Ridgeland
Old Gopher Hill, on a sandy ridge above the Broad River marshes.
- Population
- 3,758 (2020 census)
- Old name
- Gopher Hill
- County seat
- Jasper County
Then
- 1732
Swiss settlers found Purrysburg on the Savannah River nearby. Disease and competition from Savannah doom it.
- 1894
The settlement is called Gopher Hill, after the gopher tortoises living here.
- 1902
Station ticket master Frederick Henry Ingram renames it Ridgeland, for the sandy ridge it sits on, some of the highest land in Jasper County.
- 1911
Down the road, the railroad stop at Hardee's Station becomes the town of Hardeeville.
Now
Ridgeland is the Jasper County seat, 31 miles north of Savannah on I-95. The tide stations here follow the Coosawhatchie and Broad rivers and their creeks toward Port Royal Sound.
Hardeeville, on the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, has grown more than 150 percent since 2010 as Hilton Head Island's workforce looks for room to live.