Some neighborhoods carry more history than their street signs let on — and Rivertowne Country Club is one of them.

If you’ve been exploring homes in North Mount Pleasant, Rivertowne Country Club has probably already caught your eye. The Arnold Palmer golf course, the Wando River views, the grand live oaks draped in Spanish moss — it all feels perfectly at home in this corner of the Lowcountry. And in a way, it always has. The land along Horlbeck Creek and the Wando River has been drawing people for centuries. Here’s the story behind the neighborhood so many people are proud to call home.

The Land and the Parish: Where It All Begins

Long before the first European settlers arrived, this stretch of the Lowcountry was home to the Wando, a small coastal tribe who inhabited the land between the river and the sea. Their name lives on in the river that borders Rivertowne today.

When South Carolina established its system of Anglican parishes in 1706, the land that now includes Rivertowne became part of Christ Church Parish — one of ten parishes created by the Church Act of that year, covering all of what is now North Mount Pleasant. Rice became the dominant crop along the Wando River, and the waterfront plantations that lined its banks grew into some of the most productive — and consequential — estates in the colony.

The Horlbeck Family and the Creek That Bears Their Name

Today’s golfers navigate 13 holes along Horlbeck Creek at Rivertowne, and that creek carries a name worth knowing.

Two brothers, Peter and John Horlbeck, arrived in South Carolina from Saxony — present-day Germany — in the 1760s and quickly established themselves as skilled masons and builders. They were the craftsmen behind the Exchange and Customs House at 122 East Bay Street in Charleston, built between 1767 and 1771. That building still stands today as one of the most significant colonial-era public buildings in America. The brothers’ influence on early Charleston was so lasting that an alley in downtown Charleston still carries their name.

A generation later, brothers John and Henry Horlbeck purchased Boone Hall Plantation in 1817 — just a few miles from what is now Rivertowne — and operated it as a major brick-making enterprise for more than a century. The clay used to produce those bricks was dug directly from the banks of Horlbeck Creek. By 1850, the enslaved workers on the property were producing four million bricks per year by hand. Those bricks built countless structures throughout Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry, and the fingerprints of the people who made them are still visible in the historic buildings standing today.

The Horlbeck family owned Boone Hall until 1935. The creek that fed their brick-making operation — and that now winds through the back nine of one of South Carolina’s most decorated golf courses — still carries their name.

Parker’s Island, the Phillips Community, and a Cemetery Within the Neighborhood

The section of Rivertowne known today as Parker’s Island takes its name from Parker’s Island Plantation, which occupied this land before the neighborhood existed. It was closely connected to both Boone Hall and Laurel Hill Plantations — part of the same network of estates that defined this stretch of the Wando River through the colonial era and into the 19th century.

After the Civil War, the people who had been enslaved on Parker’s Island, Laurel Hill, and Boone Hall did something remarkable. Beginning in the 1870s, they purchased parcels of land along Horlbeck Creek — 8 to 25 acres each, at $10 per acre — and founded the Phillips Community. The Phillips Community still exists today along Highway 41, now surrounded by Rivertowne, Park West and other neighborhoods. In 2023, it became the first African American settlement community in South Carolina listed on the National Register of Historic Places — a recognition of a neighborhood whose boundaries still closely match the original parcels purchased by freedmen more than 150 years ago.

Within Rivertowne itself, a quiet piece of that history remains. The Parker’s Island Cemetery sits at the edge of the marsh, accessible by a boardwalk tucked between two homes. Only four graves are visible today, but archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar have found evidence suggesting it may be a much larger formal burial ground — with additional graves lost over time to marsh erosion. Rivertowne maintains the site as preserved open space, and it is included as part of the Phillips Community’s National Register listing.

Where History Meets Lowcountry Living

Rivertowne was developed beginning in the mid-1990s, with the golf course opening for play in 2002 and the plantation-style clubhouse completing in 2004. The community spans roughly 600 acres and is made up of several distinct sub-neighborhoods — The Isles, The Pointe at North Creek, and Parkers Landing — each with its own character but sharing the same sweeping Lowcountry setting of marsh, river, golf course and old-growth oaks. Homes range from classic Lowcountry cottages along the golf course to fully custom waterfront estates on the Wando River, with deep-water docks and views that are hard to put into words.

The centerpiece of Rivertowne Country Club has always been the golf course — the only Arnold Palmer Signature course in the Charleston area. Today it holds a 4.5-star rating from Golf Digest and consistently ranks among the best public courses in the state. Golf club membership is separate from homeownership, which means you can enjoy the setting and the views without needing full golf privileges.

Beyond golf, residents have access to a pool, tennis courts, and play areas — amenities that are practical and well-integrated into daily life rather than feeling like a full-scale resort. Sidewalks and well-established streets make it easy to stay active, whether that’s a morning walk or an evening bike ride through one of the neighborhood’s tree-lined streets.

Thinking About a Home in Rivertowne Country Club?

Whether you’re drawn to the golf course views, the waterfront properties along the Wando, or the warmth of an established neighborhood with real roots, we’d love to help you find the right fit. Schedule a buyer consultation or reach out via email, phone or text; let's find the right home for you in Rivertowne.

Warmly, Lauren, Tina and Gigi | Lauren Zurilla & Associates — Your Charleston Area Real Estate Experts