Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn

Admission

free, donations welcome

Parking

free

Hours

Mon–Sat 9–4:30, Sun 11–4:30

Affiliation

Smithsonian Affiliate

The Coastal Discovery Museum is the Hilton Head Island museum most visitors mean when they search for one. It sits on the 70-acre Honey Horn property off William Hilton Parkway, land whose history goes back more than 300 years, and it is a Smithsonian Affiliate. It began in 1985 as the Environmental and Historical Museum of Hilton Head Island and moved to Honey Horn in 2007. Its stated mission is to inspire people to care for the Lowcountry, and about 130,000 people a year come through its gates. Locals use the two names interchangeably: Honey Horn is the grounds, the Coastal Discovery Museum is what happens there.

Admission is free, with donations welcome, and parking is free, which makes it one of the best no-cost half days on the island.

What to Do at Honey Horn

• Hands-on learning stations: the Butterfly Learning Station and Blue Crab Discovery are the two families with young children head for first.

• Guided tours and walks: historical walks of the property and Gullah heritage tours, led by the museum’s own guides.

• On the water: dolphin and nature cruises and kayaking trips, booked through the museum.

• Workshops: sweetgrass basket workshops, a craft that comes from the island’s Gullah Geechee heritage.

Programs and tour times change with the season and some need a reservation, so check the museum’s visit page before you plan around one. Groups reserve ahead by email.

The Farmers Market and Art Market at Honey Horn

The grounds also host the museum’s Farmers Market and Art Market, which is why you will hear the Honey Horn farmers market named as often as the museum itself. Market days and hours shift with the season, so check the museum’s events calendar for the current schedule.

Honey Horn Plantation’s History

Honey Horn takes its name from John Hanahan, an Edisto Island planter who bought the 270-acre Garden’s Plantation here in 1792; “Honey Horn” is most likely his surname as islanders said it. William John Graham and Anne Barnwell Stoney owned it by about 1854 and built a one-story frame plantation house just before the Civil War. That 1859 house is now Discovery House, the oldest building on the grounds and home to the museum’s main exhibits.

In the 20th century Honey Horn became a hunting retreat. Owner William Clyde started the supervisor’s house just before 1900, and after the property was bought as a hunting preserve in 1931, Landon K. Thorne and Alfred Lee Loomis added the horse barn and other buildings. The Hack family’s shed for farming and timber equipment followed in the early 1950s. Honey Horn is now Town of Hilton Head Island property, and the museum, founded in 1985 as the Environmental and Historical Museum of Hilton Head Island, moved onto it in 2007 with the Town’s support.

Plan Your Visit

Gates lock 30 minutes after the museum closes, so leave the grounds before then. For a children’s indoor option in town, see The Sandbox Children’s Museum, and for the story of how the island got here, start at the history of Hilton Head Island.