Every big name on the map around Johns Island came from the people who lived here first. Kiawah, Edisto, and Wadmalaw are all Native American names, and all three trace back to the Cusabo peoples of the Lowcountry coast.
Kiawah.
Kiawah is named for the Kiawah people, a subtribe of the Cusabo. Their chief, called the "cassique," guided the first English settlers to Albemarle Point in 1670, now Charles Towne Landing, where Charleston began. It is pronounced KEY-uh-wah, and often KEE-wah by locals.
Edisto.
Edisto is named for the Edistow people, also part of the Cusabo family, who lived on the island and along the river. The island, Edisto Beach, and the Edisto River all carry their name. Some accounts say "Edisto" comes from a word meaning "black," a reference to the dark, tannic river water, though that meaning is debated. The Edisto tribe faded in the colonial era, and descendants are active today as the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown.
Wadmalaw.
Wadmalaw is named for the Wadmalaw people, a Cusabo tribe who lived on the island, fishing and farming long before Europeans arrived. When Captain Robert Sandford claimed the island for England in 1666, the name Wadmalaw stayed.
Every time we say these names, we are still speaking the language of the island's first people. It is a Lowcountry inheritance you can hear in a single drive across the bridges.