Editor’s Note: This lifestyle feature from the archives of Isle of Palms Magazine (Spring 2016) is a two-part series and the remainder will be published in our December issue. ou can hardly talk about former U.S. Rep. Tommy Hartnett without talking about the Isle of Palms. It’s not just the place he has ended up – it’s the place where he started. From childhood summers spent on the beach to his first job to 18 IslandVibesIOP.com Y LIFESTYLE Still at Home on the Island Former U.S. Rep. Tommy Hartnett By Brian Barrie the first date with his future spouse, the Isle of Palms has played a supporting role not only in Hartnett’s backstory but in who he is and what he has accomplished. Hartnett’s story is a fascinating tale of politics and family in the Lowcountry, highlighted by his six years in the U.S. House of Representatives as the first Republican elected from South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District since Reconstruction. The Early Days The foundation of today’s Isle of Palms was laid in late 1944, when real estate developer J.C. Long purchased more than 1,000 acres of land and began building roads and houses, putting into motion IOP’s transformation from a small summer resort community to a permanent home for thousands of year-round residents. Hartnett was introduced early on to the island that would become such an important part of his life. “J.C. Long’s wife was my daddy’s first cousin. We called her Aunt Alberta,” Hartnett recalled. “They would give us a house on the Isle of Palms for two or three weeks every summer. My daddy being handicapped, J.C. always felt it was good for him to come out and get some island air. We would stay near their house when there were hardly any houses out there. The farthest the island went at the time was 21st Avenue. There was a public picnic ground there where you could go out and picnic, but there was nobody on the island then.” Year after year, the family would return to the island where Hartnett and his sisters spent their days playing on the beach and their evenings watching fireflies. The amusement park on the island, with a carousel and swings, was open year-round, and there was bingo, too, but the Isle of Palms was still a strictly local retreat. Bonnie and Tommy Hartnett at home on Isle of Palms.
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