Looking Back: What Was Kiawah
Like Before Everyone Got Here?
A
By Whit Gibbons
n entry in an old field notebook of mine starts, “June 25, 1974. First visit
to Kiawah Island.” The Kiawah Island Company, a subsidiary of Kuwait
Investment Corporation, had just purchased the Island for $17.4 million from
C. C. Royal of Aiken, who had bought the Island from the Vanderhorst family
in 1952 for $125,000. I recently spoke with Joe Patterson, public relations director for the
company in the early days of development. He recalls the spring day in 1974 when he went to
Kiawah Island to open the gate for some visitors. As he stood on the dirt road leading to the
interior of the Island, a limousine drove up; four men in suits got out. These were the Kuwaitis.
Joe introduced himself, gave them the key, and turned the Island over to them.
I arrived a couple of months later, accompanied by Becky Sharitz, Karen Patterson, and
Johnny Coker. Becky and I, on the faculty of the University of Georgia’s Savannah River
Ecology Laboratory (SREL) in Aiken, had contracts with an environmental consulting
firm hired by the investment group. Tree-filled, high-biodiversity habitats were a valued
commodity in Kuwait. We were told the company wanted to develop Kiawah with as little
disruption to the natural ecosystem as possible. They sought ecological advice on how to
proceed with development while minimizing environmental impacts.
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Naturally Kiawah