Kiawah Island:
The Place, The People, The Purpose
by Frances Boyd
This place called Kiawah Island is a ten-mile
Not able to farm the land or keep up the plantation
long barrier island off the coast of South Carolina,
house, the remaining people who owned the Island,
surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Kiawah River.
the Vanderhorst heirs, decided to sell Kiawah in the
The current theory is that barrier islands formed after the
late 1940s. A Johns Island legend has it that an agent
last Ice Age, when rising sea levels flooded areas behind
asked a local shrimper if he wanted to buy the Island
the beach ridges. Slowly, over thousands of years, the
for $5000. After the shrimper stopped laughing he said,
oceans and rivers surrounding these areas deposited sand
“What would I do with that mess of a jungle?” C.C.
and silt to form islands, and certainly one of the most
Royal, however, could imagine what he would do so he
diverse of these islands is Kiawah. From the wide and
purchased Kiawah in 1954, paying $125,000. At first he
pristine beaches, over the gently terraced and thickly
logged part of the Island before building a small beach
canopied dunes, through the lush and beautiful maritime
house community on the western end of Eugenia Avenue,
forest and finally to the ever-changing salt marshes,
a street named for Royal’s wife. Making quite a profit
rich plant life thrived and a myriad of creatures took up
from “that jungle”, the Royals sold Kiawah twenty years
residence.
later to the Kuwait Investment Corporation, and then
Evidence of human activity on Kiawah dates back began the development of the Kiawah we know today.
at least 2,000 years. A Native American tribe known as
The Kuwaitis’ vision of Kiawah Island was
the Kiawah Indians were using the Island to hunt and fish
not very different from what we have now. It was to
but ceded the land to the British around 1675 shortly after
be a beach resort consisting of a hotel, condominiums,
the first English settlers arrived at Charles Towne Landing. villas and cottages, as well as single-family dwellings,
The Kiawah Indians slowly disappeared from the area
all grouped as “villages”. The key to their plan was the
leaving only their name while British planters developed
careful management of the existing flora and fauna and
a lucrative business growing indigo (and later cotton)
guarding the integrity of the outstandingly beautiful ten
relying on the labor of hundreds of African American
miles of untouched beach. In 1974, the structure we refer
slaves. An account of life on colonial Kiawah reads like
to today as the ‘old inn’ was built with its swimming pools
an historical novel. Pirates and British troops, Union and
and a Gary Player designed golf course called Marsh
Confederate soldiers and the burning of plantations are
Point. Real estate sales followed in 1976. People visited
all part of the history. The plantation families during this
from near and far, drawn in by the Island’s natural beauty,
time dealt with troublesome illnesses, failing crops and
sunny weather and recreational opportun ]Y\ˈX[