Our view: Honey Horn must be off limits for arts center

Honey Horn is Hilton Head Island’s Central Park, and it needs to stay that way.

Advocates for a new arts center eyeballing the bucolic 68 acres need to be told right now that Honey Horn will not be available to them under any circumstances.

The same should be true for anyone else who comes in with grand ideas and a bulldozer. Honey Horn is owned by the public for the express purpose of avoiding just that, and the town should never blink. Think: “No Trespassing.” “Keep Off The Grass.” “Shhhh! The Marsh Tackeys Are Sleeping.”

Honey Horn — as undeveloped open space — fulfills Hilton Head’s grandest and longest-running vision. To pave it over and fill it with buildings would be criminal.

Charles E. Fraser, the developer of Sea Pines whose place in the Hilton Head Island Hall of Fame is honored at Honey Horn, illustrated this vision by setting aside hundreds of acres of open space in the Sea Pines Forest Preserve.

In the last years of his life, he chastised other developers for not following suit.

Fraser followed that by donating 50 acres of open space now known as the Audubon Newhall Preserve. That is also a tribute to Caroline “Beany” Newhall, one of Hilton Head’s greatest visionaries. Her vision was for peace and quiet. Honey Horn is fast becoming one of the last places in Beaufort County for that greatest of all amenities.

Honey Horn fulfills a defining vision of the Town of Hilton Head Island and its people: the vision of public land ownership to reduce density, commercialism and traffic congestion. It represents, as a quiet, undeveloped place, the best of Hilton Head.

It came intact to the public domain thanks to the vision for Hilton Head by its previous owners, Fred C. and Billie Hack, who also are in the island’s Hall of Fame. Fred Hack was the original pioneer developer on Hilton Head, and he was a woodsman who appreciated the subtle beauty of Honey Horn and kept it that way.

What a shame it would be to destroy these visions and values at this point. It should never be allowed to happen.

The land already is subject to a long-term lease from the town to the nonprofit Coastal Discovery Museum. The museum exists through the largesse of town money and private gifts. The town should not renege on promises to public and private donors who have enabled the subtle but important improvements to the grounds and buildings.

Honey Horn must meet other commitments as well. It plays a key role in the town’s disaster recovery plan as the temporary site for debris disposal. And it now is vital to the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, with its fields serving as an unpaved parking lot during the annual PGA Tour golf tournament in Sea Pines.

And without Honey Horn’s open space, there would be no Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance, which bloomed into a major event on the Honey Horn grounds.

Honey Horn has played a special role in the story of Hilton Head Island, through all its varied eras. Its grandest chapter, however, began when it became public. It is a beautiful piece of quiet open space that should forever stay that way.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Our view: Honey Horn must be off limits for arts center."