Once upon a time... on this island near Beaufort, South Carolina, there lived a great king, and the king's name was King Dataw.

Legend says that he was a giant and that he achieved his tremendous size by a diet of special herbs.

This legend was passed on to the first Europeans who came to this shore.

In 1520, when the Spanish first explored the coast of South Carolina.

They heard the legend, and so it has come down through the years to us.

The King's Island is now known as Dataw Island and has played a tremendous part in the history of the Sea Islands and of the Lowcountry.

Our story tonight is about the people who have lived here and the legacy which they have passed to us.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> Five thousand years ago the inhabitants of these islands were the Native Americans.

Even today, in a resort community, evidence of their life here can be found.

In the hands of an archaeologist, bits of pottery or stone used for a household instrument or a weapon can reveal a great deal about their life here.

Such an archaeologist, Dr. Larry Lepionka of the University of South Carolina in Beaufort.

He has done a great deal of excavation on the island and has brought us some fascinating things.

Why are we in this site with shells?

(Lepionka) The shell was here because the Indians collected and ate it.

The site occupied several hundred feet along the east shoreline of Dataw with the tidal channel providing access to deep water and marshes to collect those shellfish.

They used dugout canoes to get there.

The site is one of the earliest on the island, dating to about 2,000 B.C.

It's about 2 feet below ground.

Just about everywhere one digs, over a very wide area, one will come up with pottery and other artifacts.

We have some of it here.

The most interesting thing about this pottery is it is the oldest in the United States.

The fine markings are remnants of plant fibers mixed with clay before it was fired.

This is found along the Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida coast, and up the major river valleys associated with shoreline areas.

They seem to concentrate on riverine and estuarine resources.

Probably many places had fairly large populations occupying the same location for a good period of time.

>> Would there be many villages or populations along this area?

(Lepionka) I don't think there would have been a huge number, but in Beaufort County as a whole, we have quite a considerable number.

Many centuries were being utilized as well.

>> You mentioned that this pot is of great interest.

(Lepionka) This is the largest sherd that came out of the test pit.

Part of one single pot, we'll put it together to get some idea of its shape.

One has the markings of fire used in cooking.

On the back of it... some sort of charring there.

Here we see the characteristic decoration often associated with these...punctate marks.

where a stick, shell, or sometimes a fingernail would be pushed into wet clay in horizontal bands around the surface of it.

Here we have river cobble, not native to this area at all.

It was found with pottery at the same depth and was undoubtedly used for processing nuts and other food items.

It does have some marked, abraded surfaces.

>> It's amazing that I'm looking at some of the oldest pottery in our country.

If one's building a home or hunting over the area, one should be aware that artifacts are in the soil and report them to you.

(Lepionka) Well, yes...we know where most of them are now.

We have some hundred sites.

>> So we won't lose knowledge of these first Americans?

(Lepionka) I don't think so.

No.

>> Good.

♪ After thousands of years of life on this island, the Native Americans were chased off by the Europeans, first the Spanish, and then by a Scottish trader who came here and established a trading camp.

The name of the island was changed from Dataw Island to Westbrook Island, in honor of the Scottish trader.

By 1786 the island had been bought by William Sams.

William Sams was the grandson of the famous Colonel John Barnwell, the founder of Beaufort, who, in his day, was better known as "Tuscarora Jack."

William Sams left Charleston, and he came here to plant indigo.

During the American Revolution he had been a British sympathizer and possibly felt, for many reasons, that it was a very wise move.

♪ Indigo proved not to be the crop to raise after the American Revolution due to the loss of the British indigo bounty.

So Sams turned to cotton, the crop which was to make this plantation one of the most successful in the state.

So the patriarch of the Sams family, which was to own this island until the War Between the States, died in 1798 and was buried here in the small family cemetery near which once stood a small, private chapel.

It was left to William's sons and grandsons to leave behind them a permanent legacy.

♪ These are the ruins of the house which the Sams family built.

From 1800 to 1861, they lived here in increasing prosperity.

This was only their winter home, because during the fever months from June to October, they lived in a beautiful home in Beaufort, but the youngsters could hardly wait to get back, because this island of 870-odd acres was planted almost exclusively in sea island cotton.

This cotton has a particularly long and silky staple and was much desired by manufacturers in England.

In fact, in the 1830s, when short fiber cotton was selling for 15 cents a pound, sea island cotton was 69 cents a pound, and that brought great wealth to planters of sea island cotton.

When the cotton gin was invented, they wouldn't permit it to be used on the plant because the gin would break up the fibers.

All of the cottonseeds were removed by hand.

There were plantations on other islands belonging to the Sams family.

They cut timber on this island for growing cotton, to the extent that in the 1850s they had only 80 acres of timber left.

The father had to buy timberland on Lady's Island to have wood to supply the needs of the plantation.

To increase the growth of cotton, he attempted to dike part of the marshes-- dry it out-- so that cotton could be raised in this virgin land.

Today some cotton dikes can still be seen.

It was a beautiful place, and the economy increased tremendously until the War Between the States.

♪ ♪ The most complete record of life on Sea Island was left by Reverend James Julius Sams, who spent his childhood here.

He and his brothers were into everything.

We can imagine climbing the oak trees behind me.

When they were small, they enjoyed teasing the little pigs.

and irritating the mothers.

They also loved to make traps for the smaller animals.

When they were 10 or 12 years old, they'd be given their first gun, and then they were complete sportsmen.

They thoroughly enjoyed oyster picking, going out in boats with the black men to find shellfish on the banks, but most of all with their guns they would try to keep down predatory animals.

The mink, was a very vicious, little animal, he was death on the fowls which were needed for life at the homestead.

They would smoke a mink out of a tree and then try to hit him as he would swim away.

hoping the dogs would get him first.

The marsh hen was one to fool them says Reverend James because they would shoot, the hen would fall, they would think it dead, go to hear it and where it was, pick it up... only to find that it had disappeared and way off in the marsh it was laughing at these boys who thought they had shot it Life was a lot of fun.

They thoroughly enjoyed camping.

They would cut saplings, weave them together, put palmetto fronds around, build a fire, put potatoes in the fire to bake, drag them out half raw, and with joy, eat them... pretending they were Indians.

Life must have been pleasant for these youngsters.

According to their clothes, that's where they had been.

The beauty of duck hunting was fascinating to them throughout their life.

Shooting the American eagle was not considered the terrible thing that we would look upon it today.

The eagle would swoop down and take away smaller birds and animals, which were needed for food.

There was a great deal of romance in life, a great deal of beauty.

Oddly enough, Reverend Sams never mentions fishing.

He does mention the long alligators occasionally found in the swamps.

Because it was said that they ate pigs, it was necessary to do away with them.

From his memoirs, I've copied a bit of Reverend Sams' remembrances.

He enjoyed standing on a small causeway between the home of his father and his uncle.

Each family had 12 children and all raised on the island so they had a marvelous time together.

From his memories of sunset on the causeway, he writes this way... "The scene would amply repay "every moment you spent gazing at it.

"Drink in the beauty of the picture, "a picture not wanting one touch to make it perfect.

"The wild ducks leaving the ponds "in bunches of 6, 12, or 20, "at different times and short intervals between; "the marsh hens cackling on every side; "the curlews, flying overhead for home for the night; "and sometimes the whooping crane, "farther off and higher up, uttering their peculiar note, "and other sounds from animated nature; "the reflection cast by the setting sun; "the quietness that stole over one's spirit... "all this and more produced an impression too vivid ever to pass away."

To the Reverend James, Dataw Island was an earthly paradise.

♪ Some of Dr. Sams' happiest memories are concerned with this home here.

This drawing room he remembers being turned into a schoolroom when his father would employ a tutor to instruct the 12 children of the family.

He played hooky several times and once was brought back from the marshland tied with grapevine, to make sure he attended his studies.

They had a wonderful childhood here, snitching fruit from the pear, apple, fig, and orange orchards.

which could be seen from the house.

The little boys enjoyed sliding down the blade in the blade house... that is, the cornstalks.

A wonderful story concerns Reverend Sams as a child sleeping in the girls' room, one of the front bedrooms.

of the old house.

During the night he heard a terrible noise.

He was afraid that one of his brothers was playing a trick on him.

So, he got up quietly slipped out to see what this thud-thud was.

He had forgotten that his father had stored corn in the attic.

When he reached the steps, instead of a marauder-- and not the ghost he halfway suspected-- he found that a rat had gotten hold of an ear of corn, dragging it, thud by thud, down the steps.

There are many stories connected with this home.

The happiest--as he said, the happiest and the saddest-- were stories connected with Christmas.

For weeks, cooking and preparation would go on.

The girls' room was the center of storage of prepared food and things for the cooks, particularly bags of jelly, where fruit would drip from bags suspended between two chairs.

Cakes, pies, syllabub were readied for the great day, but it's the pies he remembers most.

He wonders who would ever eat them because they were baked in an outdoor oven.

Everyone stood around to see when the cook would say the oven was ready for baking.

The family was forced to leave in 1861.

Beaufort was the first South Carolina city to fall to the Union forces.

They escaped with what posessions they could take leaving here their home, their slaves, everything on the plantation, and they never returned to live here.

The land was sold for taxes during the War between the States, and the family itself never recovered their property.

However, Reverend Sams wrote his memoirs for his children so that they, too, would know what life was like before 1861.

At the end of his writing he asked them, "Please do not bear animosity toward the North."

He did not.

He says one must accept.

Although he felt he could leave nothing material for his children, Dr. Sams did leave a tremendous legacy in this beautiful home, because e ven today it's an imposing example of tabby architecture, a very unusual type of building material almost native to this general area.

Dr. Larry Lepionka of the University of South Carolina in Beaufort has not only studied the first inhabitants of this island, but also those who lived here during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dr. Lepionka, this tabby architecture is fascinating... to think one could build a home of shells!

Would you explain it to me please?

(Lepionka) Well, the shell takes a great deal of processing.

They burn it to make lime, mix that with whole shell and sand, with equal amounts add water to make it liquid, and it's poured into wood forms, starting with the first layer in a trench in the ground, then building up.

These holes that are through the walls here were for wood crosspieces, that tied the forms together against the weight of the liquid tabby, and two-feet height, as you can see here, was typical for this region.

As they went up, they put in woodwork.

We restored these wood lintels and sills, but here you can see impressions of the joists of the first floor.

We're standing in the basement now.

(Mary) How long would it take wet tabby to dry to make a firm wall?

(Lepionka) Probably about two weeks.

They would pour one whole round, take off the form, rebuild it-- >> And move it up.

I noticed this huge, thick piece... what was that for, sir?

(Lepionka) It is huge... 6 by 6 feet.

It was a base for a double fireplace, back-to-back, with chimney above.

(Mary) So above, as opposed to the ground.

(Lepionka) Right.

The painting of the house that we have shows the chimney about here, the fireplace facing the Berners Barnwell Sams room.

>> I notice...different thicknesses in the walls, particularly in the old building.

If we go over there, would you explain that?

(Lepionka) Yes, ma'am.

>> Thank you.

♪ I see the 14-inch width of the foundations.

Is this the usual width up to the roof?

(Lepionka) There was tapering.

It's not very significant in this house.

Other tabby houses, there is considerable tapering.

>> I see.

What about this tabby brick here...did the tabby crack and have to be replaced due to weathering?

(Lepionka) No.

They were just filling in old windows and a doorway when they rebuilt this house.

This is the old section of the house built in the 18th century.

Different texture of tabby... more finely crushed shell, whereas there's whole shell in another part in the wings built by Berners Barnwell Sams.

When they did rebuild - the original living floor was ground level-- they raised the floor up, consistent with the rest of the house.

There was a fireplace with marble in the basement.

No one would build one like that unless they were living down here.

That shows evidence for rebuilding of the chimney base.

>> So two wings were added to the house.

Each wing had its own roof, which made the tabby walls sufficient to hold the tensile strength of the timbers.

Please explain the tabby roof on what is left of the kitchen, if you will please This way.

♪ Sir, we're accustomed to seeing the kitchen built away from the main building in a plantation home.

But that is the largest fireplace!

I've ever seen.

(Lepionka) It's the largest I've seen.

It's all tabby, except for the wood lintel we replaced, and the chimney which is tabby brick.

It's hard to pour tabby in such confined spaces, so they used brick.

>> I see and the outline of the kitchen itself is very clear To the rear are more small rooms, which you say could be used for laundry or whatever.

(Lepionka) Yes, food processing and so on.

>> I noticed you've excavated the entire area, with a tabby wall all the way around.

Is this normal?

(Lepionka) Yes... We have seen elsewhere evidence for fences around plantation houses.

That's what this served.

There are post holes along there at 10-foot intervals for a fence.

They also used that wall as one foundation wall for several structures, the kitchen here on one side, 4 small buildings over there.

>> Other than the chimney, there is one more building left of the original plantation... which you call the blade house, north of the main building.

I believe that has a very unusual roof.

(Lepionka) Yes... the blade house was for storage of cornstalks used as fodder for cattle.

It's two buildings, side by side.

The other with a tabby roof, we think is a dairy.

They produced a lot of butter on Dataw according to Census.

>> I remember, you said 900 or 860 pounds in one year, right?

(Lepionka) Yes, right.

A depression in the middle might have served for runoff from melting ice.

Bridges on the side that might have had insulation.

>> The stables, barns and other outbuildings, would they have been connected with this enclosure?

(Lepionka) Not that we have seen, no.

The one stable is outside the enclosure.

>> So when guests came, one would come to the front porches and each of these three houses and look to the water-- (Lepionka) I think so, yes.

>> --because guests would come by boat.

(Lepionka) Yes.

>> A beautiful place.

Today there is construction of a different type on Dataw Island.

It was bought in 1983 by Alcoa Company and turned into a residential community, but in developing he island, the company has been careful to preserve its historic legacy.

Mr. Arthur Levin of Alcoa Properties Incorporated has been active with historic preservation of this area.

Is this a unique spot for your company?

(Arthur Levin) It is.

This area is rich in history, we really felt like it was a great opportunity to preserve the history of Dataw.

>> Do you do this in other areas?

(Arthur Levin)Yes...we are concerned about both the environment and history of the community.

>> It's a lovely thing and you've spent a great deal of time and money particularly with the old tree.

Yes, we have.

That tree has taken a lot of time, effort, and money.

We hope it will be around a good many more years.

>> How old, do you think?

(Arthur Levin) Experts tell us between 250 and 400 years old.

>> Well, it's a beautiful thing.

Do you ever open these grounds of the ruins and cemetery to the public?

(Arthur Levin) Yes.

On occasion they are open to the public through the Tour of Homes in Beaufort and the Plantation Tour.

>> They're well worth coming to see because they are indeed beautiful.

♪ It's easy to see why people love the Sea Islands of South Carolina.

They're remote, quiet... so very, very beautiful and peaceful.

They leave us with a sense of our legacy of history.

Dataw Island is one of those places where this legacy of history will be preserved.

The Reverend James Julius Sams wrote his book to help his descendants remember the past as we read it in the future, and it's up to us, as we think of the future, to remember our responsibilities to the past through conservation and preservation.

Because as I look at these endless marshes, the water, listen to the wildlife, I realize that in our lifetime we are only entrusted with a portion of the earth.

It's our responsibility to care for that and to consider ourselves stewards of the land.

We may change the face of it for a moment, but the land is eternal... just as eternal as this beautiful sky, the sounds of the birds, and this incomparable beauty of the sunrise.

These things are eternal, and these are the true legacy of Dataw Island.

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