Marquis de la Fayette (1757 – 1834)
I recently presented a lecture on this impressive gentleman. The Marquis was 16 years younger than ‘our’ William Sams (1741 – 1798). They both were in South Carolina during the…
This category identifies any form of history about Dataw Island; our archives. Includes professional reports, copies of published articles, photographs, presentations, and works our Foundation members have researched and produced. To view these by tagged, relevant time period, go to our EXPLORE area.
The Hero’s Return: Lafayette’s Epic Journey Back to a Grateful America
The First Meeting of Lafayette and Washington, Philadelphia, August 3, 1777
Songs from a Sea Island Plantation
The music of the Antebellum Era expressed the feelings of the two classes of people on Sea Island Plantations: the white plantation owners and the enslaved people. Listen to their…
St. Helena Island’s Prehistoric Secrets: Mastodons
The DHF is proud that we have artifacts found on Datha Island in the early ALCOA days that date back thousands of years. For example, in the display on the southwest wall of the History & Learning Center is a Paleo Indian Point that dates to 10,000 B.C. However, many have explored our area over the centuries. I recently learned from a young lady in Massachusetts that Charles Upham Shepard found an older and much larger item on St Helena Island in the 1800s; an American mastodon (Mammoth americanum) from the late Pleistocene era! This intact skeleton, found next door, pushes back our knowledge of this area by several thousand years, to at least 12,000 B.C.
Oak Island
Oak Island is a 32-acre natural beauty sitting next door to Dataw Island. Native Americans frequented the island about 1,000 years ago. Fast forward 800 years to the BB Sams / LR Sams plantation era, and it was an adventure spot for James Julius Sams and his brothers Horace and Donald. As Sea Island cotton took off as the “finest in the world,” BB Sams decided to build a system of dikes between Dataw Island, Oak Island, and the two marsh hummocks to the north (i.e., Pine Islands).
Sky-High Survey: Delving into Dataw’s Historic Cotton Dikes
The Dataw Historic Foundation engaged Colin Brooker (Brooker Architectural Design Consultants) and Benjie Morillo (Frederick and Frederick Architects) to conduct a drone survey of historic features around Datha Island, particularly…
Enslaved People of South Carolina & Datha Island
This photo is of Brutus on Palawana Island, SC, circa early 1900s. The image is from Face of an Island: Leigh Richmond Miner’s Photographs of Saint Helena Island, compilation by…
Sarah Reeve Gibbes (1746-1825)
Peaceful Retreat plantation home of Robert Gibbes and his wife Sarah (Reeve) Gibbes. On the Stono River, John’s Island, SC. There is so much to say about this woman. She…
High Above Morgan River: Documenting the Legacy of Lewis Reeves Sams’ Home
By now, most of you will have received the Spring Edition 2022 of the Dataw Historic Foundation’s Tabby Times. This is the “live” version of the beautiful cover article written…
Grande Dames of Datha Island
We are compiling a list of the “Grande Dames of Datha Island” and adding each tree’s location and approximate age to the map below. We’d love to have residents participate by going to the Google Form at this link and entering data on whichever tree you wish.
Sarah Jane Graham (Sams) Sams (1835 – 1920)
Reproduction of a circa 1858 ambrotype of Sarah Jane Graham (Sams) Sams (1835 – 1920), courtesy of Teresa Bridges. Sarah Jane Graham Sams married Dr.Robert Randolph Sams (1827 – 1910),…
Sea Island Cotton of South Carolina
Presentation by Bill Riski, of the Dataw Historic Society, on the history of sea island cotton. He explains why plantations came to the sea islands, why this crop was unique to the sea islands, why it was so desirable, and why it disappeared. This presentation adds to the body of knowledge of the Sams of South Carolina. Though sea island cotton generated enormous wealth for a few, it required great suffering by many.