Preservation & Maintenance of Historic Sites
The Heritage Library owns and maintains two sites on Hilton Head Island.
Historical marker for the Zion Chapel of Ease and Cemetery
The Fort Mitchel site in Hilton Head Plantation contain the remains of a coastal defense battery erected in 1862 to protect the southern approaches to Port Royal Sound by way of Skull Creek from incursions by Confederate gunboats based in the Savannah River. Ft. Mitchel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in June, 2017.
The St. Luke's Parish Zion Chapel of Ease Cemetery at the intersection of Mathews Drive, William Hilton Parkway, and Folly Field Road is the location of the Island’s first Episcopal Chapel built around 1788 at that location to serve the needs of island planters and their families during the heyday of the sea island cotton boom. It was also the site of the militia muster house, and there was a Masonic lodge nearby. The site is the location of the Baynard Mausoleum, the oldest extant building on the island. The cemetery and mausoleum were added to the National Register of Historic Places in October, 2017. Click here to see the final application.