Sea Pines Guide - History

It was a different world in 1956. It was a time of expansion, growth, family and business. This rarely included nature preservation, working within ecosystems and developing artful communities with building restrictions in an effort to cultivate a timeless and unanimous design. These were the forward ideals of Charles Fraser, who at only 27 years old, began working with the 8-square-mile piece of land that is now a Real Estate Sea Pines Plantation Community.

It was unheard of to deed property to an individual being fully conditional on whether they would honor the stern land use covenants and not deviate from the aesthetic requirements, but that is what he did. Fraser wanted Sea Pines to be a natural extension of the land and to not tax the wildlife or nature during development. That is why to this day there is a 605-acre forest preserve, miles of unblemished shoreline and an array of wildlife which can be seen in their local habitat.

Fraser also commissioned the first golf course to be built on Hilton Head in 1962, The Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III. He then organized the development of the Sea Marsh course in 1964 and finally the now famous Harbour Town Golf Links in 1969. This began a long tradition of the game at Sea Pines, as Fraser hosted the first PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage tournament, where the renowned Arnold Palmer became world-famous as the champion of Hilton Head. The Sea Marsh course is still on the island but was renamed Heron Point when course architect Pete Dye redesigned it.