"After the Oyster Harvest" - Hilton Head Is.,SC - 1904

An oyster sloop lays at anchor almost ebbed out in Broad Creek on Hilton Head Island, after a day’s harvest of oysters in the fall of 1904. Broad Creek traverses the middle of Hilton Head Island, feeds to Calibogue Sound in the distance, then on to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The small wooden skiffs, referred to as “bateaux” from the local Gullah culture, were towed behind the oyster sloops to carry oysters from beds to the larger sloop for transport to dock, oyster canneries or shucking houses.The oyster industry was the most valuable South Carolina fishery from the 1880’s to 1945, and harvesting was limited to state residents.  In 1904 South Carolina ranked third in the number of oyster canneries in the U.S., and second a year later. 

The rear range lighthouse located in the Leamington section is visible above the tree line.  It was built in 1880 as part of a larger system of navigation lights guiding ships to Port Royal Sound, and was visible for 15 miles.  The wooden exterior, which also included a lookout section, was decommissioned in 1932. It was restored in 1985 and added to the National Register of Historic Places.

From the end of the Civil War until the 1950’s Hilton Head Island was a sleepy sea island near the Georgia border.  It has since blossomed into one of the premier resort islands in the U.S. with 40,000 residents.