By Luana M. Graves Sellars
Sometimes a place means more than just its name; it can represent a history that needs to be remembered.
As traffic flows down Highway 278 on Hilton Head, one can’t help but notice the street names that pop up along the way. Most of the streets, particularly on the north end of the island, trace back to its Gullah namesake; whether an individual or a family. That’s especially true, as you drive mid-island, as each beach not only has a history, but a Gullah family with several generations behind its name. Hilton Head’s Burke’s Beach is no different.
Prior to the bridge, around 60 acres of beachfront property was originally owned by Henry Ford and his wife, Nancy Burke Ford, which stretched from the ocean to Highway 278 and through Chaplin Park. Held by the family for generations, the land was eventually divided up into lots between their nieces and nephews as well as portions sold to the town.
Today, Hilton Head is well known for the beaches that run along the east coast of the island. However, in the 1950’s, during a time when segregation was at its peak and “there weren’t a lot of places where Blacks were allowed to go to the beach,” most of the island’s waterfront became a destination for local Gullah and Blacks who came to the island “by the busload” from Savannah and surrounding areas.
Made famous for The Hideaway, Burke’s Beach was a local juke joint that opened daily to families who were looking for good music and food. Betty Burke Days remembers, that [sometimes] during our family reunion held during Labor Day weekend at the Hideaway, everyone who was on the Burkes Beach was invited. With or without an invitation. “We didn’t know who they were, but they came back every year. Everyone who came, got served.”
People “partied all day and night on the beach and went from one pavilion [on the beach] to another, depending on which one was jumping,” says Days. “It was a place to take the whole family until it was time for the children to go home.”
Photo Credit: Linda Peterson
Photo Credit: Linda Peterson
Photo Credit: Linda Peterson
Photo Credit: Linda Peterson
Photo Credit: Linda Peterson
Derived from the Gullah word, “joog”, which means disorderly, juke joints became a common source of daily adult entertainment on the island. The first Hideaway was a small pavilion that was run by Daniel and James Burke. Eventually, the pavilion was moved to a street that used to be called Hideaway, after the popular location.
Accurately described in detail in the book, Gullah Cultural Legacies, by Dr. Emory S. Campbell, Burke’s “Hideaway was on the site of the present-day Surfside Marriott, was a long concrete block building, tucked away in a grove of sea pines fronting a marsh flat that extended to the dunes of the beach, is long dance floor was perfectly suited for the “Continental” a 1960’s line dance similar to today’s “electric slide.”
For more stories about Hilton Head and the importance of the names and places that make it special read Bradley Beach | The Story Behind the Name
Click here for more about Hilton Head Island, Bluffton or Lowcountry Living | Paradise Found | Lowcountry People and Places | Bradley Beach – The Story Behind the Name | Burkes Beach – The Family Behind the Name
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