Sea Island Cotton was the most valuable cotton. It could be sold for twice the price of other cotton. It had very fine strands up to 2 1/2” long. It felt very silky and was often blended with silk when woven. Sea Island Cotton grew over six feet tall and bloomed continuously from June to December.
William Elliott and Will Seabrook are recognized as first successfully raising Sea Island Cotton on Hilton Head Island in 1790. Plantation owners cultivated seeds from the very best plants to develop the highest quality of cotton. By 1860, there were 24 plantations on Hilton Head Island, growing Sea Island Cotton, indigo, sugar cane and rice.
Sea Island Cotton only grew successfully in the hot climate and sandy soil of the Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It had larger bolls, the fruit that makes the cotton. It had long, sleek fibers, longer than any other cotton. And the fibers were very strong; they could be effectively woven into thinner fabric.
By the early 1800s, Sea Island Cotton was an important export crop. Millions of pounds were exported every year from Charleston to England and the rest of Europe.
Cotton fruit is called a boll. When it ripens, it bursts to show a puff ball of cotton fibers. Cotton bolls grow on every part of the plants.
Cotton was a very labor-intensive crop. It could not have been produced without slave labor and it made Sea Island planters fabulously wealthy. It was planted in the spring, from mid-March till mid-April. The flowers look like hibiscus. The fruit is called a boll. When it ripens, it bursts to show a puff ball of cotton fibers. The cotton bolls grew on every part of the huge plants.
Production of Sea Island Cotton began to fall off with the Civil War. The soil was depleted and there were climate changes. Production, even with the cotton gin, just required too much labor. And cotton wilt, a cotton disease, had spread to the islands.
By 1920, boll weevils wiped out the last commercial crop. None of the original seeds are left.
This label says “Sea Island Cotton.” But, it really doesn’t mean anything anymore.
Hmmmm… What does Sea Island Cotton smell like?
Things are still labeled “Sea Island Cotton.” But, the term is not trademarked and it really doesn’t mean anything anymore. The closest thing to Sea Island Cotton now is probably Supima cotton. It is “a strictly regulated trademark guaranteeing the fineness, length, and strength of extra-long staple pima cotton that’s been grown in the U.S. and then carefully roller-ginned.”
