First Salesman
an Eyewitness to Hilton Head Island’s
Climb from Obscurity
WALLACE E. BUTLER JR.’S LOVE
affair with Hilton Head Island began
in 1956, when he drove there from
Atlanta to speak to Charles E. Fraser
about his plans to develop Sea Pines
Plantation. As he drove along the island’s
dirt road to get to his meeting
with Fraser, Butler remembers seeing, “the most beautiful piece of land on
the coast I had ever seen.”
Two years later, on April 1, 1958,
Butler took the trip from his home in
Atlanta to Hilton Head Island again,
but this time he stayed and became
Sea Pines’ first real estate salesman.
The Savannah native served as the
vice president of sales for the Sea Pines
Plantation in the early days of Hilton
Head Island’s development.
Butler moved into the little house
on Quail Road where Fraser was living
at the time. Later that year, after
heavy rains fl ooded the house, the
two men rented rooms and moved
into the big house on Honey Horn
Plantation until Fraser’s home on the
second row of Green Heron Road
was completed.
In the beginning, selling real estate
on the island wasn’t easy. At the time,
Fraser’s ideas were revolutionary. With
Sea Pines’ careful redevelopment research,
excellent land use planning,
open space easements and deed covenants
requiring architectural control
over all construction in hand, Butler
was charged with painting Fraser’s futurist
vision of a distinguished world class
community to potential buyers.
Sea Pines vigorously encouraged
lot buyers to hire architects to custom
design homes in a contemporary
residential architectural style. In fact,
Hilton Head Island’s first architects
are credited with pioneering a design
revolution for Southeastern coastal
homes. Instead of the usual homes
with small windows in the Colonial,
Tudor, Georgian or Spanish style, the
first homes of Sea Pines Plantation
were designed to let occupants look
outdoors through great expanses of
glass doors and windows.
Finally Butler and Sea Pines got a
break. An article about Hilton Head
Island and the development appeared
in the Charleston News-Courier, which
was then reprinted in The New York
Times travel section. That’s when inquires
first started rolling in.
At the time, ocean-front lots on
Sea Pines were selling for $5,350. Butler’s
first sale was to Dr. and Mrs. Lane
Reeves of Savannah. They paid $3,700
for a lot on Calibogue Cay. (Later,
Butler would build his own house
on the waterside of Calibogue Cay.)
A price list for residential lots in Sea
Pines Plantation dated Feb. 1, 1963,
off ers Calibogue Cay lots ranging from
$5,000 to a then whopping $18,000.
 More great publicity followed
and the momentum continued to
build. By 1964, many national publications
were singing the praises of
Sea Pines Plantation:
The Saturday Evening Post... “Charles E. Fraser, president of the
corporation that turned 5,200 acres
on the south tip of Hilton Head Island
into a lushly picturesque resort,
pursues a rare philosophy of land
management. ‘I’m interested in making
money,’ he says, ‘but I’m also interested
in history, architecture and
nature. When we have to make a decision
about cutting down a tree, we’re
apt to say let’s leave it alone. It looks
nice.’ He aims to preserve the island’s
natural beauty, sacrificing quick profits
for lasting charm: ‘I think it’s wrong to
destroy a rookery to drain a road.’”
Outdoors magazine... “Off the
coast of South Carolina is a giant sea
island that promises to become one of
the country’s finest year-round vacation
and outboarding areas.”
Atlanta magazine... “The development
of Sea Pines Plantation to date
has been a story of orderly growth,
fulfilling the dream of an island that
is both a community and a retreat.
Its resort development, which was, in
large part, forced on the company, has
now matured and become a vital part
of the financial operation. ”
Even Sports Illustrated... “Sea Pines
Plantation on Hilton Head Island
is a housing development, although
manifestly distinct from the developments
commonly seen nowadays....
At Sea Pines the ocean pounds against
four miles of pearl gray, slate-smooth
sand; live oaks, Sabal palms and magnolia
sough soulfully in the forests; a
golf course makes it way lazily over lagoons
and through the woods; roads,
with no place to go, go placidly; and
the birds make music all day.”
Wally Butler was clearly part of
something great in the making. In an
article in The Island Packet dated
Jan. 7, 1993, Butler conveyed his highest
regards to Charles Fraser, calling
him, “the greatest creative and public
relations mind of all resort developers.
It was a thrill to be a member of
his team.” |
