Historic Old Town Bluffton
Bluffton “Old Town” is the original town of Bluffton (Est. 1825) and is located on a high bluff along the pristine May River, source of the famous Bluffton Oysters. It was the first town in southern Beaufort County. The high bluffs created strong breezes, and planters built summer homes to escape the heat, isolation and mosquitoes of the plantations.
The Town of Bluffton is located in Beaufort County, the southernmost coastal county in South Carolina. Bluffton is located just 12 miles west of Hilton Head Island, SC and approximately 20 miles northeast of Savannah, GA. It is also easily accessible from Intrastate Highways 46 (also known as May River Road), 170, & 278 and Interstate 95.
The Town limits consist of the original one-square mile (Old Town), four primary annexed tracts of land (Shults Tract, Palmetto Bluff Tract, Buckwalter Tract, and Jones Estate), and a number of auxiliary annexations (Bluffton Village, Village at Verdier, Shultz-Goethe Road Area, and Willow Run). These recent expansions added 32,000 acres through annexations, becoming the fifth largest town in South Carolina (by land area). The township limits are about 50 square miles. New growth will be coming in the future in Ridgeland, Pritchardville, Hardeeville, and unincorporated Beaufort and Jasper Counties.
Called by some “the last true coastal village on the South Carolina coast,” its theme is “Bluffton is a State of Mind.” Many artists, artisans and writers have made it their home. The old town area is peppered with quaint art and folklore shops and galleries and fun restaurants like Pepper’s Porch, Squat and Gobble, and many others. It has an eclectic blend of art, culture and nature-based activities.
The Heyward House, built as a summer home for the owner of Moreland Plantation, John Cole, was constructed CIRCA 1840 and is one of only eight antebellum homes remaining in the Lowcountry coastal town of Bluffton, South Carolina and is the 4th oldest structure remaining in southern Beaufort County. It is the only historic home open for visitation by the public in Bluffton's National Register Historic District. More information is available from the Heyward House -- http://www.heywardhouse.org/.
The Bluffton Historic Preservation Society (BHPS) recounts early history of Bluffton. Bluffton's first small dwellings were constructed in the early 1800s on the river's bluffs, which gave encouragement for others to follow. The layout of the town’s streets in 1830 indicates that it had become a summer haven, and soon a commercial center for isolated plantations in the vicinity that received their goods from Savannah via the May River. In 1844, secession was first heard here leading to the Bluffton Movement. With the Civil War raging and the eventual occupation of Hilton Head Island and Beaufort by Union forces, the town was mostly abandoned by residents and utilized as a base for Confederate pickets observing Union troop movements. The town burned in June 1863. Although the overall destruction was severe, 15 houses and two churches survived, including the c. 1840 Heyward House.
By the turn of the century, the town again experienced growth with the opening of hardware and dry good stores and the growth of a burgeoning oyster harvesting business. Lowcountry residents returned to Bluffton, a place many continued to call home for the summer.
The 1922 construction of the Houlihan Bridge from Port Wentworth to SC Highway 17 ended commercial trade by water several years later. This shift away from being a center of trade ushered in a new phase of Bluffton development, where again it became predominately a summer getaway. Over the last 50 years, it has attracted many full-time residents due to the growth of Hilton Head Island as a major southeastern vacation destination.
The historic Bluffton Oyster House was restored and it operates today on the bank of the May Rivers in historic “Old Town.” There are re-sales in the old town of Bluffton, including river front areas. If you are interested in living in the old town area, the most affordable areas are smaller new home developments in or close to the old town area. You can find these developments in the next Bluffton Area Community in the center drop down menu, Historic Bluffton Developments.
If you are interested in living in or near historic Bluffton, South Carolina, please click the above tab “Contact Us” and send me an email or call me. I will personally answer your email or phone call. I can send you specific neighborhood listings from the MLS databases that are NOT available to you and other members of the public who self-surf the public MLS search engines.
In greater Bluffton, searching by neighborhoods is essential to see which neighborhoods and developments you are looking at. My links give you access to the MLS database using criteria I select. I can group listings by neighborhood and other criteria that are not available in the public MLS sites.
I have access to detailed statistics, history of listings in the archives, historical sold listing data, and the tax records on all Beaufort County properties in Hilton Head Island and greater Bluffton. When you are ready to buy, as a buyer agent I can represent you with client level services that will give you the data necessary to conduct a proper negotiation on your behalf. Seller’s (listing) agents cannot give you this information. As a buyer agent, I can.
Hilton Head Buyers Real Estate, LLC