Scarborough Head

The promontory approximately one mile south of Hilton Head has been designated on various maps since 1735 as Scarborough Head; it marks the point where Port Royal Sound and the Atlantic Ocean meet.  Like the name Hilton Head, Scarborough Head does not derive from any settler or plantation family, but rather from things nautical.  It was named for H.M.S. Scarborough, a man-of-war, which patrolled the Carolina coast as early as February 1726 when records show that “a young Gentleman belonging to the Scarborough Man of War” was buried in St. Andrew’s Parish.  The ships officers were still using Scarborough Head as a land mark as late as November 1758 when Governor Lyttelton wrote from Charles Towne, “Captain (Isaac) Colcock arrived here the 2nd Instant in the Scarborough Man of War. The name persists.

• Peeples, An Index to Hilton Head Island Names (Before the Contemporary Development), p.35