HENRY MORGAN HASKELL
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Buppy#1 and I were just thinking

Sailing on Hilton Head with My Father

1/15/2016

2 Comments

 
I have tried posting my thoughts twice on this period and I guess I forgot to post and/or save. Let's try again.

Dad and mother moved from Moosup, Connecticut to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina sometime in 1961. They bought a parcel of land first and then traded it for an existing house with a dock right on an inlet off Calibogue Sound. Mom and dad met their fascinating neighbors—Garry Moore, Jonathan Daniels and others. They had moved from a provincial tiny Connecticut town in Northeast CT to a barrier island off the coast of SC that would become one of America's best known resorts. They moved to an area known as Sea Pines which was founded in the 1950s by the Frasier family. The father was a general in the Georgia National Guard who got into the lumber business. He started buying up land on the south end of Hilton Head for its trees which were sold to paper mills in North Carolina and other places. His two sons, Charles and Joe, went to Yale Architectural School and Goergia Tech respectively. Together, they formed Sea Pines as one of the first planned development with golf courses, tennis courts, bike paths, beaches, and swimming pools. They had restrictions on the type of houses one could build, etc. and it was a guarded community.

With their dock in front and the nice weather on Hilton Head year round, dad started thinking about his next boat. As usual, he researched all the yachting magazines, including some from England. He also studied the waters around Hilton Head and found there was lots of sand and shallow places. He finally zweroed in on a 25 foot Westerly Marine sloop from England. He flew over to check this boatyard out and was captivated by the owner, a commander, and his smart, young, attractive assistant. Dad bought a boat with a double keel that he thought would be perfect for sailing around Hilton Head. His Westerly was shipped to Savannah and dad rigged it with some help from friends he's met locally. I sailed often with dad on his first Hilton Head boat—which he called "Monsoon," his first and only boat not called "Emily Morgan."
2 Comments
Sara
4/1/2016 10:53:52 am

My mother was Jane Duffy who was was Wendy Meyers BFF from Smith. We also had a place in HH and I saw your parents almost every time I went down there to visit! He was so captivating! Randomly googled him and found this piece! I now live in Essex Ct not far from Moosup!

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Hank Haskell link
4/1/2016 01:54:22 pm

Hi Sara,
I remember meeting your mother at Wendy's and hearing about your visits with my folks. Send me your snail-mail address and I'll send you a copy of the book written by my brother, who wrote something about Wendy.Book is at publisher and will be ready this week. Love Essex and Griswold Inn.

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