News and Courier, Charleston, SC Sunday Morning, October 4, 1953

BOATS, BOYS AND BUILDING LOTS – R. M. McGlllivray, developer of the  Hobcaw sub‑division, and his son Alex head in for a landing on the Wando River side of the Christ Church Parish development. In the background is the Wando River, while a live oak tree shades the river's edge. The picture was made from an elevation apparently once used by Indians as a village site.  A few hundred feet upstream will be located the Hobcaw Yacht Club, recently organized with catamarans as its featured racing sailing class. (Staff Photo by Burbage.)

New Residential Area Being Developed on Wando River

By JACK LELAND - News and Courier Staff Writer

   When the Hobcaw Realty Co. sold a lot to Edwin Gruenther recently, the transaction marked the first transfer by deed of any portion of an original land grant made by the Lords Proprietors in 1709.

It also marked the beginning of sales of lots in one of Charleston's newest subdivisions.  Hobcaw located on a peninsula off the Wando River in Christ Church Parish, is being developed by R. M. McGillivray, Charleston businessman

  Since 1709, when the Lords Proprietors granted the Tract to Capt. Benjamin Quelch, the Hobcaw tract had not been divided.  During World War I, the government almost concluded the purchase of 100 acres for use as a shipyard.  A survey was made and a plat recorded in 1918 but the deal fell through.

   The land, a high ridge of pines end oaks, lies between Hobcaw Creek (originally Wackendaw Creek) on the north and Molasses (or Malassa) Creek on the south. It's northwestern border is the Wando River.

   Part of the land actually was used as a shipyard, the entire tract having been bought in 1753 by William Begbie and Daniel Manson.  These men, listed as shipwrights, used a high bluff on Hobcaw Creek as a shipyard site. The shore of the creek is literally paved for hundreds of feet with cobblestones and bulldozers have unearthed large lumps of tar and pitch in the area.  Also discovered have been old ships plankings fitted together with pegs and occasional copper spikes.

   After its failure as a shipyard, the tract passed through several hands between 1769 and 1853 when it was purchased by Robert M. Muirhead.  He left it to has son J. Murray Muirhead in 1881. It was farmed as a Sea Island cotton plantation for some time. Mr. Muirhead sold it in 1919 to the Harlem Corp. Mrs. Marguerite V Erckman purchased it from the organization and subsequently sold it to Mr. McGillivray.

   On the Wando River side, huge oaks shade a white sand beach which slopes gently to deep water anchorage.   It is here that Mr. McGillivray has set aside an area for use by the Hobcaw Yacht Club which was organized last week.  Officers include Mr.  McGillivray, commodore, Adolph Rodenberg Jr., vice commodore, and Edwin Gruenther, secretary-treasurer.

   A short distance down the river, a small marsh creek meanders through a basin and into a gully beneath overhanging oak.  On its banks is a huge shell mound.  Clam, oyster and snail (periwinkle) shell make up the heap, apparently once the home site of Indians.

   The sub-division will offer deep water front lots in protected waters within a short distance of Charlesto proper, Mr. McGillivray said.  The property is four and one-half miles fro the Francis Marion Hotel.

   “We feel there is a demand for this type of community in the Charleston area.  Hobcaw will offer the boat and fish enthusiast wonderful opportunities.  We have faith in the growth of Greater Charleston and we believe Hobcaw is a natural part of that growth”, Mr. McGillivray said.