After Hilton Head communities called ‘plantations’ were called out, what has changed?
When Margaret Lucchesi opened her mail late last month, she was immediately outraged.
Her community, Palmetto Hall Plantation, had sent out an anonymous ballot to every property owner. It directed her to vote on whether she supported removing the word “plantation” from her community’s name.
Lucchesi was aghast.
“Why are we voting on it?” she said. “Just remove it. Do the right thing. It doesn’t have to be a vote.”
Lucchesi and others on Hilton Head Island have called for the neighborhoods that use the word “plantation” in their names — Hilton Head Plantation, Palmetto Hall Plantation and Wexford Plantation — to rebrand.
The calls originated at a June 7 rally to protest the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police.
Local activists and native islanders say the word “plantation” harkens back to the days when Hilton Head was mostly owned by white planters who enslaved African people on their land. They say the word was used to portray a sense of southern mystique to out-of-state visitors looking for vacation homes.
But others say removing the word from island signage is an attempt to erase history, and it represents a massive financial undertaking.
The island’s debate over the word “plantation” exemplifies a reckoning with history that is playing out across the country. As this newspaper, and later The Washington Post reported, the “idyllic” island is not immune to calls for change from the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Here’s what’s happened in the month since the Rally for Justice and Change:
Hilton Head Plantation
Property owners in Hilton Head Plantation have started a committee that is lobbying its board of directors to remove the word “plantations.” The committee pledged $100,000 to offset costs cited by the community’s general manager.
Judy Dunning, a member of the HHP Community 4 Change group, said they’ve secured around $70,000. Fifteen people have also volunteered their professional services to defray the name change cost.
The committee has requested a comment period at the board’s July meeting to present its case. Dunning said her committee has consulted Realtors, attorneys, general managers of communities that have removed “plantation,” and Black islanders.
Black Hilton Head Plantation residents have spoken up for the name change.
“Especially for white people, for those people who think about history, they need to realize they don’t really know history,” reside Bill Patterson told The Island Packet. “It was a traumatic experience, and we’re not that far removed from slavery. My great-grandfather was a slave.”
Hilton Head Plantation General Manager Peter Kristian said in June that he could survey the community’s residents next year. The Community 4 Change group wants an earlier survey.
Palmetto Hall Plantation
Palmetto Hall Plantation, located near the airport on Hilton Head, has run a confidential vote on the issue.
Ballots are due by July 20. If the property owners in favor of a name change win the vote, the community’s name will be changed.
In a letter to residents, the community estimated a name change, perhaps to Palmetto Hall Preserve, would cost around $15,000. The letter said the cost is something the board of directors could absorb in the community’s operating budget.
The vote comes after a June 16 meeting where people voiced their concerns with “plantation.” The letter acknowledged several emails sent to board members about the issue following the meeting.
Wexford Plantation
Calls to Wexford Plantation administrative staff on Friday were not returned.
On the community’s Facebook page, a resident called for change.
“We moved here because my parents have lived here for 25 years and we know and love Wexford and the people who live and work here,” Kim Anderson wrote on the public Facebook page. “Having said that I find it difficult to explain to friends and family members why I live in a place that is called a ‘plantation.’”
Anderson called the name “antiquated, outmoded and socially unacceptable.”
She referenced a community survey she filled out, and a comment on her post reported back that the community’s board of directors voted to remove the word “plantation” from Wexford’s marketing materials.
“Until this is removed from the name of our community I can’t in good conscience recommend that people come and freely move and live here,” Anderson’s post says.
This story was originally published July 4, 2020 at 9:22 AM.
