ABOUT US : HISTORY

Early History
The oldest artifacts found at Palmetto Bluff, stone tools made by Paleoindians, date to 10,000 BC. Following these early visitors, generations of Native Americans came to Palmetto Bluff to harvest oysters and fish in the rivers, and to hunt and gather in the forests. Today, archaeologists find oyster shells, bones, and fragments of clay pots and stone tools as evidence of the prehistoric people. However, by 1562, when Jean Ribaut arrived at Parris Island, the land of Palmetto Bluff appeared to have been uninhabited.

In 1730, a British naval officer, Admiral George Lord Anson, purchased the property. Anson never lived here, however. Instead, after sailing around the globe and capturing Spanish galleons, he returned to England to enjoy his fame and fortune. In 1757, Anson divided his May River estate into parcels which were sold as individual plantations.

In the antebellum era, Palmetto Bluff was comprised of several plantations. One of the plantation owners was Thomas Fenwick Drayton, commander of the Confederate soldiers at Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island during the Battle of Port Royal. In this battle, General Drayton faced his own brother, Captain Percival Drayton, commander of a Federal gunboat. The Union navy easily defeated the Confederate forces and General Drayton was forced to order a retreat.

Wilson Era

In 1902, Palmetto Bluff was purchased by Richard T. Wilson, Jr., a wealthy New York banker, and an era of lavish entertaining began. Although Wilson intended to use the property as a hunting estate, his wife, Marion, loved the social scenes of New York and Newport. Sometime around 1910, the Wilsons began construction of a grand mansion appropriate to a hostess of Mrs. Wilson’s standing. The four-story home filled what is now the Village Square and included a ballroom and a library as well as servants’ quarters and numerous guest bedrooms. One visitor described a room as being entirely devoted to the dolls of the Wilson daughters. The palatial building overlooked the May River and was surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens.

The Palmetto Bluff estate was designed with guests in mind. Visitors arrived at the estate by way of a Savannah Line steamship, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, or the Seaboard Airline train. The social pages of the New York Times listed the comings and goings of the New York elite with frequent mention of individuals “leaving today to visit Mr. and Mrs. R.T. Wilson of Palmetto Bluff, S.C.” Guests would stay for weeks, enjoying Mrs. Wilson’s lavish parties. Mrs. Wilson loved music and was an avid hostess. In New York, neighbors regularly complained that her parties there lasted well into the night.

Palmetto Bluff was Richard T. Wilson, Jr.’s idyllic retreat away from the city of New York until on March 2, 1926, the great mansion caught fire. A distraught Wilson had to twice be led away from the roaring flames, which eventually reduced the magnificent building to ashes.

The loss of his beloved home devastated Wilson. Unable to face rebuilding, he returned to New York and sold the entire property to J.E. Varn a few months later. Wilson died in New York City in 1929.

The Union Camp Era
In 1937, Palmetto Bluff came to the attention of Union Bag Company for its significant timber reserves. The paper company was headquartered in New Jersey, but it’s largest mill was in Savannah and the proximity of 20,000 acres of pine and hardwood resources was attractive, to say the least. Union purchased the property and set about planning a comprehensive forestry program.

As company officials spent more and more time at Palmetto Bluff it became obvious that the asset they now controlled was far more than just a tree farm. The 32 miles of riverfront and spectacular maritime forest would have a higher and better use someday, and the company created a conservation-based Land Use Plan to protect this fragile environment. To this day, Palmetto Bluff’s pristine natural beauty can be traced to the early land stewardship of Union Bag. (In the early 1970’s, Union acquired the Camp Paper Company of Virginia, and the merged companies, logically, became known as Union Camp.)

In addition to the natural beauty of the Palmetto Bluff site, company officials soon recognized that another asset was at their feet: teeming populations of deer, ducks, turkeys and wild boar, as well as fabulous fishing, both in the freshwater ponds and the river itself. It didn’t take much imagination to see that Palmetto Bluff could become a sportsman’s paradise. In addition to hunting for quail, ducks, turkeys, boar and deer, there were facilities for skeet and trap, sporting clays, and riflery, as well as guided nature tours.

Today, more than half a century after its original inception, the memory of the Lodge and the “Union Camp Years” occupies a prominent place in the history of this fabled property. Certainly, to the tens of thousands who enjoyed the sporting life here – or simply good food and companionship in communion with nature – its memory will live on.