Big Gate

Because of the necessity for controlling the movement of valuable cattle and other livestock, the public road between the various plantations was blocked by heavy wooden gates which swung on iron hinges.  Travelers on horseback or on foot opened the gate just wide enough to pass through then closed it behind them.  Coaches and buggies required someone to open the gate across the entire road and then close it behind the vehicle.  Big Gate was the strategic site near the head of Broad Creek and the island’s Chapel of Ease, separating Folly Field and Marshlands Plantations. It was here that the Revolutionary War hero, Charles Davant, and his riding companion, John Andrews, were ambushed by the Royal Militia.

• Peeples, Robert E.H., An Index to Hilton Head Island Names (Before the Contemporary Development), p. 3