Sometimes, it is hard to imagine the past
One of our most unique services are historic illustrations based on archaeological and historical evidence. We take all the evidence of what a time or place may have looked like and paint it into existence. These illustrations have been used in books, websites, exhibits, etc. Short of time-travel, these are one of the best ways to look into our local past and step into a moment to look around.
Mitchelville, Hilton Head Island, 1865.
What did it look like when the women of Mitchelville got up in the morning, and headed towards the beach, walking toward Fort Welles and work? We know they would have been walking into the sunrise, many carrying their baskets on their heads like their foremothers. We know they would have passed small gardens and beach grasses, some palmetto trees. Using archaeological evidence, this illustration shows the orientations of one of Mitchelvilles’s streets, lined with small white houses and hearths in the yard.
Commissioned 2024
All rights reserved. No part of this artwork may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the artist. © Seeber, 2024.
Sea Pines Shell Ring, Hilton Head Island, 2000 BCE
What does the inside of an ancient Shell Ring look like? What did the few houses that were built inside of this Shell Ring look like? What does it mean when we say “subterranean dwellings”? This illustration was produced to illustration precisely what archaeologists saw while excavating the ring in recent years.
Commissioned 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this artwork may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the artist. © Seeber, 2023.
Plantation Tabby, Hilton Head Island, 1750
This illustration is of two enslaved workers making the second course of a tabby building. We can see the wooden molds, held together by dowels holding a slurry of liquid tabby. There are other small tabby buildings behind them.
Commissioned 2025
All rights reserved. No part of this artwork may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the artist. © Seeber, 2025.
Port Royal Sound, 1350
What did the Port Royal Sound look like before colonization? In some ways, just the same. In others, very different. This illustration was made to show ecological nuances that were more present in the Indigenous Port Royal Sound of 1350 AD.
Commissioned 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this artwork may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the artist. © Seeber, 2024.