The Sea Pines Company was a real estate development group founded by General Joseph Bacon Fraser, Charles E. Fraser, and Joseph B. Fraser Jr. In 1956. It developed Sea Pines Plantation, Amelia Island Plantation, Brandermill (Virginia), Kiawah Island, Palmas Del Mar (Puerto Rico), Hilton Head Plantation, Wintergreen Resort and more. It was successful in the 1960s but hit hard by 1972-1974 recession. It was sold in 1983.
In 1955, at age 26, Charles drafts a land-use plan for a low-density development on timberland at the southern end of Hilton Head Island on which his family held an interest. The following year, Charles E. Fraser, bought his father's interest in The Hilton Head Company and began developing it into Sea Pines Plantation.
1957: first lots in Sea Pines Plantation are sold.
1959: William Hilton Inn, a 56-room hotel on present-day site of Marriott's Grande Ocean Resort, is opened.
1960: The Ocean Course in Sea Pines is built, the first golf course on Hilton Head.
1967-69: Harbour Town, with its signature red-and-white striped lighthouse, is built.
1968: Harbour Town Golf Links, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye, is built.
1969: Sea Pines Company develops Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
1970: Sea Pines Company buys Lewith Group and begins development of River Hills Plantation in Lake Wylie, SC. River Hills Plantation
1970: Sea Pines buys 2,400 acres of an old coconut plantation with 6 miles of beach on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico to begin planning Palmas Del Mar. The company paid $8.5 Million.
1970: Acquired land on Amelia Island, Florida south of Fernandina Beach and began development of Amelia Island Plantation.
1971: Sea Pines Company sells Cumberland Island holdings to the National Park Foundation, followed by the creation of the Cumberland Island National Seashore.
1971: With the sale of the Hilton Head Company, Sea Pines Company acquires land on the north end of the island for the development of Hilton Head Plantation.
1972: Sea Pines unveils plan for development of 1,600 acres of land in its natural state into the Isle of Palms Beach and Racquet Club (now Wild Dunes).
1972: The Sea Pines Company buys 90% of a partnership created 2 years prior between Chesterfield Land and Timber Company and Reynolds, Smith, and Hills, and architectural firm from Jackson, Fl to develop a community in Chesterfield County called Swift Creek.
1972: The Amelia Island Plantation master plan is unveiled.
1973: Charles Fraser and Sea Pines hire 11 MBA graduates from Harvard University. He is written up in Time Magazine for the feat.
1973: Stock Market begins 2 year bear Market due to oil embargoes, the Nixon Scandal and more. This would be the height of the Sea Pines Company.