A NOSTALGIC TIMELINE OF THE ISLE OF PALMS T
HE ORIGINAL inhabitants of the Isle of Palms, which was first known as Hunting Island, were the Sewee
Indians. Te island was later named Long Island because of its elongated shape. Te first man to own Long Island was an early settler from Barbados, Tomas Holton, who was granted title in 1696. Troughout the mid-18th century, Long Island remained virtually unknown, except for occasional hunting and fishing parties that landed on its sandy shores. During the American Revolution,
a force of 2,500 British troops led by Gen. Sir Henry Clinton landed on the north part of Long Island at a spot that later served as the 18th fairway of one of two Wild Dunes golf courses. On the morning of June 10, 1776, the infantry troops at- tempted to cross Breach Inlet at low tide to wage a land attack on Fort Sullivan. Tey not only were unable to ford the treacherous currents of the inlet but were met on the other side by Col. William Tompson’s American troops and a company of
Catabwa Indians. Clinton’s fairlure contributed greatly to Gen. William Moultrie’s defeat of the British fleet. Te first home to be built on Long
Island, in 1897, belonged to the Nicholas Sotille family, which used it as a summer residence. With no other form of transportation to the island, the Sotilles hired a rowboat to cross Breach Inlet from Sullivan’s Island. Not long afterward, several more families built small houses on the island. Te years between 1898 and 1928
marked the development of “modern transportation” to the island, by ferry boat and trolley car. Te earliest trolleys, which ran only on Sullivan’s Island, were horse-drawn and ran on wooden rails that often shifted with the sand. Te first active develop- ment of the island began when, with an eye on attracting tourists, Dr. Joseph S. Lawrence renamed it the Isle of Palms. On July 28, 1898, the first passengers of the Charleston and Seashore Railroad Co. began their journey to the luxurious new sea re- sort. Tey boarded the Commodore Perry in Charleston at the foot of Cumberland Street, were met by a
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A WALK THROUGH HISTORY:
trolley car in Mount Pleasant and crossed nearly eight miles of railroad to get to the Isle of Palms. Te train crossed Cove Inlet on a long trestle, proceeded on Sullivan’s Island along Middle Street past the Atlantic Beach Hotel and finally crossed Breach Inlet onto the Isle of Palms. In 1902, the luxurious 50-room
Hotel Seashore served dinner from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., with a trolley car returning diners to the mainland. For 75 cents, the menu included pickles, sliced tomatoes, mock turtle soup, roast spring lamb, mint sauce, ribs of beef au jus, baked bass, po- tatoes, peas and corn, lettuce salad, macaroni, plum pudding, ice cream and cake. Te Hotel Seashore burned to the ground in the early 1900s but was later rebuilt. Besides bathing, visitors to the Isle
of Palms in the summer of 1906 and 1907 could take part in a day of rac- ing; the beach was sometimes used as a racetrack for the new horseless carriages, as automobiles were called. Driving on the beach was legal until 1953. In 1912, James Sotille began to operate the Isle of Palms as a resort. IOP’s popular Pavilion had private
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