The buyer of the 498-acre Pine Island property on St. Helena Island seeks to develop a high-end golf course and resort by amending the zoning map to overstep the Cultural Protection Overlay that explicitly prohibits golf courses, gated communities, and resorts on St. Helena Island.  Instead, Beaufort County must preserve the culture, history, and environment of St. Helena Island for current and future generations of Americans to learn from and enjoy. We also call for a Section 106 environmental review of St. Helena Island, which has not been done.

The centerpiece of St. Helena Island is the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District, an irreplaceable, invaluable cultural and historical resource that is significant to South Carolina and to the entire United States. After Boston’s Abiel Smith School (founded 1835), the Penn Center (founded in 1862 as Penn School) is the oldest school in the US for African Americans, and the first public school for African Americans in the Deep South. Established during the Civil War for the freedpeople of South Carolina’s coastal Gullah-Geechee communities, the Penn Center’s fifty acres and twenty buildings have operated continuously for 160 years, making it one of the country’s longest running Black institutions and a national treasure.  Historic photographs show Laura Towne, one of Penn School’s founders, teaching Gullah-Geechee students on Pine Island, which is listed on the National Register. In addition to enabling many generations to “catch the learning,” the Penn Center has contributed to the nation’s story of freedom, equality, and justice from the Reconstruction to the present as a favored destination for civil rights activists.  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. composed drafts of his memorable “I Have a Dream Speech,” one of the best-known speeches of all time, on the Center’s grounds.  The Penn Center is unique as only one of two National Historic Landmark Districts in the entire country focused on African American culture, history, and life. The other site is Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue National Landmark Historic District, a center of African American education and wealth where Dr. King was born and raised. In addition to this historic through-line from slavery to civil rights, St. Helena and Pine Islands stand on the original lands of several indigenous peoples, including the Edisto, Escamacu, and Yemassee.  Artifacts and graves of their communities and descendants are likely still present on St. Helena and Pine Islands.  

Below is a summary of the cultural, historical, environmental, and civic rationale for denying the request for development of an exclusive, luxury golf course and resort on Pine Island. 

I.       Cultural and Historical Erosion   

In addition to the above cultures and histories, St. Helena Island contains two historic praise houses, which African American Christians built and worshipped in during slavery and continue to use. One of them stands on Eddings Point Road, in proximity to traffic that would access the proposed golf course-resort. Tabby ruins such as the Chapel of Ease also tell an important story of the islands’ plantation histories. Those signing this petition hold paramount our duty to protect and preserve these resources to benefit future generations.

II.  Maritime and Environmental Erosion

The salt marsh sustains the livelihoods and supports the culture of St. Helena Islanders. Casting nets for shrimp, harvesting oysters, setting crab traps, and catching fish with rod and reel are vital parts of the rich, multigenerational Gullah-Geechee maritime heritage. Running 1o docks and a marina across Village Creek and the Morgan River at Pine Island will restrict access to these public trust resources and diminish the community’s ability to pass on these traditions. Replacing forested land cover for a golf course and resort will accelerate runoff, spelling trouble for the region’s water and drinking quality and damaging wildlife habitat for such threatened species as our national bird, the bald eagle, manatees, diamondback terrapins, short-nose sturgeon, and others. Those signing this petition hold paramount our duty to protect lands and seas to sustain the health of future generations.

For over twenty years, CPO zoning, tailored by and for St. Helena Islanders, has prohibited development pursued through zoning map amendments. Such development will enable cascading negative impacts for generations. Beaufort County, please deny these plans! 

Pine Island and Village Creek viewed from the Morgan River