Beaufort County

Coastal Beaufort County is South Carolina’s fastest-growing county and home to Hilton Head Island, a popular resort and retirement community. It’s also a prime example of TPL’s Conservation Finance program at work: Starting with a $40 million bond referendum in the year 2000, voters there have approved measures funding the conservation of critical lands, historic sites, and natural areas in seven different elections, totaling $260 million for land protection.

In addition to ballot measure successes as recent at 2022, TPL has also helped the county administer its Rural and Critical Lands Program. Among the properties conserved are the McDowell Islands—eight islands and numerous smaller hummocks totaling more than 10 acres, which will be donated by the state for management and preservation in their natural state. TPL was also instrumental in the protection of the historic Skull Creek shrimp docks, an area important to fishermen from the native Gullah Geechee culture, descendants of enslaved Africans.