Hilton Head Island Live Cam

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is a special home to many. To some of our residents, the Island has been home since the turn of the century with land passed down from generation to generation. The Gullah culture, a proud heritage with African roots, is a combination of language, values, hard work, story and song which has been passed on along with the land. The "bin ya's", a Gullah term, have played an important role in our past and maintain a strong voice as our Town matures.

We have other residents who began visiting and living on the Island during this century before the bridge to the Island was built. These residents reared families here and have also seen the Island develop and struggle with the debate of growth versus convenience and enterprise. These two groups together are the "Native Islanders" to whom we often refer.

Now many of us are the new residents of Hilton Head Island -- the "come ya's". We've traveled to the Island since the 1960s and have chosen to make our lives here.

This combination of peoples make for a vital, diverse community. Having been incorporated as a town just eleven years ago, we are a young community. In the town's infancy, we worked together and have accomplished much. We have nurtured out environment and made it a top concern of this island paradise. We are home to top-ranked golf, tennis and marine facilities, shops and restaurants, and are the caretakers of 12 miles of unspoiled Atlantic coastal beach.

On behalf of the Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce, I welcome you to this place we all call home. The Chamber began its partnership with the community 38 years ago and we contine to work to provide quality programs and services for our residents and guests. I hope you will treasure your visit to this Web site about our Island, and choose to come to Hilton Head Island -- whether it is for a day, a week, a year or the rest of your life.

Hilton Head Island is the largest coastal island in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Long Island, New York. While renowned for its secluded, master-planned communities and its modern, bustling resorts, the island first and foremost is a natural world. Forged by ancient seas, nourished on all quarters by daily tides, blessed with a year-round, subtropical growing season, it remains a complex and intriguing environment. The waving marsh grasses and dark maritime forests still hold the secrets why humans have come to call this big island home for almost 10,000 years.

This ECO-TOUR is your guide to the hidden world of Hilton Head Island - its natural and cultural resources. The tour provides an overview of the natural communities and shows how the island was formed over time and human life changed here. Key nature and history attractions are also shown. Once you learn to recognize the key landscape features and historic sites, you will hopefully gain a deeper appreciation for this dynamic ocean isle.

Changing Faces Of The Island

Hilton Head Island was formed as a result of rising and falling sea levels, and deposition of sandy sediments from the Appalachian Mountains by ancient rivers. Its evolution has taken at least 50,000 years.

50,000 Years Before Present - Sea level was approximately 15 feet higher than it is today. All portions of the island were inundated, except the highest ridges: four on the north end; and one on the south end - currently known as the site of the antebellum Stoney-Baynard ruins.

40,000 Years Before Present - A colder global climate caused extensive glaciation in North America and Eurasia. The sea level fell worldwide. Additional sand ridges on the island were exposed as small, isolated marsh islands. Some extended 1,200 feet farther north than the existing shoreline into the Port Royal Sound basin. Areas between islands developed marshes with drainage creeks. New islands formed miles offshore.

4,000 Years Before Present - After reaching a low point of more than 400 feet below current sea level (67 miles offshore), 15,000 years ago, the ocean began to rise rapidly. By 2,000 B.C., dry land had "in-filled" between ancient sand ridges, forming a core island that looked similar, but shorter and narrower than today's contour. Broad salt marshes became well established in inshore waters and in Broad Creek. Meanwhile, the shoreline along Port Royal Sound had already begun to erode.

Present - The rising sea level has caused ancient, offshore islands to shift inland and add sand on the seaward flank of the core island. In the past 2,000 years,the new deposits formed lands now known as eastern Palmetto Dunes, Shipyard Plantation, Forest Beach and most of Sea Pines. Older core island beaches - from Brass Head to Dolphin Head - continue to erode, (see hatched areas) losing sands to offshore shoals.

A Walk Across Hilton Head Island

Imagine what you would discover if you could hike straight across Hilton Head Island, from the ocean to the tidal marshes fringing our lee side. Now you can. Let this written Eco Map be your nature guide for such an outing. Coming soon - the graphic illustrations. Follow this course and encounter the rich array of plant communities and wildlife habitats that make Hilton Head Island so ecologically distinct.

This Eco Map describes Hilton Head Island's natural and cultural environment. Here are ten ways you can help sustain our heritage for generations to come.

Watch wild animals, but do not chase, feed or handle them. Avoid picking sea oats and other dune plants. Turn off outdoor lights at night when threatened loggerhead turtles come to the nest on our beaches, May through October. Collect only dead (empty) sea shells and sand dollars (gray colored). If you find live marine animals, please observe and return them to their ocean homes. Always use boardwalks to cross dunes.

When boating, go slow to reduce wakes, which erode shellfish colonies and bluffs along tidal waterways. Pick up trash where you see it, and recycle as much of it as you can at one of the island's recycling collection centers. Especially dangerous to wildlife: plastic six-pack rings and monofilament fishing line. Control dogs and cats so that they do not chase wildlife. Leave all historic artifacts and structures as you found them. Collecting them and disturbing them is prohibited in the town of Hilton Head Island.

When exploring natural places or historic neighborhoods, keep noise to a minimum, and ask permission before trespassing on another person's property.

Begin your journey standing knee-deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Turn toward the shoreline at South Forest Beach, and head across the wide beach. Wind your way through open grassed dunes and into dense maritime forests on uplands. The terrain is punctuated with low freshwater wetlands that occur, one after the other, parallel to the sea. Their historic names - Boggy Gut (a British term) and pocosin ( an Indian Name) are as exotic as the scenery.

Deep water is no obstacle on this tour. You navigate through the emerald salt marshes and shellfish-laden waters of Broad Creek, the natural dividing line between the north and south sectors of the island. Clamber up steep, sandy bluffs guarding the forests and swamps in the Indigo Run, Spanish Wells and Jonesville communities. Finally, you wade across the wide tidal flats bordering on Old House and Jarvis Creeks, wend through woodlands on Jenkins Island, and descend into Skull Creek, gateway to Pickney Island Wildlife Refuge and the mainland.

Hopefully, as you understand the physical world of Hilton Head Island, the more you will appreciate how all living things are connected here. The legacy of man is completely dependent on the conservation of our environmental and cultural resources.