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A Short History of Daufuskie Island
As the book by Conroy says, "The Water is Wide".
, Daufuskie is only thirty minutes from Hilton Head and an hour from Savannah by boat, but it feels like you're going back 100 years in time. Most of is still sandy dirt roads revealing an island that is rich in history and nature with one of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast.
Indians were roaming Daufuskie ten thousand years ago. Many artifacts have been found that date back thousands of years . Indians remained on Daufuskie until the eighteen hundreds.
The Spanish were on the island in the 1500's when Daufuskie was part of Florida. At this time we don't know of any Spanish settlement on Daufuskie but they left a presence in the form of small horses called "marsh tackys".
The plantations were started in the late 1600's and early 1700's when the English gained ownership of South Carolina. For the most part, Daufuskie land grants were given out to wealthy English families by the King of England. The early plantations planted Indigo and around 1800 cotton became king. When the Civil war broke out there were seven working plantations on Daufuskie Island. Many of the plantations on the island were so ornate that they were written about in European travel magazines.
The Union forces took over Daufuskie during the first year of the Civil War. Thousands of troops were camped on Daufuskie during the entire war until 1865. During the war many of the slaves living on Daufuskie were freed by the Union forces. At the end of the war the Union forces left and Daufuskie was inhabited primarily by the freed slaves. These freed slaves, because of the isolation of the island, kept a culture alive that would have disappeared decades ago. The culture is called "Gullah" and remains to this day on Daufuskie Island. The word "Gullah" comes from Angola, where the slaves were originally brought from. Daufuskie was gullah for 'the first caye' or the 'first key' north of the Savannah River.
In 1984, Doctor Jack Scurry built the first Marina on Daufuskie Island. Soon after this event came Haig Point and Melrose developments. The developments that were built on Daufuskie were built on large tracks of land that you could not get to before development, so the areas were the Gullah people lived remains primarily the same.
Today Daufuskie is a rare gem that can be visited by private boats or public ferries. There is no airport or bridge on this isolated and beautiful island.
Enjoy your adventure!!!