Hilton Head is home, not just a place to play. Let’s preserve it while welcoming newcomers

As one of the most “senior” citizens who has called this Island my native home since the early 1940’s, I often feel compelled to go “back to the future” when there was limited access to our Island.

The Island was simply home to me and other Gullah families. Along with a few non Gullah families the population was about 1200.

It was truly a unique, livable place.

The population density was an enviable one person per 16 acres compared to 1 per .6 acres today.

We were relatively self-sufficient, raising food and family in a healthy environment on an isolated island in a segregated system of government.

Almost nobody beyond our relatives and few friends who lived on the mainland had heard of Hilton Head Island.

Then, in 1956, came a state-supported idea to make the island more accessible to the world. Soon after, other families began joining us to call Hilton Head home.

Lest we forget, nearly 40,000 people now call the island home.

I believe this fact is being lost to the gigantic greed that has settled in over the past thirty years for accommodating thousands of daily and overnight resort visitors.

But since it is impractical to go back 30 years when we began observing the first traffic lights, I think we must change the trend of making the Island more accessible for cars by widening bridges and highways. I believe we are clever enough to devise an efficient, effective means of transporting the increasing number of visitors onto the Island without their individual cars.

At the current rate of traffic increase, our economy may experience diminishing marginal returns. Recently I attempted to employ an off-Island service man for a critical appliance repair.

When I gave my home address after we had essentially sealed the deal, he exclaimed, “Man I don’t go to Hilton Head; that traffic is too much.” His reaction reminded me of a Yogi Berra saying: “Nobody don’t go there no more, it’s too crowded.”

So, what’s next for this place we call home? With the abundance of resources that that are obviously available to us, we could acquire land on the mainland and provide parking spaces for daily visitors to the Island. These visitors could be conveniently delivered to their Island destinations and back to the mainland. We began this thinking years ago with the Breeze bus rides for off-Island workers that has been expanded for on-Island visitors.

We all embrace the adage, “Home is where the heart is.”

Yet, it has been a struggle for Gullah families to stay at their native home.

Happily, that struggle is finally being addressed by the town with the Historic Neighborhood program headed by a Gullah family descendant.

I hope this is an indication that our town is committed to protecting and preserving those families who have made the island their home before and after the bridge.

Those who have “Bin ya.” I believe what’s next for Hilton Head Island is a redefining of its motto as a “World Class Community”.

The motto will mean that we will show the world that we are an inclusive community where Gullah and other families strive happily at home while accommodating visitors

Emory Campbell is a native islander and longtime leader in the Gullah community.