The old site of Beaufort’s Harris Pillow will now commemorate a Revolutionary War battle
A short drive south on U.S. 21, past Whale Branch Early College High School, is the former site of Beaufort’s Harris Pillow Supply — the maker of the “world’s most comfortable pillows.”
The 12-acre property, next door to the Highway 21 Drive-In movie theater, is also the site of an important battle in the Revolutionary War.
In 2016, Harris Pillow received a $225,000 grant from Beaufort County to move its operations down the road on Parker Drive, leaving its 22,000-square-foot facility on U.S. 21 vacant.
On Wednesday, Beaufort County announced that, along with the U.S. Department of Defense and the S.C. Conservation Bank, it had purchased the property for a combined $1.8 million from owners Harris Pillow and Mike and Connie Kling.
Beaufort County contributed $557,037 from its rural and critical lands program, with $910,000 from the Department of Defense and $352,963 from the state Conservation Bank.
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The Defense Department’s contribution includes a restrictive easement that protects the property from future development that would affect the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort nearby.
The land, referred to as The Port Royal Island Battlefield, will be “protected” as part of the S.C. Liberty Trail — a statewide network of Revolutionary War battlefields, according to a news release about the purchase.
A partnership between the S.C. Battleground Trust and the American Battlefield Trust in Washington, D.C., the Liberty Trail aims to create a driving tour of 70 Revolutionary War battlefields in the state. The battlefields will be connected to several historic and cultural sites through an app, the release said.
“Protecting the Battle of Port Royal site is an important step towards the goal of securing our state’s Revolutionary War legacy and making our history available for the public,” Raleigh West, director of the S.C. Conservation Bank, said in the release.
Thomas Heyward Jr. and Edward Rutledge, two signers of the Declaration of Independence, fought in the battle, described as significant. A total of 82 American and British troops were killed, wounded or captured in the skirmish at The Port Royal Island Battlefield.
The battle, fought on Feb. 3, 1779, resulted in an American victory. If the British troops, under the command of William Gardner, had been successful, they would have controlled the Port Royal Sound — the deepest natural harbor on the east coast, according to the release.
Doug Bostick, CEO of the S.C. Battleground Trust, said he was excited to work with Beaufort County to “interpret this battlefield to the public.”
“It will be an important stop on the Liberty Trail,” he said. “This early-war battle includes a number of compelling storylines.”
