Bluewater Resort and Marina

Golf

by grandmaR

Hilton Head is well known as a golf destination. There are lots of courses and some have been designed by very famous golf architects. Because we were there in the winter, the courses were a little less green, but they still were impressive.

According to one website, "The ultimate vote of confidence comes from the Fodor's Golf Digest Places to Play fifth edition where the courses at Palmetto Dunes received high rankings from the golfers who know them from first hand experience. The Arthur Hills course rated an impressive 4.5 stars and was noted as an "excellent course and treated like a king; great condition; last three holes unbelievable". The George Fazio rated an outstanding 4 stars. The Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course received accolades from Golf Magazine as 'The Pick of the Month' in March 2003.

I don't play golf. I did go onto the Arthur Hills course in Palmetto Dunes to photograph the rear range light - the only real lighthouse on Hilton Head Golf packages and golf lessons are available and the courses have pro shops. Golf Packages starting as low as $69.00 * Per Golfer/Night for 7 night 5 rounds (four golfers)

Adjacent to Fort Mitchel

by grandmaR about Old Fort Pub

We saw this restaurant when the tour stopped at Fort Mitchel, but we have not eaten there. It should have a good view of the sunset over the ICW.

SUNDAY BRUNCH
11:00-2:00 pm

DINNER
March - November Seven Days, 5:00 - 10:00 pm

December - February Seven Days, 5:00 - 9:30 pm

Their website says:

What is now one of Hilton Head Island's favorite "fine dining" restaurants, serving steak, seafood and Lowcountry favorites, started out in a humbler fashion.

April 3, 1973 was .. to the day the island's newest restaurant, the Old Fort Pub, opened for business.

"We had one requirement that most restaurants on the island didn't have," said Islander Andy Twisdale, the restaurant's first manager. "The staff had to know how to drive tractors." It seems that in inclement weather, the parking lot turned into a bog and patrons' cars had to be towed out to the road...

Fort Mitchel, actually a shore battery, was "re-discovered" when the restaurant site was being determined. “Everybody knew it was there,” remembered Howard Farmer, a long-time island resident, “but no one paid it much attention. It was completely covered with vines and weeds.”... From the very beginning, the restaurant had a certain panache. The idea, to make a "historical building," was quite successful. First-time visitors still ask if the building is somehow associated with the fort. To create strong ties to its neighbor, Ballatine had Islander Tim Doughtie design a miniature museum, featuring a collection Charles Fraser's photos of the period and newly discovered photos of Union troops on Hilton Head. The display still delights visitors.

On opening day, Andy Twisdale's mother, Janice, and Miss Annie Mae Holmes were in the kitchen, cooking okra gumbo and cornbread. "We always tried to have authentic, Lowcountry food on the menu, Twisdale recalled. The authenticity definitely came from Miss Annie Mae, as she preferred to be called, who dated her ancestry on Hilton Head to the War Between the States. She also had other preferences, Twisdale said. For one thing, no one could ever swear in her kitchen. For another, she did not work on Sundays. "She was a real character," Twisdale said, "and one beautiful person."

...Twisdale said because of its location, well away from more popular tourist destinations on Hilton Head, and its stunning sunset views across Skull Creek, the Old Fort Pub became a favorite of "locals," a kind of secret place to escape. Big oyster roasts and fish boils held outside were very popular.

" We had all sorts of crazy ‘events.' to attract customers. Once we had a ‘snowball fight.' We used marshmallows. But we only did that once. We discovered when the marshmallows got mixed in the cocktails, they made a very gooey mess on the floor," Twisdale said. "It was all great fun."

The Old Fort Pub remained a "local" restaurant for years. That was one of the reasons The Lowrey Group decided to buy it in 1993. After a few months of refurbishing, the Old Fort Pub again opened its doors to islanders on, most appropriately, July 4th. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Hilton Head baby!

by joits

First of all, I gotz to say congrats to my friends Pia and Tommy on getting married! It was a beautiful and very emotional ceremony.

It easily had to be one of the best wedding's I've ever attended. They put up all the guests in a huge multi-million dollar home in the Forest Beach area. We were a stone's throw away from the beach.

"I love that house!"

To house the many guests that flew in from all over... the bride and groom housed their guests in this amazing house right on the beach!

The amazing view from the second floor balcony just outside the master bedroom.