Bellinger Island

Bellinger is a name that has been associated with Daniel Island throughout the years.  The first reference was Edmund Bellinger, who was granted 20 acres and two small islands adjacent to Daniel Island in 1694.  Those islands are now part of the marsh.  Then there was Benjamin Bellinger, who was the head of one of the 9 families that worked the land on Daniel Island for George Cunningham in the late 1800s.  George owned the southern 2/3 of the island until his death in 1902. 

In the late 1930s, Walter Bellinger, Benjamin’s son, would live on what we call Bellinger Island today and would ferry workers from Thomas Island across Beresford Creek.  Later, the American Fruit Growers would build a packing shed and a pier on the island.  Potatoes and cabbage were sorted and prepared for shipment to the southern piers in Charleston.  The pier was also used as a swimming hole for the locals.