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About Us

A passionate and dedicated core of residents established the Dataw Historic Foundation (DHF) in 1997. Today we continue to preserve the historic ruins on our South Carolina Lowcountry sea island and remember the stories of those who were here long before us. We are the custodians of the rich history of Dataw Island and its entire history from prehistoric to the plantations to the present. We hope this history will become essential to the cultural experience among all Dataw Island residents and visitors.

Our 2025 DHF Board at the Fireside Chat on 30 January 2025. Foundation President Marilyn Peck is second from the left. Photo from Rosemary Patterson (left) who made the arrangements for this wonderful event.

2025 Board of Directors

Officers Name
President Marilyn Peck
Treasurer Sonya Scott Baehren
Corresponding Secretary Joe Roney
Vice President / Volunteers Diane Roney
Vice President / History Bill Riski
Recording Secretary
Sonia Fails
Board Committees/Chairmen
Ruins Preservation Kevin Mack
Long-Range Planning Jack Brown
Fundraising-Co-chair  vacant
Membership Peter Bongiovanni
Public Relations Rosemary Patterson
Tabby Times
Susan Emons
Others
Director-At-Large Peter Pearks
Director-At-Large Marti Johnson
Director-At-Large Ginny Hall-Apicella
Technical Consultant Larry Rowland
DIOA Board Liaison TBD

Dataw Historic Foundation

As a 501(3)c non-profit foundation, DHF serves to preserve and protect the historic structures on Dataw Island. The Foundation strives to make the 300-plus year Dataw Island history meaningful for all residents and visitors. A walk through the Sams Plantation Ruins and Sams Family Cemetery (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) reveals over 30 preservation projects and interpretive signs that describe the original plantation house complex, active from before 1783 to 1861.

In 2016, after a decade of work to bring it to life, the Dataw Island History & Learning Center opened next to the Sams Plantation Ruins. DHF worked tirelessly to raise the money to pay for the construction. Dataw residents, descendants of the Sams family, and interested friends of the organization from the greater Beaufort community all donated funds for its development. The museum contains documents and digital archives as a resource to historians. It serves as a classroom for visitors and residents and is a ‘jump off’ point for docent-led tours of the Sams Plantation Tabby Complex and Sams Family Cemetery.

The History and Learning Center is the first permanent home for our collection of artifacts unearthed since our community’s construction began in 1983. We are proud of its success. Today it is a mortgage-free facility to be enjoyed by all residents and visitors.

In its first 47 months, nearly 2,900 people have visited the History & Learning Center. Visitors have hailed from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and ten countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Panama, and Spain.

The credibility of our efforts has been recognized over the years, as described below.

Awards

Events

07 April 2025

DHF Board Meeting

Find out more
History & Learning Center, 285 Dataw Drive
St Helena Island, SC 29920 United States
+ Google Map
11 April 2025

2025 Dataw Historic Foundation’s Author’s Luncheon with T.I. Lowe

The year is flying by! Time to mark your calendars for the Third Annual Dataw Historic Foundations Author's Luncheon on April 11th. This event is open to everyone. Please mark…

$35.00
Find out more
Dataw Island Clubhouse – Carolina Room, 151 Dataw Club Road
St Helena Island, SC 29920 United States
+ Google Map
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 Projects

Some recent and ongoing projects

Dataw Island: No Ordinary Place

Dataw Island History

From prehistoric times to present day, an island rich in history, mystery, and stunning natural beauty. Experience the beauty and history of Dataw Island, South Carolina in this exquisite, limited edition, historical, coffee table book. With over 200 images – from archaeological findings to Dataw’s ruins and its breathtaking natural vistas, you will enjoy and learn the depth of history that makes Dataw the special place that it is today.

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Tale of Two Cemeteries

Dataw Island History

The tabby ruins at the Sams Plantation Complex stand as mute evidence of a bygone era. There were two distinct ways of life which coexisted in the antebellum South. The Plantation Owner and his family were White, European-American, educated, affluent and engaged, politically, socially and culturally, in the wider community. The Slaves, on the other hand, were captured by European slavers who forcibly removed them to North and South America from all over West Africa.

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Preservation

The Dataw Historic Foundation collaborated with South Carolina and the Federal government to get the Sams Tabby Complex recorded as South Carolina archaeological site 38BU581 on the National Register of Historic Places. The main complex contains the ruins of a plantation house and ancillary buildings. Away from the main site, there are ruins of a cotton barn and a small chapel beside the family cemetery. At the far north end of the island are the limited ruins of a second plantation house generally covered by the tides. All of these are made of tabby or resting on tabby foundations.

Dataw Island and especially the location of the B.B.Sam’s ruins have been settled since the late 1700s. The fact that the island was a cotton plantation until the Civil War and then reverted to small subsistence and truck farming until the mid-1980s meant that the early tabby buildings were allowed to deteriorate but were not obliterated by development. By the time ALCOA began developing today’s residential community in 1983, it was still possible to define many of the original structures.

Early efforts of ALCOA, coupled with those of various local historical groups, were focused on the archaeological investigations of the island. By the early 1990s, the decision was made that the prime effort would be to preserve the ruins as they then existed, and nothing would be attempted in the way of restoration. From then until now, work in support of that objective has been ongoing under DHF management. We have worked in consultation with professional archaeological and architectural preservation specialists. The actual work has taken two courses. First, there has been an effort to apply timber bracing to standing walls and wood framing to the few window openings still existing. The very rare tabby roof of the dairy building has a crack through it being monitored weekly; additional stress gauges are to be installed. The second significant effort has been to add a protective “concrete” cap to all exposed horizontal walls and deteriorating foundation surfaces.

The link below takes you to an extensive set of photographs and descriptions of 19th Century artifacts found on Dataw Island. Some of these items even date back to the natives who lived here thousands of years ago.

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