Josephine Wright lawsuit settled. What’s happening with the Hilton Head land?
Two months after Josephine Wright’s death, the fight for her Hilton Head Island home is over.
The Wright family will retain its land and home, according to family spokesperson Altimese Nichole. She said Monday the family and Georgia-based construction company Bailey Point Investment signed a settlement in the ongoing lawsuit over Wright’s land, which entered mediation in September. The Beaufort County public index says the case is pending.
“They’re no longer fighting the Wright family for any parts of the land,” she said.
The settlement closes a saga that started in February 2023 when Bailey Point sued Wright over parts of her home it said encroached on its land. Since then, Wright’s fight garnered attention from national media and celebrities like Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg. She called the lawsuit a bullying tactic and spent the last year of her life defending the land, which had been owned by her late husband’s family since the Civil War.
It’s a triumph for those in the Gullah Geechee community at a time when Gullah home ownership on Hilton Head is trending downwards. Gullah people owned over 3,500 acres of land on the island following the Civil War, but now they own fewer than 700 acres, according to Lowcountry Gullah. At the height of ownership, Gullah owned 14% of Hilton Head Island’s 26,880 acres of land. Now they own less than 2.6% or fewer than 700 acres.
The home Perry promised to build Wright and her family is slated to be built in the coming months on the plot next to the home that the lawsuit targeted, according to Nichole. Before her death, Wright said the home mentioned in the lawsuit would remain on the parcel despite the new home’s construction.
For Bailey Point’s construction, Assistant Town Manager Shawn Collin previously said the town wouldn’t approve the certificate necessary for building permits for the 147-housing-unit development until the property encroachment and boundary issues had been resolved.
Terms of the settlement
Nichole said that she couldn’t disclose if there was money involved, but there is an understanding that the Wright family owns the 1.8-acre parcel in the middle of Bailey Point’s planned 29-acre neighborhood.
Other terms of the settlement, according to Nichole, include:
- Bailey Point can no longer contact the Wright family about purchasing the land
- A privacy fence between the Wright family property and development
- Fixing part of the old home’s roof
- Landscaping on the Wright’s property
It is unclear whether Bailey Point or the Wright family will be responsible for the privacy fence, fixing the roof or landscaping; however, Nichole said Monday more details will be released soon.
While the Wright family’s fight may be over, Nichole said they’re aware it’s not over or just starting for many other Gullah landowners. And they want to help, she said.
“They’re grateful that they can just move on,” Nichole said of the family. “The biggest takeaway is that they can now focus on helping others through the Josephine Wright Foundation.
This story was originally published March 19, 2024 at 8:26 AM.
