This history feature was written and researched by Annamaria Haden, Old Baldy summer 2020 intern. Haden is a senior at UNCW studying history. Thomas Franklin Boyd purchased Smith Island in 1914. Boyd is a crucial figure in 20th Century development of Bald Head Island. Boyd intended Bald Head Island, which he renamed and advertised as Palmetto Island, to be a tropical and sophisticated tourist destination. Boyd’s optimistic vision for the island’s potential included the constr