William Hilton, the Captain Behind the Island’s Name

Who Was William Hilton?

William Hilton was an English sea captain who sighted the island in 1663 during a voyage out of Barbados, sponsored by Barbados planters who were looking for land to settle. He explored the Carolina coast and wrote up what he found, praising the “sweet water” and “clear sweet air.” Mapmakers began to call the headland he saw Hilton’s Headland, and over time it became Hilton Head.

Why Is It Called Hilton Head?

The “Head” is the headland, the point of land Hilton saw from the water, and “Hilton” is the captain. The island had other names before and after: Spanish and French explorers charted it in the 1500s, and maps from the 1680s to the 1720s show Altamaha Island, Bailey’s Barony and Trench’s Island. The Hilton name won out, and the Town of Hilton Head Island was incorporated under it in 1983.

It has nothing to do with the hotel company. The Hilton hotel brand was founded in the 20th century by Conrad Hilton and is unrelated to the 17th-century captain.

William Hilton Parkway

The captain is remembered every day on the island’s main road. William Hilton Parkway, US 278, is the road that carries traffic from the bridge across the island, and many island addresses are given on it. If you came across the name in your directions, this is the man behind it.

What Came After Hilton

Hilton did not settle the island. The Yamasee lived here by the 1680s, English planters followed, and by the 1700s plantations worked by enslaved Africans covered it. The full story, from the shell rings to Sea Pines, is on the history of Hilton Head Island.