Latest updates: Courtesy of a customer, I share the link to the Town of Hilton Head Island's Historical Record Center. Browse the "Community Development Files" to find archaeological reports, historic photos, development plans, plats, etc. 10 May 2023 -- gmc
I added the link to the Nancy Ciehanski Papers Finding Aid, corrected broken links, updated the statistics re: the Summary Guide to Municipal Records, and deleted missing images and irrelevant references on 15 March 2023 - gmc
Each of Beaufort County's municipalities observe the legal requirements for public record-keeping and try to observe open government practices to encourage citizen involvement and participation in government activities, goals and operations, though each town may put its own touches to the release and distribution of documentation of the government's business. You can view lists of records relating to the municipalities in the South Carolina Archives Summary Guide to Municipal Records. The Archives lists 5662 record series that include 7,358 cubic feet of paper records and 15,137 microfilm reels of county and municipal records, but unfortunately not very many records for the municipalities in Beaufort County.
Although Beaufort may have been founded as an English settlement in 1711, it did not incorporate until 17 December 1803. Unfortunately, records from those early years are few. We have some historical records for the City on microfilm in our Research Room:
Ordinances of the Town Council, 1866-1915The Summary Guide to Municipal Records indicates that the Sheriff's Records for the City of Beaufort are located at the SC Archives.
City of Beaufort Minute Books, 1868-1882, 1911-1993
The BDC Research Room have some maps authored by the City of Beaufort and several reports but the bulk of materials that we have about the City are located in the "Beaufort - City- Government" vertical file or in the "Keyserling, Billy" vertical file.
For current documents, begin on the City of Beaufort website.
Although settled in 1825 as Kirk's Bluff, Bluffton was incorporated in 1852, making it the second oldest municipality in Beaufort County. For almost all of its history, it was a very small settlement of approximately 400 - 1000 people. Growth accelerated in the 2010s when Bluffton annexed 32,000 acres of land thereby becoming the fifth largest municipality by area in South Carolina. Now the estimated population of Bluffton is18,897.
The Summary Guide to Municipal Records at the State Archives indicates no records for the Town of Bluffton.
The BDC Research Room has a few official documents authored by the Town of Bluffton in own holdings that you can find by using the catalog.
Explore the "Government" tab on the Town of Bluffton website. There you'll find its Code of Ordinances and some current municipal documents are posted online.
Town of Port Royal
The Town of Port Royal logo sports the date 1562 referring to Charles Fort, the first Protestant settlement in North America which was located on nearby Parris Island. The town of Port Royal was incorporated in 1874 in the flourish of activity surrounding the opening of the Port Royal Railroad and associated port.
The Town of Port Royal website includes a "Government" tab which has the town's ordinances.
Last in creation, but not least, is Beaufort County's youngest municipality, the Town of Hilton Head Island.
Town of Hilton Head Island
The current version of the Town of Hilton Head's logo has a ghosted image of its earlier logo. The earlier logo included the date 1663 when Captain William Hilton espied the island while on an exploration for the English government and 1983 the year when the town was incorporated. Only 35 years old, the Town of Hilton Head Island was designed as a "limited services" town, primarily to wrest planning and development oversight from the Beaufort County government.
I recommend Evolution of a Town by Buzz Carlota and Profits and Politics in Paradise: the Development of Hilton Head Island by Michael N. Danielson to those who would like to know more about the evolution of Hilton Head Island's municipal government. For those of you who are wonks, the Nancy Ciehanski papers can provide lots of insight. She was very involved in the Beaufort County Joint Planning Commission and the first Municipal Town Council.
The Summary Guide to
Be sure to explore the Town of Hilton Head Island website. You can find important municipal documents through the "Government" tab to get a dropdown screen to then choose "Historical Record Search".
Note: The South Carolina Electronic Records Archive (SCERA) continues to add materials in digital form. Some municipal records may be available online.
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