Paleo- and Meso-Indians were hunter-gatherers, subsisting on nuts, berries, wild game, and fish. In the latter part of the Archaic stage (around 1500-1000 BCE), Native Americans began to produce the first pottery and domesticated some wild plants. During the Woodland period that followed, tribes led a more settled lifestyle, including growing agriculture in garden plots, creating more sophisticated pottery, and supplementing spear hunting with bow and arrow hunting.

It is thought that Native Americans in the Port Royal Sound vicinity spent summers in the Savannah River Valley and migrated to the coast during the winter to take advantage of the warmer weather and hunting and fishing opportunities. At one time, there were free-flowing springs on Spring Island and Native Americans would have gravitated towards this freshwater source. The oldest Native American artifacts found on Spring Island, which date back 10-13,500 years ago, were a Clovis Point and a small cache of tools. Some of the potsherds found during archaeological surveys dated to the early Archaic stage (8000-1500 BCE). Stone tools made of chert and grinding stones discovered on the island would have been acquired from further inland.

The Yamassee were displaced from the coasts of Florida and George by the Spanish in the 1600s and migrated to the Port Royal Sound region. The Altamaha Town Heritage Preserve, located just up the Colleton River from Spring Island, was the site of one of the group’s main villages at the time that John Cochran first settled Spring Island.

The original colony, located on Parris Island, was abandoned in 1587, in part because of raids along the nearby Florida coast by the English privateer Sir Francis Drake.

The English did not return to South Carolina until 1663, when Captain William Hilton sailed into Port Royal Sound. Hilton described the Port Royal area as a “sub-tropical fairyland”:

“Lands are laden with tall Oaks, Walnuts and Bayes, except facing on the Sea, it is most Pines, tall and good. The land generally, except where the Pines grow, is good Soil covered with black Mold…The Indians plant in the worst land because they cannot cut down the Timber in the best, and yet have plenty of Corn, Pompions, Watermelons, Muskmelons...they have two or three crops of corn a year, as the Indians themselves inform us. The Country abounds with Grapes, large Figs, and Peaches: the woods with Deer, Conies, Turkeys, Quails, Curlues, Plover; Teile, Herons: and, as the Indians say, in winter with Swans, Geese, Cranes, Duck and Mallard, and innumerable of other water-Fowls…Oysters in abundance with a great store of mussels: a sort of fair Crabs, and a round Shellfish called Horsefeet…”

The English established their first permanent South Carolina colony at Charleston in 1670. In St. Augustine, Florida the Spanish encouraged their Indian allies to raid the settlers and their allies in coastal South Carolina. To reduce this threat the English recruited Scots who settled in Beaufort County and became Indian traders. Brazen attacks on Indian villages in Georgia were led by the new Scottish settlers in an attempt to capture Indians as slaves. This soon led to a brutal retaliation by the Spanish and their Indian allies in the 1683 massacre of Stuart Town, the Scottish community in Beaufort.

When Cochran arrived he would have encountered a landscape that resembles the landscape of today in some ways, although there were some noticeable differences.

The maritime forests ringing the perimeter of the Island are largely unchanged. The slash pine savanna still dominates the low-lying areas of Big Neck and Little Neck.

The upland section of Spring Island, however, looked quite different in 1706. Here, like elsewhere throughout the southeastern Coastal Plain, Cochran would have found a park-like, longleaf pine savanna maintained by regular seasonal fires started by lightning strikes or by Native Americans.

Cochran, like many of his countrymen, was lured to the region by the British government that continued to attempt to maintain a buffer between Charleston and Spanish Florida by using “expendable” Scots. The financial attraction to the area was the lucrative trading with the local tribes.

The Yamassee tribe had formed a trading network with tribes as far west as the Mississippi Valley. In 1684 they began moving to the Port Royal area to trade with the English.

In 1715, after years of being exploited in unfair trade practices and losing farmland to the English, the Yamassee joined with the other Muskhogean tribes of the Southeast and initiated a war in 1715 to drive the English from the region. Their first action was to lure a group of traders, including John Cochran and his wife, to their village (near present-day Gardens Corner) where they were summarily massacred. The region remained in turmoil until 1728 when a South Carolina regiment destroyed the last Yamassee stronghold outside the Spanish fort Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

Spring Island remained in the Cochran family for almost 200 years. John Cochran’s nephew inherited it and upon his death in 1739 his three heirs, Cato, John and Mary Ash, each obtained shares of the Island. Cato and John did not retain their shares, and Mary Ash was soon the sole owner.

Mary Ash married George Barksdale and died some time before 1757 shortly after her daughter, Mary Cochran Barksdale (known to all as “Polly”), was born. In 1773, Polly married John Edwards, a Beaufort merchant.

John Edwards died in 1787 and Polly died on Spring Island in 1791. She probably lies in one of the unmarked graves still visible in the Old House Cemetery. Polly left three small children, one of whom was George Edwards.

In the early 1800s George Edwards used slave labor to transform Spring Island’s landscape by clearing most of the upland areas to plant sea island cotton, a crop from the Caribbean that was introduced into the region in the 1790s. By 1830 Edwards owned more than 300 slaves who did the hard work of farming, tending the home, and caring for the land. By the 1850 census, over 70% of the land on Spring Island was agricultural fields.

Many written and first person accounts give us a picture of life on sea island cotton plantations. Enslaved men, women and children lived in slave “rows” or quarters. They hailed from West African tribes such as Bakongo, Ibo and Wolof. Each tribe brought distinct ways of life and spiritual beliefs. Gullah tenant farmers lived in the old settlements well into the 20th century. Contemporary lowcountry arts and crafts (such as basket and net weaving, pottery and cooking) still draw inspiration from these traditions.

Shortly after the death of George Edwards in 1859, his son, George B. Edwards, sold 96 slaves in an effort to settle his father’s estate. George B. Edwards died in 1860, only a year after his father’s death. November 7, 1861 became known by the local slaves as “The Day of the Big Guns.” Residents of Spring Island looked eastward across the waters toward Hilton Head to watch as the U.S. Navy bombarded Confederate troops at Fort Walker. This was the first naval battle in which ship-mounted artillery defeated a land-based force. The resulting Union occupation of the Beaufort County sea islands lasted throughout the Civil War.

Collins Mitchell, also known as John Fripp, was one of the Edwards’ slaves. Mitchell and his family were born into slavery on the Edwards Plantation and sold in Charleston just before the outbreak of the Civil War. He escaped to join the Union Army and served in the 21st Regiment, United States Colored Troops (USCT), participating in the siege of Charleston. In an extraordinary story, against remarkable odds, the family later reconnected, returning to Spring Island following emancipation. Collins Mitchell died a free man on Spring Island in 1910. He is buried in the Old House Cemetery.

In 1862, the Federal government initiated “The Port Royal Experiment” in Beaufort with the establishment of the first school for freed slaves. This original school became the Penn Center, which still exists on St. Helena Island.

Following the Union victory at Fort Walker, many white residents fled Beaufort County, leaving the slaves to fend for themselves. General Ormsby Mitchel established the African American community of Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island near the Union encampment. Many of the former slaves enlisted in, or were employed by, the Union Army.

After 1861, slaves stopped tending many of Spring Island’s fields. Live oaks began to encroach on the cotton fields, soon transforming them into today’s iconic Spring Island live oak forests.

In 1874, Spring Island was sold to Elizabeth Hammond Inwood, a descendent of John Cochran. After her death in 1885, ownership passed to her son, Henry Creode Trenhold Inwood. Henry was the last descendent of the Scottish Indian trader, John Cochran, to own the island.

When profits from truck farming dwindled, he turned to cattle and hogs. In 1931, he raised approximately 80 Hampshire brood sows and more than 200 Black Angus cattle. Island fields were planted in oats and corn to feed the herd. Mr. Copp built a large frame house at Bonny Shore Landing in 1927. At that time, 35 former slave families continued to live on the Island.

Otillie M. Copp Mills, Mr. Copp’s wife, sold the Island in 1943 for $81,250 to Minnie E. Carter. The Island then passed to Percy A. Horswell in 1945, to Robert M. Lee in that same year, and to John F. Lucas in 1946. Mr. Lucas raised free-range cattle and hogs on the Island. In addition, he logged it extensively.

In November of 1964, Mr. Lucas’s widow sold Spring Island to Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Walker, Jr.

In 1963, Elisha and Lucile Walker accepted an invitation to go shooting with longtime family friends Ed and Betty Greeff near Ridgeland, South Carolina. Herbert L. Pratt, at that time president of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, had purchased Good Hope Plantation in 1910 during an era when many northern industrialists and financiers were acquiring hunting preserves along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Elisha Walker, an avid bird hunter, fell in love with the South Carolina lowcountry during his visit to Good Hope. By the time he returned to his home on Long Island he was determined to have his own property.

On August 14, 1964 Elisha and Lucile Walker purchased Spring Island for $401,500. The original purchase included a lot at the mainland Chechessee Creek community because there was no bridge to Spring Island. The Walkers’ visitors boarded a boat known as “The Gobbler” on the mainland and stepped out onto the Spring Island boat landing some 15 minutes later.

Walker hired Gordon Mobley, a native of Waynesboro, Georgia, as Spring Island’s plantation manager in 1966. Gordon moved to Spring Island with his wife and their daughter Donna. Later the Mobleys had two more daughters, Sara Anne and Pete.

Gordon had all the skills required to develop a hunting estate. In addition to being a first-rate dog trainer and handler, he knew how to farm, how to oversee quail hunts, how to entertain and how to be a diligent host. With help from his wife and three daughters, Gordon made sure that the “red carpet of hospitality” was rolled out for all guests. Gordon’s cooking, his stories and his passion for Spring Island created lasting memories for all who visited Spring Island.

Elisha Walker’s vision served as the template for today’s Spring Island landscape. When he arrived in 1964, many of the original fields created for quail hunting by William Copp in the 1930s and 1940s were overgrown with young trees. Free-range cattle and hogs still roamed the woods. Tabby ruins were hidden by a jungle of spindly saplings. There were no habitable buildings. The old Copp Mansion, in the area that is now called Bonny Shore Landing, was in ruins and only three old tenant houses from the early 1900s were still standing.

In 1966, even before the Walkers completed their residence (known as the “Walker House”), Elisha was busy reshaping the landscape of Spring Island. He supervised the building of roads, the construction of dikes to create ponds and the restoration of fields that had become overgrown. He oversaw the construction of the gazebo at Bonny Shore Landing. Elisha also created the plan for the live oak allee along today’s Mobley Oaks Lane.

Aerial photos taken by the New York engineering firm Lockwood, Kessler & Bartlett from 1969-1973 show the dramatic transformation of Spring Island. By 1973 the Island had a number of elements in place that made for great hunting and fishing. There were long fields planted in corn in the center of the Island and a matrix of small wildlife plots planted with soybeans throughout the forested areas. A series of saltwater ponds around the perimeter of the Island were ideal for fishing and duck hunting. The Duck Ponds, an interior set of seasonally flooded fields, were planted with corn in the summer and flooded to attract ducks in the winter.

Elisha Walker, who was a very religious man, commissioned New York-based Italian sculptor Clemente Spampinato to create an outdoor chapel with a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. The statue’s marble base was shipped directly from Italy to Savannah. “St. Francis” was completed in 1971 and two years later the first service was held there. Sadly, the dedication of the chapel was also a memorial service for Elisha Walker, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of 62.

Following Mr. Walker’s death, Mrs. Walker spent much of the year on Spring Island. After her death in 1982, the family began offering weekly rentals of Spring Island to small groups of hunters. Additional staff was added because Gordon Mobley couldn’t manage both the hunts and the management of the landscape. It soon became apparent that rentals would not generate sufficient revenue to support the operation and Spring Island was put up for sale.

The Enmark Corporation of Columbia, South Carolina acquired an option to purchase Spring Island from the Walker Trust in 1985. They obtained zoning for 5,500 housing units and two 18-hole golf courses. Road access was dependent on a high-rise bridge from the mainland, but the purchase option period expired before a permit to build a bridge was issued.

Chaffin and Light envisioned Spring Island as a low-density development. They described their vision as follows: “The Master Plan for Spring Island is a purposeful unity of man and nature. Nature preserves, club amenities, recreational facilities and home sites have been thoughtfully woven into the ecological fabric of the Island to create a managed, private nature park. All property owners have the responsibility for the stewardship of Spring Island.”

Internationally recognized land planner Robert Marvin worked closely with Chaffin/Light as they developed Spring Island’s Master Plan. He repeatedly told them “State your vision and philosophy and every action will either support or detract from that vision.” Their philosophy for Spring Island became “a community within a park” rather than a park within a community.

The basic development plan divided the island in thirds. Approximately one-third of the island would become nature preserve, one-third of the island would be residential homesites, and one-third of the island would be community property which would include an 18-hole golf course and a 24-stall barn. During the design phase an important first step was to identify the boundaries of the nature preserves to ensure that the ecologically important natural areas and significant historical features would be within their boundaries. The nature preserves would be owned and managed by an environmental non-profit organization called the Spring Island Trust. The impact of intense development would be minimized by placing community areas in sections of the island that had a long history of human habitation.

The footprint of homes would be minimized by having two kinds of lots: smaller cottage lots and larger estate lots. The smaller cottage lots reduced the cumulative impact of development by clustering homesites into three enclaves, all of which were located in areas with previous human habitation (community amenities were also located in these clusters). The larger estate lots would come with restricted covenants that required preservation of native habitat along the property boundaries of each homesite. This prevented forest fragmentation from occurring in these residential areas. In addition, golf course designers were instructed to lay out the 18-hole golf course so that most of its fairways were located in the pre-existing mosaic of fields, thereby minimizing the number of trees that had to be removed.

By 1993 the first two homes were built next to the Walker House. The brick residence next to the present-day Golf House served as the early Pro Shop. Starting with the construction of the Tree House, Walker Landing was transformed into what it is today. The Golf House opened in 1997, the Nature Center in 1998 and the River House in 1999. The developer transferred governance of the Club and Property Owners’ Association in 2000. Thanks to the foresight of the original master plan and the restrictive covenants that accompanied this plan, Spring Island today continues to function as one large, 3,000 acre natural area because natural habitats are present in all areas regardless of ownership.

The Spring Island Trust became a nonprofit corporation in 1990. In 1998, the Spring Island community founded the LowCountry Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization, to support environmental education, conservation and research in the region. That same year, Dr. Chris Marsh, who had served for five years as a consultant to the Trust, was hired as the Executive Director for both the LowCountry Institute and the Spring Island Trust. In 2016 these two environmental organizations were merged into one 501(c)(3) organization called the Spring Island Trust which continues to accomplish the goals of both original organizations.