Colonial Era on Hilton Head Island

In 1698, Hilton Head Island was included in a 48,000-acre barony granted to John Bayley of Ballinclough in the County of Tipperary, Ireland. There was no settlement on the island, but a small, 500-acre plot in the northwest corner was claimed by Col. John Barnwell (Tuscarora Jack) in 1717. There is no proof that he ever settled on the land.

By 1766, there were 25 families living on Hilton Head according to marginal notes on a map drawn by James Cook in that year. Hilton Head Island became an island of plantations and remained so until the Civil War.