The other areas I visited in South Carolina, I knew I had wanted to visit them for a while but Beaufort and St. Helena crept up as I began exploring what to see while driving between cities. I’m not sure either lived up to the hype I created in my head – I was contemplating spending a night in the area but was glad I simply woke up very, very early and spent two hours driving around the area. Beaufort’s a nice place. There’s a national military cemetery on the north end of town (Parris Island is twenty minutes away). There’s a quaint, albeit updated, old town shopping street. On the back side of the stores on this street is a waterfront promenade. The homes between the cemetery and the shopping promenade were a bit worn down but the town was still nice.
Post Civil War, freed South Carolina slaves established themselves on the state’s barrier islands. Everything was cool up until the 1970s when wealthy vacationers realized how awesome the beach life was. Developers began buying out what were called Heir’s Properties – basically landed was deeded to a families great, great grandparents, never quite passed down, and after a few generations that family has one hundred plus members; well you can’t divide the land so you sell the land. Along came Hilton Head. St. Helena represents what Hilton Head was fifty years ago, a quiet island with many locals living like they did for decades. I thought I’d catch a glimpse of this lifestyle simply driving around the island, the way you can catch a glimpse of the Amish driving around Lancaster. No such luck. I did a big loop. I didn’t see much. Onward to Hilton Head.
I did not like Hilton Head. That’s not to say Hilton Head isn’t great. That’s to say Hilton Head is sooo great that there’s waaaaay too many people on Hilton Head – bumper to bumper traffic around the island. We saw two accidents. Better to spend your entire time on a golf course or eating/drinking at a place like Fishcamp on Broad Creek – which is what I would do if I ever return.
Hilton Head is home to the venerable Sea Pines Resort. By resort I mean small town as this resort is on a scale like no other resort I’m aware of – it’s 7.8 square miles. By comparison Warrington Township is 13.8 square miles. It’s larger than my Manayunk/Roxborough home neighborhood which is around 5.8 square miles, which is a large neighborhood in Philadelphia. So it’s huge. You need to pay a $10 entrance fee to access the resort. It’s then a long and slow drive to the resort’s attractions. That drive passes amazing home after amazing home – homes that cost $5-$10 million.
On the far south side of Sea Pines is the world famous Salty Dog Café. I’ve seen hundreds of Salty Dog Café t-shirts in my life, I never knew it was a Sea Pines Resort restaurant. I would have fought the tourist urge and had a meal here…but…ironically enough, even though the Salty Dog has outdoor seating…they do not allow dogs. So, I settled for an ice cream cone.
Hilton Head is home to the venerable Sea Pines Resort. By resort I mean small town as this resort is on a scale like no other resort I’m aware of – it’s 7.8 square miles. By comparison Warrington Township is 13.8 square miles. It’s larger than my Manayunk/Roxborough home neighborhood which is around 5.8 square miles, which is a large neighborhood in Philadelphia. So it’s huge. You need to pay a $10 entrance fee to access the resort. It’s then a long and slow drive to the resort’s attractions. That drive passes amazing home after amazing home – homes that cost $5-$10 million.
On the far south side of Sea Pines is the world famous Salty Dog Café. I’ve seen hundreds of Salty Dog Café t-shirts in my life, I never knew it was a Sea Pines Resort restaurant. I would have fought the tourist urge and had a meal here…but…ironically enough, even though the Salty Dog has outdoor seating…they do not allow dogs. So, I settled for an ice cream cone.
Sea Pines’s / Hilton Head’s most famous golf course is Harbour Town. Sea Pines even built a Harbour Town, which felt a bit touristy, but man they did a really good job at building this otherwise fake town.
We drove through Bluffton on the way out of Hilton Head. I was expecting Bluffton to be similar to Beaufort but the main land development off Hilton Head as started to take over the town. There’s nothing but big box stores and outlets in/out of Hilton Head and that development has started to envelope Bluffton. We passed on stopping at a microbrewery.