It’s interesting to think about what people did on Edisto centuries ago. Did they get together for cookouts? Walk on the beach? Go swimming? The answer is yes and no.

The first people to live on Edisto, the Native American’s known as the Edisto, lived in the area in between Oyster Factory Road and Edingsville Beach Road back in the early 1500s. This area is to this day heavily wooded and edged with salt marshes, but many people love it because it offers the seclusion of the woods and peacefulness of the nearby water. This is just one of many similarities we have with Edisto’s earliest people.

The Edisto Indians were a peaceful group. There were only a few hundred within the tribe and they sustained their lifestyle through trading with natives in the surrounding area. Some of the items traded included pearls from the abundant oysters in the area and shells found in the marsh and on the shore. It’s funny that today these things are collected as souvenirs, but not seen as valuable (aside from pearls, of course).

Who hasn’t come to Edisto and feasted upon oysters, crabs, shrimp, and fish? The Edisto Indians did the same thing. But they also enjoyed hunting the large game on the island like deer and the occasional wild boar. They also planted vegetables and collected nuts and berries, which grew in the area.

As far as housing goes, what the Indians had was much simpler than what we have today.

They used things found easily in the area like large branches and palm fronds. They built a small village with one large circular house or hut and it was surrounded by smaller huts. This was the community area that they built for themselves, but they considered the entire island to be their home. That said, the Indians used their village as the center for their activities and get-togethers.

The Edisto Indians lived peacefully in the area for years. But then in 1570 the Spanish missionaries came to the area.

The missionaries wanted to convert the Indians to Christianity and have them come to their churches and schools. The Edisto Indians were receptive in the beginning to the missionaries (and the missionaries were respectful of the Indians because they decided that they were not savages, as they had thought, but Christian-like in their behavior because they had strong family units and were peaceful with their neighbors).

However, when winter came on Edisto, the Indians retreated to their farms and then refused to become a part of the new Christian movement on the island. Instead, they moved on from the area, and did not come back again for another 100 years.

Stay tuned for more blogs about Edisto’s earliest visitors…

The lowcountry is an area known for its unparalleled beauty. It’s a place that’s often heralded in fiction for the romantic backdrop offered by the sprawling mossy oaks, hidden plantations, and sultry air. But it’s also a place that’s experienced the unspeakable violence of war, suffered the ravaging effects of storms blown in off the Atlantic, and been plagued with deadly outbreaks of disease.

So it’s no wonder that this juxtaposition of beauty and horror has made the South Carolina lowcountry one of the most haunted places in the world. And Edisto Island is no exception.

While there are several ghost stories told time and again on Edisto, the following two stories involve the tragedies of love gone awry.

The first story is that of a young woman from the lost town of Edingsville Beach.

The Ghost-Bride of Edingsville Beach

Back in the 1800s, Edingsville Beach was an area for the wealthy plantation owners to get together in their beach front homes and relax during the warm summer months. These months were filled with decadent parties, weddings, and social events.

But for one young woman, her summer on Edingsville Beach was a time of great heartache. This woman had just recently been married when her husband had to go off to sea. Sensing his new bride’s apprehension over his impending journey, the man promised he would always come home to her.

Little did the man know, he was setting sail into one of the worst hurricanes to ever slam against the South Carolina coast. The man’s ship was splintered into pieces by the force of the storm and scattered throughout the water. There were no survivors.

Back on land, the young bride turned widow was miserable. She knew there was no way her husband could have lived through the storm and she walked the beach for hours on end.

But then there came the day not so long after the storm had blown through that the woman was walking the beach and looked out over the water to see her husband calling to her from a piece of driftwood. She ran into the surf and swam out to him, unable to believe that he had not only survived the storm but had managed to get back to her on nothing but a scrap of wood.

As the woman took her husband in her arms he told her that he promised he would always come home to her – and then disappeared.

Grief stricken yet again that her husband had truly passed away, the woman wept in despair and let the ocean carry her away so she could forever be with her love.

It is said now that when storms are reported to be off the coast of South Carolina, and especially Edisto, the woman can be seen either walking the beach mournfully or cradling the ghostly remains of her husband just off the coast.

Love Lost on Steamboat Landing

Plantations have long been a part of Edisto’s landscape. Today, they are beautiful reminders of the past, but not all of that storied past was something people want to remember.

There was a large plantation out on Steamboat Landing Road back in the 1800s. Nothing about the plantation was out of the ordinary; the family who lived there made their fortune off of cotton crops and used slave labor just as all the other plantation owners did. The only thing different about this plantation was that it was about to become haunted by the ghost of a woman slain on her wedding day.

This woman was happy to be getting married to her true love. She had been engaged once before, and broke it off for reasons unknown, but her former fiancée was not happy about it. He pleaded with her to get back with him, but she ignored his advances. The woman thought that he would get over her decision to marry another, but he didn’t. Instead, he grew angrier and more jealous that she did not love him.

On the day she was to marry, her former fiancée came to plead with her just one more time to get back with him. When she refused, he decided that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody could.

The man took out his gun and fatally shot the woman he claimed to love. Realizing what he did, he ran off and climbed a tree to witness what would happen once people discovered the dead bride-to-be.

Before the woman died, she had attempted to cry out for help and went to her bedroom window where she left a bloody handprint. Unfortunately, nobody could rescue her.

The man, from his vantage point in the tree, saw that bloody handprint and fully understood what he had done and turned the gun on himself.

With all the grief and drama surrounding the young woman’s murder, nobody noticed the bloody handprint on the window. Once they did, they washed it off… but it didn’t stay gone.

The handprint reappeared every time it was washed off. Long after everyone who knew the murdered young woman was dead and buried, that handprint still remained.

It wasn’t until the old house burned to the ground some years later that the handprint was finally gone. However, some still say that the area is haunted by the angry woman who was denied a life of happiness by a jealous former lover.

“With These Hands Gallery” is owned by Carolyn Kelsey who is a long time Edisto resident.  The Gallery is proud that so many of Edisto Island’s regular visitors make their gallery a “must stop” on their vacations.  This year, the Gallery is celebrating 25 wonderful years in Edisto Island.  

The Gallery honors posted hours, and for years and has maintained the same schedule with open doors at times with which the local residents are familiar.  Residents of Edisto Island know that they can count upon finding that special gift for a new baby, an unusual but beautiful present for the bride and the perfect accessories for their own homes.  The merchandise is carefully selected with the local residents’ sensibilities in mind but balanced with the need to carry a variety of merchandise in a wide price range that accommodates Edisto’s visitors’ and residents’ shopping desires.

The Gallery offers an array of handmade crafts and artwork from all over North America.  You will discover unique gifts crafted in the tradition of the handmade lifestyle.  They offer distinctive art pieces of exceptional quality.

Each craft in the Gallery tells a story and With These Hands is careful to share that story.  With this in mind, each customer leaves with a value laden purchase that carries a bit of the artist’s inspiration as well. The gallery is housed in a historic Federal style building that was most certainly handcrafted over 150 years ago. 

With These Hand Gallery is located just a few miles from Edisto Beach.