'Plantation' name remains local staple for Beaufort County gated communities
The past month's debate about the Confederate battle flag has caused much of the state to revisit history, and that conversation has seeped into a local term that has divided residents before -- the use of the word "plantation."
Definitions of "plantation" are aplenty, but almost all reference a large agricultural estate where crops are grown and harvested by resident workers.
Other definitions also refer to plantations as large areas where trees have been planted for commercial use or farm estates in hot parts of the world.
For others, though, it connotes the South's dark reliance on slave labor to cultivate so many of those old plantations.
Whether the word is appropriate for the community is a discussion local leaders have had before. The originator actually dropped it more than 20 years ago; others have downplayed it without eliminating it, and others still use it front and center.
The Frasers' Sea Pines Plantation was the first community of its kind and set the standard for the development of the rest of the island -- including the use of the word.
Port Royal, Shipyard and Hilton Head plantations would follow shortly thereafter, modeling their communities around exclusivity, golf and the wealth that the classic image of a large plantation home brings to mind, plantation leaders say today. As the island and greater Bluffton grew, dozens of new communities followed suit.
But the word's connotations with slavery are ultimately why Sea Pines "quietly, without fanfare" became the first to drop plantation from its formal name in 1993, according to an Island Packet article from the time.
"On the positive side, the word plantation means something that is private and secure," Cliff Charnes, then-president of Sea Pines Co., told the newspaper at the time. "On the negative side, if the word is offensive to a large number segment of the island population that connects the word with slavery and something ugly, we didn't see any need to keep it and possibly offend guests, visitors or our own employees."
The decision set off a series of conversations around the island during the mid-1990s about the use of the word and its meaning. Black community leaders worked at the time to get the neighborhoods to reconsider their use of the word, and it in part re-ignited discussion of the exclusion of native islanders from much of Hilton Head, said Emory Campbell, Gullah leader and former Penn Center director.
It was during that period when members of Shipyard and Wexford, in particular, both discussed the word. Although they formally kept it in their titles, both removed it from their entrance gate signs, town manager Steve Riley recalled.
Now both downplay the word in some of their materials, such as on letterheads or merchandise, even though the word is still a legal part of their name, the community's general managers said.
For others, though, dropping the word might ultimately be a function of marketing and not political correctness, several plantation leaders said.
At Colleton River Plantation along U.S. 278, the property owners association began reviewing its overall marketing strategy in January and told its consultant to study the use of the word, association president Jim Humphrey said.
"What was good 20 years ago may not be appropriate today," Humphrey said.
For now, though, Campbell says "plantation" will continue to divide the community during a time when the state is coping with a complicated racial history.
"It's just like the removal of the (Confederate) flag," Campbell said. "That's not going to solve anything unless we examine the meaning of that image and then work toward removing the things that image produced."
Today, "plantation" lingers in the names of 11 gated communities throughout the county. We asked each what discussions, if any, were occurring in their neighborhoods.
Hilton Head Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1973
Number of homes: 4,120
There are occasional individual complaints about the use of the word, and it could become a topic at the next association board meeting this month, but the community is not pushing to change the term and doing so would be a monumental task, homeowners association board president Harry Meyers and general manager Peter Kristian said. "Hilton Head Plantation is a brand, and changing that brand would be rather deleterious to the entire operation," Kristian said.
Port Royal Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1962
Number of homes: 975
There has been no push for a name change, general manager Lance Pyle said, adding that dropping plantation from the name could lead people to confuse it with the town of Port Royal.
Rose Hill Plantation, Bluffton
Year established: 1980
Number of homes: 960
"I have had no calls from any residents regarding the use of the word plantation," Rose Hill general manager Jane Pritz said. "If the board were to hear from residents they would certainly discuss the residents' concerns."
Colleton River Plantation, Bluffton
Year established: 1990
Number of homes: 700
The property owners association has been working with a consultant since January to study the community's marketing strategy, including the use of the word "plantation," association president Jim Humphrey said. The new branding and whether it will include the word will be presented to the association and community members in the coming weeks, he added.
Wexford Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1983
Number of homes: 460
There has been no recent pushback from either residents or staff over the use of plantation in Wexford materials, which goes back to the development's founding legal documents, general manager Susan Fishel said. A change was briefly discussed two years ago, she said, but nothing came of it at the time.
"The climates change and opinions change and the world changes, and if it comes to the point that this is a discussion for anyone, we certainly would sit down and talk about it," she said.
Palmetto Hall Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1985
Number of homes: 420
Residents are not talking about reconsidering the use of the word plantation, but property owners association board president Rick Smith said he will broach the topic at a recent board meeting to gauge reaction.
Brays Island Plantation, Sheldon
Year established: 1993
Number of homes: 325 home sites
Multiple messages left with Brays Island leaders were not returned.
Pleasant Point Plantation, Lady's Island
Year established: 1990
Number of homes: About 300
The property owners association would discuss it should any residents ask, board president Kelley Mohrmann said, but that has not happened so far.
"My experience is that it's an extremely broad expanse of discussion (online) and not everyone is plugged into that at every level, so it's tough to gauge from that what the interest level would be," Mohrmann said.
Shipyard Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1970
Number of homes: 255
There have not been new complaints, but the property owners association will discuss the issue at its meeting in August, general manager Sally Warren said. When the same issue arose about 20 years ago, the board decided not to change the name, but the word plantation has been minimized across its letterhead, materials and marketing, Warren added.
Spanish Wells Plantation, HHI
Year established: 1973
Number of homes: 195
Chuck Park, general manager of the Spanish Wells Club, said he has heard no discussion in the community. Several messages left with members of the association were not returned.
Bull Point Plantation, Seabrook
Year established: 1995
Number of homes: 50 built, 199 more lots purchased
Only one resident has called the administrative office to ask about the use of the word plantation, but very little conversation has taken place otherwise, director of operations Peter Marzluff said. Calls to leaders of the property owners association were not returned.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach and on Facebook at facebook.com/IPBGZach.
This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "'Plantation' name remains local staple for Beaufort County gated communities."