Heritage Library continues its geometric growth, this time into 2,700 square feet

History just got a new wrinkle in Beaufort County.

The Heritage Library has moved to an airy, 2,700-square-foot location on Hilton Head Island.

That's a long way from the closet in The Seabrook retirement community its holdings occupied 13 years ago. That's when the library began as a genealogical special-interest group of the Women's Association.

When husbands wanted to get involved, it morphed into the Genealogical Society, which morphed into the Heritage Library Foundation in 1997. The Computer Club pitched in from the beginning because the goal was to link to databases from the National Archives and beyond.

Then in 2005, the Heritage Library Foundation absorbed the Hilton Head Island Historical Society and its historic land holdings, the Zion Chapel of Ease and Fort Mitchel.

The new library in the Harbourside Bank Building at 825 William Hilton Parkway is home to 4,000 volumes -- and tens of thousands more via computer. That closet at The Seabrook held 300 volumes.

The Heritage Library charges an annual membership fee, or a daily research fee, and, like every other nonprofit organization in the county, it goes about with its tin cup out for donations, grants and volunteers.

The new location proves there's interest in regional history and genealogy. It proves there's support for this addition to Beaufort County's cultural resources. It's a nice addition beyond the priceless holdings of the Beaufort District Collection at the Beaufort County Public Library.

The Heritage Library -- like the community it serves -- reflects interest and connections to states and regions across America and the world.

But it remains steeped in the Lowcountry, and wants to be more so in the future. It is helping many descendants of slaves trace their roots. Gullah storyteller Louise Cohen credits the library with helping her learn a lot about forebears she never knew.

Volunteer researcher John Griffin helps families throughout Beaufort County trace their history through federal pension records for the black troops mustered on Hilton Head during the Civil War. It's amazing what can be reconstructed about the lives of former slaves from these and other records.

The Heritage Library remains a squirming baby when compared to the long heritage it helps illuminate. But it has always been proactive in promoting interest in our societal history, including the African-American experience in South Carolina.

Beaufort County has more stories to tell than can fit in all our libraries combined.

It's good to see those stories aren't being hidden in a closet.