah Island.(South Carolina)

History

The lovely island of Kiawah, located 21 miles south of Charleston, gleans its name from the Native American tribe who once hunted, fished and resided upon its fertile lands. The arrival of the white man, however, with their deadly guns and diseases to which the Indians had no natural resistance, brought death in various forms to many and enslavement to those who survived.

At the very end of the 17th century, in 1699 to be exact, the Lords Proprietors, exhibiting questionable wisdom, granted title of the island to a certain George Raynor, who, documentary evidence suggests, was a pirate. Nevertheless, his family retained control of the island until 1719, following which a turbulent 50-year period saw ownership change numerous times. The Vanderhorst family, who retained title for the next two centuries, then purchased it. During the epic events of those years, it was used as a place of rest and recreation for wounded junior officers in the Revolutionary War and, during the War of 1812, as a garrison for soldiers assigned to protect the city of Charleston. It was also in that city, on April 2, 1861, that the first shots of the Civil War were fired. During the hostilities, perhaps in answer to that initial insult, Union troops adorned the walls of the Vanderhorst mansion with their version of graffiti, and this can still be seen today.

Following that war, Arnoldous Vanderhost IV returned home and, with the assistance of what slaves remained, resumed planting before 1880. He met an unfortunate end, however, falling victim to a hunting accident, and sightings of his ghost have been reported about the island on numerous occasions. His son, Arnoldous V, achieved very little success in his attempts to work the plantation and, from that time forward, members of the family rarely returned to Kiawah.

In 1951, in a very astute business move, C. C. Royal, a lumberman, purchased the island for the miserly sum of $125,000. The true depth of his discernment was verified 23 years later, when he sold it to a resort developer for $18.2 million! Since that date in 1974, this beautiful 10,000-acre island has been sculpted into the world-acclaimed Kiawah Island Golf & Tennis Resort, a AAA Four-Diamond award winner.