Okatie (pronounced "OH-kuh-tee") is an unincorporated suburban community west of

Hilton Head Island Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...

, located in

Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...

and

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

counties, in the

Lowcountry The Lowcountry (sometimes Low Country or just low country) is a geographic and cultural region along South Carolina's coast, including the Sea Islands. The region includes significant salt marshes and other coastal waterways, making it an import ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Okatie takes its name from the nearby Okatee River, an estuary of the

Port Royal Sound Port Royal Sound is a coastal sound, or inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the Sea Islands region, in Beaufort County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the estuary of several rivers, the largest of which is the Broad River. Geograph ...

. The headquarters of the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority are located in Okatie, as are the Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence and

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Catholic High School. Okatie is an unincorporated area stretching from southcentral Jasper County to western Beaufort County, between I-95 and SC 462. It was designated a voting precinct on March 1, 1916, by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina. Portions of Okatie have been annexed by Bluffton,

Hardeeville Hardeeville is a city in Jasper and Beaufort counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 7,473 as of the 2020 census, an increase of over 150% since 2010. Hardeeville is included within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufo ...

and

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

South Carolina Highway 170 South Carolina Highway 170 (SC 170) is a state highway, connecting northern Beaufort County with southern portions of Beaufort and Jasper counties. Due to increased population growth in both areas, the majority of the road is four lan ...

(also known as Okatie Highway) is generally considered to be the main route through Okatie. Okatie has experienced predominantly low-density residential development since the 1990s, including

Sun City Hilton Head Del Webb's Sun City Hilton Head (often shortened to Sun City Hilton Head or Sun City locally) is an age-restricted planned community located in the Okatie area of Beaufort and Jasper counties in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. Although ...

, Riverbend, and Oldfield. Additional commercial and low intensity industrial development have also occurred, primarily in the Jasper County sections of Okatie. This development pattern has resulted in concerns over water quality and loss of forest habitat for wildlife. Previous efforts to incorporate the community have been unsuccessful, due in part to conflicting opinions on the future of growth and development in the area.

References

{{Jasper County, South Carolina Geography of Beaufort County, South Carolina Geography of Jasper County, South Carolina Populated places in Beaufort County, South Carolina Populated places in Jasper County, South Carolina Hilton Head Island–Beaufort micropolitan area