Hilton Head & Bluffton Lifestyle

Editor’s Note: In celebration of the 350th anniversary of the sighting of Hilton Head Island, and the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Hilton Head Island, a group of volunteers are organizing a 350/30 year anniversary blowout to commemorate both events with a town open house Sept. 30 and a beach party Oct. 5. Monthly proudly presents the following, the second in a series of historical articles leading up to the event. 

After crossing the bridge to Hilton Head Island, you will find yourself on Jenkins Island. It extends to mile marker 1, where Hilton Head Island actually begins. Located in what is the “tongue of the shoe” that is Hilton Head is a separate island, home to Jenkins Island Cemetery. This native islander cemetery is tucked away down a little-used road. Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church maintains this cemetery as well as Talbird Cemetery, located in Hilton Head Plantation by Skull Creek Marina, and Elliott Cemetery, also in Hilton Head Plantation, in Dolphin Head Park. 

The stories of Miss Hilton Head Island Maegan Garner and Miss HHI – USA Amanda Woods are as different as their respective pageants. Garner was involved in an automobile accident with a motorcyclist — who unfortunately succumbed to his injuries — and is now on a mission to raise helmet safety awareness. Wood, the product of a rough childhood — in which both parents spent time in jail — is on a mission to reach out to at-risk kids. Garner’s pageant, Miss Hilton Head Island, is part of the Miss America system, while  Woods’ pageant, Miss HHI – USA, is part of the Trump-owned Miss USA/Universe system. We sat down with both of these beauties to get the tale of the tape.

By John Kaiser,
Island Pest Control

According to the book of Medical and Veterinary Entomology, Second Edition edited by Gary Mullen and Lance Durden, bed bugs may have developed in caves in the Middle East that were cohabitated by humans and bats.

They have been mentioned as early as several hundred years BC in Greek literature. As trade among ancient cultures grew, so spread the bed bug. They were acknowledged in 11th century Germany, 13th century France and it is believed they were introduced to London in the 18th century. After hitchhiking on sailing ships in the bedding of early colonial settlers they finally reached the Americas. By the early 20th century you would be hard pressed to find individuals that had not been subjected to the bedbug’s love bites.

There is salvation in Hilton Head Island’s waters.
The voice of 73-year-old Reverend Ben Williams has been reverberating off the walls of Mount Calvary Baptist Church on Hilton Head Island for 37 years. (photo by Scott Salisbury)

Think you know your cool treats? Do you know what separates a water ice from an Italian Ice? Think again. To help you keep your cool, we’re giving you...

Well, June, you held on to the title as long as you possibly could.

For centuries it seems, you’ve been heralded as the “Most Popular Month for Weddings™,” based largely on the fact that you’re named after Juno, the goddess of marriage, which somehow meant that couples would find favor, and fertility, in their married lives when they wed under your summer moon.

All of this seemed a little sketchy, since Juno married her own brother, Jupiter, but whatever. We overlooked it. Because June is just that fetching, with its warm breezes and fireflies and longest day of the year.

Plus for a long time a June wedding made good business sense. Back when weddings were more focused on the practical and less on the pretty, a wedding was more of a transaction – dowry paid, bride delivered – than a celebration. And getting married in June meant the new wife could (Juno willing) get pregnant right out of the gate and still be healthy enough to help harvest the crops that fall. Then, after a brief pause from farming to have the baby, she’d be back in shape to help with the next year’s harvest as well.

Nic and Tristan Puehse may look familiar.
Study those 14-year-old faces. Where have you seen them before? Considering they now live on Hilton Head Island, it may have been at South Beach Marina, Park Plaza Cinema, Harold’s Diner or Stu’s Surf Side Subs, three of their favorite hangouts.

For Moss Creek resident Rosanne Adams, turning 70 is a reason to celebrate. And while most of us might opt to ring in our septennial with a quiet dinner with friends or a night out on the town, Adams chose a different tack.

She’s going to bike the entire length of the Mississipi River.

“We leave from New Orleans on May 3 and our destination is Lake Itasca in Minnesota, right at the headwaters,” said Adams.

Adams will make the trek as part of a group called WomanTours, a pack of wanderlust-infused ladies who make it a habit of criss-crossing the country once a year. She’s been riding with them since 2003.

This trip, however, has a special purpose beyond just taking in America at 12 miles an hour. Adams is collecting donations, support and funds from her trip and donating them to the Moss Creek Marines, a group of United States Marine Corps veterans, Navy Corpsmen and spouses of deceased Marines. The Moss Creek Marines “adopt” Marines in combat zones and help give them a taste of home through “packages of personal, comfort, and fun items to make life more bearable.”  according to their website.

Joseph Long and Beau Patterson of Hilton Head Island have each had stellar careers, but so have all 17 chartering members of Epsilon Mu, the newest chapter of Sigma Pi Phi, the nation’s first and oldest historically black Greek-letter fraternal organization.