History
Kiawah Indians
Kiawah (Key-a-wah) Island perpetuates the name of the Kiawah Indian tribe who used the Island for hunting and fishing during the 1600s. In 1682, the entire population of the Kiawah Indian totaled about 160. That number rapidly decreased following the arrival of European settlers and the diseases to which the Indians had no built-in resistance. In 1675, the Kiawah Indians ceded the Island to the English Lords' Proprietor, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftsbury.
In 1716 there was a Chief of Kiawahs living on the Cooper River, who are known as "Cassique." In 1743 the Kiawah Indians received a grant of land south of the Combahee River. Pottery found on Kiawah Island dates as far back as 4,000 years, suggesting that the Kiawah Indians and their ancestors may have lived in the vicinity of Charleston Harbor for thousands of years.
George Raynor
Captain George Raynor, rumored to be a reformed pirate, was granted Kiawah Island on March 29, 1699. Based upon a letter written on Feb. 28, 1700, by Quaker founder of Pennsylvania William Penn, "Carolina is known to be harboring suspected pirates connected with Captain Kidd. They are settled as planters, etc., one, Raynor, their captain, lives in Carolina."
John Stanyarne
John Stanyarne, a wealthy planter who lived on nearby Johns Island, purchased Kiawah Island in 1722 and used it for cattle ranching and indigo production. "Blue gold" would propel Stanyarne to enormous wealth. When he died in 1772, his estate was valued at about $2.5 million. Stanyarne deeded the eastern half of the island to his granddaughter Elizabeth, who was married to General Arnoldus Vanderhorst. The western half of the Island was deeded to his other granddaughter, Mary Gibbes.
Elizabeth Vanderhorst
Granddaughter of John Stanyarne and wife of General Arnoldus Vanderhorst II, she inherited the eastern half of Kiawah Island in 1772 and built a plantation house which was destroyed by the British in 1780 during the American Revolution. A new plantation house was built around 1802 and still stands today off Governor's Drive.
Mary Gibbes Middleton
Granddaughter of John Stanyarne, Mary Gibbes Middleton married James Shoolbred, the British Consul for South and North America, in 1797. She died in 1808 and her remains are buried on Kiawah Island. Middleton and Shoolbred's graves are located just off of Rhett's Bluff Road.
Arnoldus Vanderhorst II
Arnoldus was General of the South Carolina militia during the Revolutionary War and Federalist Governor of South Carolina from 1794 to 1796. After leaving the governorship in 1796, he returned to his plantation on Kiawah Island where he cultivated cotton. He died in 1815 and he was buried at the St. Michael's churchyard in Charleston.
James Shoolbred
British Consul for South and North America, he married Mary Gibbes Middleton in 1797. He built his home in the area of present-day Rhett's Bluff which served as a tropical haven for he and his family. Shoolbred died in 1848 and is buried alongside his wife just off of Rhett's Bluff Road.
C. C. Royal
Charles Clarence "C.C." Royal made his fortune in the lumber business. After purchasing Kiawah Island in 1950, he asked his wife Eugenia Mae ("Mae") to select a site for their home. She selected a high dune crest off what is now Eugenia Avenue. C.C. subdivided the property along Eugenia Road into 65 lots, which he sold to his friends – a governor of South Carolina and several senators. The Royals spent several months a year on Kiawah raising their seven children.
Kuwait Investment Company
A land plan consisting of combining resort operations with residential development was implemented and one of the first green space development projects was established on Beachwalker County Park. A stock market crash in Kuwait in the mid-'80s marked the beginning of the end of Kuwait's involvement in Kiawah.
