We don’t play golf, but they let us onto the Island in any case and we found our room way down at the south end at South Beach Marina. That had certain advantages in the sense that we got to drive the length of the William Hilton Highway and take in the panorama of blandness, highlighted by relentless tastefulness that characterizes HHI. Well, most of it anyway. Fortunately you also pass through some neighborhoods where 1950’s single-level run-down homes and double-wides predominate, a good visual reminder that the black and white population that was there after the plantations fell apart are still there and have to some extent survived the onslaught of environmental correctness. William Hilton, of the eponymous island, wouldn’t recognize the place, though he might admire the ambition.
How one can brag about HHI being environmentally conscious when the place is covered with buildings and streaming with cars (during the slow, off-season between Thanksgiving and Christmas) is not entirely obvious. That the square mileage of the golf courses aren’t covered with houses is a blessing, unless they use fresh water resources to keep the grass green? There are as many miles of bicycle paths as roads, and thousands of bicycles to rent, which is a good sign indeed.
The beaches (or the one we saw on a cold windy November afternoon) are as advertised: gorgeous, firm sand, free of trash 
There was a dolphin 10 feet offshore engaged in stranding small fish for dinner, bluebirds in the brush along the high tide line and herons and ibis by the score in the salt marshes. The marshes, as they are all along this SE Atlantic coast, are gorgeous, and there are numerous public boardwalks built out into them at strategic places which allow you to get away from the shore and out where you can see the critters. 
The architecture of houses and condos we saw was uniformly bland in color, and occasionally attractive in design. The exception was around Windmill Marina, right where you come off the bridge, where there was some real variety in colors: pinks, yellows, blues, aquas, even white – all in tasteful Williamsburg-style tones, naturally. There might have been more variety inside some of the other plantations but we didn’t want to pay $5 at each gatehouse for the privilege of finding out, or to take the time to do so. The South Carolina Yacht Club was heavily engaged in decorating for Christmas, and in design and appearance looked as if the architects had wished it had been there since the time of William Hilton, or at least since the time when gentlemen sailed yachts. 
However, it is a pretty building, and it must be pleasant to sit on the wide porch in warmer weather and watch friends and neighbors chug by on their way in and out of the purpose-built locks that separate the harbor from the tidal river to prevent the boats owners having to cope with tides in the boat basin; in a properly managed life, it is always high tide after all. 
One startling aspect is the school buses: there are actually people living in these houses and/or apartments/condos, and there is a public school system on HHI; there is also a private academy, as you might expect.
Dorothy Parker is known for her acerbic views, one of which was on the acting ability of Katherine Hepburn: words to the effect that her acting “… runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.” Somehow this popped into mind during our time on HHI.
Finally, a friend of ours who recently visited HHI said it reminded him of The Stepford Wives. Since he lived for many years in Greenwich Connecticut, we suspect he knows whereof he speaks.
In the end we left without the time to really dig in and get enough facts to spoil the fun we were having engaging in uninformed speculation.
On the mainland, there is Bluffton, a lovely old town with an excellent restaurant, the May Creek Café. We drove into town only to find a traffic jam and police everywhere, though they did look pretty relaxed. TV news trucks with their antennas were parked at the far edge of a crowd. We escaped and went to lunch, only to find that we had just missed wandering into a speech by Newt Gingrich. After lunch we followed our noses to the waterfront and found the Bluffton Oyster Company doing a thriving business not only in seafood but also in the oyster shells, much used by landscapers. The local population of shorebirds hung out there too. 
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