KIAWAH HISTORY
The Early Vanderhorsts of Kiawah
1780 Map of South Carolina and Georgia shows Key Waw Island. Library of Congress.
The Vanderhorst name is prominent on
Kiawah today, giving names to KICA’s second
security gate and the still-standing private
plantation house on the eastern part of
the island. But who were the Vanderhorsts
and how did their name become such a
foundational element of the island? Here
we’ll explore the first of the island’s many
Vanderhorst inhabitants.
The Vanderhorst story on Kiawah begins in
1772, following the death of John Stanyarne.
Stanyarne was a wealthy local planter and
only the third owner of the property, uniting
the two tracts previously owned by the Davis
and Raynor families. He passed his Kiawah
estate to his two grand-daughters, the
western half to Mary Gibbes and the eastern
portion to Elizabeth Vanderhorst. Elizabeth’s
husband was Arnoldus Vanderhorst 11, who
would go on to make a long-standing mark
on the island.
THE WORKINGS OF THE PLANTATION
Originally, the Kiawah plantation grew
subsistence crops and raised cattle for use
by the inhabitants. Indigo was grown on
the island as a cash crop since the time
8 | KIAWAH ISLAND DIGEST
of John Stanyarne. After the Revolutionary
War, indigo prices suffered as Britain had
been colonial planters’ primary market
for the blue dye. According to Charleston
County Public Library historian Nic Butler,
“By the early 1790s, there was a worldwide
oversupply of indigo dye, and South Carolina
planters realized that chasing after indigo
profits like they had before the war was now
a futile endeavor.”
The inset of the 1780 map shows
slaves processing indigo (right).