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Businesses show a spark of life around island's Old Wild Horse Road

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Shops sold school supplies, and there was a post office and quick dining options in the small north-island corridor around what is now Old Wild Horse Road. It was known as one of the two "downtown" areas on Hilton Head Island.

That was in the era before bridges, tourism and golf courses turned the quiet sea island into a premier resort. Back then, students attending the small schoolhouse in that area would pile into the shops next to campus to buy pencils, paper and candy.

The stores were among the first opened by native islanders --still almost the only islanders at that point -- and the area became a gathering place for the community to shop or see the nurse who visited the island once a month. The Chaplin area near the beach was the other downtown.

"It used to be a very vibrant area in the '50s," said Morris Campbell, who used to visit the stores for supplies when he was a schoolboy. "That always used to be the gateway to the island and always used to be the focal point."

Over time, the school closed and was replaced with a park. The stores changed and tourism development drove the community's focus from the native island downtown areas to newer centers with modern grocery stores.

It's no surprise the shops have sat vacant in recent years, a relic of an old era, crammed tightly against the speeding traffic on the island's busiest road near one of its busiest intersections.

But in the past few months, the area has seen some flickers of new life.

It's had an infusion of new stores, all run by black business owners from Beaufort County. For some native islanders, who long have complained about the difficulties of getting commercial options in their neighborhoods, that spark of life is a hopeful sign, especially in buildings that have a cultural significance.

"We don't have too many native islanders with businesses on (U.S.) 278," said Wesley Campbell, who has opened Campbell's Carolina Seafood and Produce, a shop in one of the spaces along the highway between Squire Pope Road and Old Wild Horse Road. "It seems like the numbers are getting lower and lower."

'BACK IN OPERATION'

The building on the south side of the highway was nearest to the old schoolhouse campus.

Campbell's uncle used the site for different purposes over the years, but it had been sitting vacant for the past five years after a previous owner's Gullah bookstore closed down.

Campbell has operated various produce stands in the area, including the one near the base of the bridges on the mainland. He decided the empty space would be a good spot for another stand on the island.

Next door, in other parts of the strip, renovations are under way in other vacant spaces, including one still boasting a sign for the Evangelistic House of Prayer, a "church for all people" led by Pastor Apostle Elijah Murray.

Other tenants have included a service station, health food store and an upholstery shop, Morris Campbell, Wesley's cousin, said. Another family member is hoping to open a massage parlor in the other portion of the building, Wesley Campbell said.

His uncle would be smiling to see the property still being used by the family, he said.

"We just want to try to get this thing back in operation," he said.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN OWNED

A similar looking building across the street also started as a school supply and general store half a century ago.

It was turned into a nightclub and pool hall about 15 years ago. It then became the site of the Music Express record store until it closed about four years ago.

It sat vacant until a salon opened in the space earlier this year, but the new business didn't last long.

Anthony Stokes saw the space as an opportunity to open a store that would be the only one of its kind on the island.

He painted the walls purple, put in some racks and opened the Lingerie Outlet 2, the only shop in southern Beaufort County selling adult movies, magazines, toys and games. Stokes also sells lingerie, hair extensions and costumes, and operates a thrift store out of a side room.

Originally from the northern tip of the county, Stokes operates another store near Beaufort.

He likes the stand-alone location on Hilton Head because he doesn't have to worry about offending neighbors.

Not that anyone really has a reason to be offended, he said.

"This store is about love," he said. "It's all about people rekindling their relationships."

Stokes said he's proud to be bringing life back to an area that held significance for some of the island's residents.

"It's a good thing that it's still African-American owned. Let's hope it stays that way," he said. "We don't have a lot of African Americans owning businesses in Beaufort County."

NEW SIGNS OF LIFE

The future of the area still is unclear.

Arthur L. Fraser, the owner of the strip on the south side of the highway, died five years ago and the trustees of his estate have been trying to figure out what to do with the property, Morris Campbell said.

The town has plans for beautifying the area, he said, and has labeled it the "island entrance," targeting it for redevelopment since every visitor must pass through the corridor.

Keeping commercial options in the native neighborhoods remains a challenge, said Hilton Head Councilman Bill

Ferguson, who represents the native island areas. Land prices are getting more expensive, making it tough for lower-income residents to gain a foothold in the business market, community leaders said.

But the new signs of life in that corridor at least give some hope for the future.

"(The stores) have always been a vital part of the native community," Morris Campbell said. The patrons "are all families that have been there since the existence of the island basically. They sort of stuck together."

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