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In the early days of the Sea Pines Company, when Hilton Head Island was making a name for itself as an upand-coming place to visit, everyone on the island was on message.

The first marketing efforts were simple and told the world of Hilton Head’s pristine beauty, its stretches of sparsely crowded beaches, the sedate charm of the newly developed sea island and the recreation bounty it offered. Then in the ’80s, when bankruptcy rocked Sea Pines and much of the island, the coherent mantra fractured.

Hilton Head Island’s modern history is defined by several watershed moments, when decisions put this special place on a different course than other beach communities.

As resort towns like Myrtle Beach — and countless others along the East Coast — sold out for high-rise hotels, homes that encroach into sand dunes and touristy franchises, Hilton Head’s soul has always been its deliberate attempt to preserve what makes this place such a good place to live and visit: the stunning natural beauty of an island maritime forest.

It was a radical idea at a time when cookie-cutter suburbs were springing up across the country and most beach towns consisted of modest homes on stilts. Hilton Head now serves as a template for developments throughout the world.

Beyond the good looks, it’s the lively people who matter

What fools would make the big retirement-location decision based on a single visit?  What dummies would end up with a 30-year mortgage 900 miles from a longtime home without ever scouting other locations and other states?

Meet the happy idiots of Hilton Head Island. Yes, us, done with full-time work and now anticipating years of bliss here in southernmost South Carolina.

In the early ‘90s, Hilton Head Island had few public parks to speak of, let alone a wish list of a dozen or so potential parks the town wanted to build, or even much of a parks program. But a big debate over the future of the town was already unfolding and the forces that supported expanding beyond the idea of limited-services government and embracing a parks program to benefit the island’s families and visitors were on their way to victory. Enrollment at the Island Recreation Center’s sports programs was growing, and the island’s population boom was well underway.

That was how Frank Soule and other members of the recreation association ended up in the marshy, thickly wooded patch of undeveloped land near the opening of Broad Creek, watching then-Mayor Harvey Ewing’s car sink into a patch of notoriously unrelenting Lowcountry mud. They hooked a 4-wheel truck up to Ewing’s car and dragged him out of the mud.

TRANSFER FEES: REALTOR PERSPECTIVE

It seems there are several new fees cropping up (just like taxes), that affect the value of your real estate. You may not notice them until you sell, but they could lessen the value of the house you live in. The following explains why.

We have always had deed recording fees, one type of transfer fee. While most of these monies go to the state, some go to the county. Many people are familiar with the Town of Hilton Head Island’s transfer fee, which remains on the island. It’s hard to guess how much the former adds to the value of your property, but it’s easy to drive around the area, see the open spaces the Town has purchased, and realize the value added to all properties by our local transfer fee.