Fun things to do in Hilton Head Island

pictured is a foundation of a slave quarters on the grounds of braddocks point plantation. the original plantation covered over 1,000 acres of hilton head island and was named after captain david braddock. these foundations can be found near the stoney-baynard ruins.

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The museum gives several tours, and even in the winter we could do the trolley tour. It is one way to get onto the Harbour Town without paying the entrance fee, and we could see the toll road without paying for that. They also took us into several of the limited access "plantation" areas and showed us where the shopping areas were. These had been hidden from us previously by lack of signs.

Cost: $30.00 per adult / $15.00 per child (ages 3-12)

They now also have a Port Royal Tour as well as some walking and nature tours.

This is what I wrote about our tour. The driver said he was a retired principal from Alaska who retired down there, and that he worked for tips.

He told us about the covenanted communities which certainly appeared true. There are restrictions on what colors you can paint your house (only 5-10 colors possible and no white window frames). After dark the buildings are supposed to disappear into the landscape and return to like natural and they do. After dark you can't see anything - no neon signs except inside - only floodlights on the little signs. No golden arches. And in the residential areas no trucks, no gardens, no clotheslines, no fences etc., but you could rent a plot to raise a garden on.

We saw the Neptune statue sundial and went into Sea Pines (which has 60 miles of bike trails, but you can't ride your bike into Sea Pines - have to bring it in on your car or rent it there) to the Harbour Town Marina. We also passed the stables, and a lot of golf courses and tennis courts.

By the time we got to Harbourtown it was quite cold and very windy. So the driver put the plastic windows down and I couldn't take anymore pictures. We went back to the museum via the Cross County toll road.

at the hilton head welcome center you can arrange a trolley tour of the island. the tour covers the historical and natural attractions of the island. traffic on hilton head island can be heavy and the trolley tour is a very relaxing way to see the island.

the hilton head welcome center is a good first stop on a visit to hilton head island. the welcome center is home to the coastal discovery museum which has displays on the history and ecology of the island. the welcome center is also a good place to get information on hotels, restaurants, and the attractions of the island.

If you are vacationing to Hilton Head Island and are looking for the hottest venues to hit for happy hour and nightlife and want a run town of top restaurants, dance clubs, piano bars, wine bars, bands, entertainment and where they play and when... Tune into Hilton Head Island Nightlife.

http://www.hiltonheadislandnightlife.com

Updated frequently with all the things to do and see once the sun starts going down.

In addition to its famous golf courses that are geared towrds adults, Hilton head also features a number of miniature golf courses that the kids will enjoy. Unlike many other US miniature golf courses, the ones on Hilton Head do not feature any moving obstacles (windmills, etc.). The reason for this is the island's very strict zoning laws, which, believe it or not, have a subset of rules about what can and can't be installed on a miniature golf course!
The miniature golf courses on Hilton Head feature miniature water hazards and sand traps, which we seemed to end up in just like we did on the adult golf courses. Despite the different course format, Anna still had fun, as did her cousins who played with us.

[phot to come]

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Since we were here in the winter, and don't play golf or tennis, there wasn't really much for us to do. One thing we did was go to the museum. We walked around inside. We looked at the exhibits, and then saw about a hour CD on the history of the island. Most of the places with Plantation in their names -- weren't. That's just a marketing ploy to make them sound exclusive. Hilton Head was actually the first place that freed blacks had their own town which they ran themselves. It was a small museum but interesting.

The museum has a collection of items relating to the Island's history and culture. They offer and island tour on a kind of trolley, which would have been good if the tour guide didn't give out so much mis-information. In the summer, there are nature walks around the Island (there's a self guided trail on the museum grounds), lectures and an oral history project.

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We drove to Savannah and took the Old Savannah Tours tour. We got a really good and entertaining driver. They gave us a map with the stops on it but it did not have the route taken, but I think we saw all the main attractions of Savannah and he also told us which movies were filmed at various locations (which didn't mean a thing to me as I don't watch movies).

We got off at the City Market where the horse and carriages were and had lunch. Then we got back on the next trolley that came by and from here we went down to the waterfront down a steep cobbled street, and by Factor's Row. We saw the waving girl statue, and the little Olympic flame statue (they did some of the sailing events from the Atlanta Olympics here). But mostly this section of the tour went by various hotels. I did see a big powerboat at the docks here like we often see on the ICW.

Then we got into the car and drove out to Fort Pulaski. We saw the film about the fort history. A cold front went through and a dense fog rolled in. We could hardly see the other side of the fort. I had seen a small lighthouse outside the fort when we came in, and we could also see the Tybee Island light in the distance, but we couldn't see any of that now. We walked around the fort a bit . Then we got back in the car and tried to drive back to Savannah. We drove by the 6 mile Rails to Trails section again, and then we came to an intersection and turned left and ended up going over the fixed bridge in Thunderbolt where we often stayed when we were here by boat. On the way home, we went through Bluffton again but it was too early to stop for dinner.