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Captain William Hilton was a true explorer and adventurer! William Hilton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Self portrait *oil on canvas* 76 x 61 cm. Born in 1605, he became one of the first settlers to explore the area around today’s Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.
English Captain William Hilton, in August of 1663, while exploring the Port Royal Sound, sighted the high bluffs of the Island, and named it for himself, “Hilton Head.” The word “Head” refers to the headlands visible to them as they sailed the uncharted waters.
Some of the most important South Carolina historical sites are part of Hilton Head Island history. In 1663, English sea captain William Hilton landed on Hilton Head Island and, thus, the seeds of the first successful plantations were sown.
William Hilton, leader of expeditions to the Cape Fear River region of North Carolina in 1662 and 1663, was born in Northwich, Cheshire, England. He arrived in New Plymouth with his mother in 1623 to join his father, William, who had crossed on the Fortune in 1621 and eventually settled at the Piscataqua.
1663 - Capt. William Hilton sailed from Barbados, on the Adventure, to explore lands granted by King Charles II to the eight Lords Proprietors. Hilton Head Island takes its name from a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound.
Hilton Head Island is named for the English sea captain William Hilton who was hired by a syndicate of Barbadian planters and claimed the island for England. Hilton "discovered" the island in 1663 but European colonization did not occur until around 1800.
Hilton Head, an island off the coast of South Carolina, was founded in 1663 by Captain William Hilton, an English explorer who named the island after himself. It had previously been discovered by Spanish explorers in 1521, who initiated first contact with the native Indian tribes.
