Currently experiencing unprecedented residential growth, Bluffton offers its locals a fantastic mix of the old and the new. The historical charm of the Old Town brings character to the community and provides its heart, while the elegance of new developments brings world-class golf and retail and commercial convenience close to home. While being large enough to support a wide range of cultural, recreational, and entertainment activities, Bluffton is still small enough to have a real sense of community.
High on the banks of the May River, historic Bluffton has antebellum homes, historic churches, eclectic shops, local galleries, and friendly restaurants. Moss draped trees shade passersby and locals are friendly.
Recent residential communities like Sun City and Belfair have their own golf courses and amenities. Homes are spacious and landscaping lush. In response to these new developments, shopping centers, family diners, award winning restaurants, top hotels, and successful businesses have sprung up along Highway-278 between Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.
Conveniently located between Hilton Head, Savannah and Beaufort, Bluffton appeals to those in search of a relaxed lifestyle and strong sense of community, and to those who want to live close to the action without loosing a small town way of life.
LOCATION
In the heart of South Carolina’s lovely Lowcountry, historic Bluffton is on the southernmost part of South Carolina’s Atlantic coast. Part of Beaufort County, Bluffton is just a few miles from State Highway-278, which journeys east to Hilton Head Island (about 6 miles away) and west to I-95.
I-95 travels south to Savannah, Georgia (about 30 miles from Bluffton) and continues down the east coast all the way to Miami, Florida. Running northwards, I-95 journeys into Florence and onward to North Carolina and beyond.
The County Seat of Beaufort is about 30 miles north of Bluffton.
TRANSPORTATION/AIRPORTS
Located in the heart of South Carolina’s appealing Lowcountry, Bluffton is easy to get to. Hilton Head Airport is about 10 miles away and offers daily flights to Charlotte/Douglas International and weekend flights to Washington DC. The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is about 35 minutes away by car, and offers flights to key centers across the southern, central, and eastern states.
The local bus service is run by the Lowcountry Regional Transportation Authority with routes linking Bluffton with Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and other Lowcountry towns. The LRTA also has a dial-a-ride service, offers transport to those on Medicaid, and coordinates vanpooling.
The nearest Amtrak station is in Savannah.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Originally home to indigenous American tribes who lived off the plentiful local seafood, the Bluffton region was part of a royal land grant awarded to Lord Proprietor Colleton by King George.
In the early nineteenth century, wealthy Savannah plantation owners began to build summer homes here, and Bluffton became a small holiday town for families of those who could afford to get away from the summer heat and malaria that afflicted the coastal plantations.
Closeness to Savannah, Beaufort and Charleston led to Bluffton becoming became a key distribution hub, with valuable crops being shipped to towns across the Southeast and beyond. As commerce prospered, year-round residents began to move in.
Local planters began to feel aggrieved at the harshness of federal import taxes, and in 1844 the historic "Bluffton Movement" was born. Planters met beneath the town’s “Secession Oak” and called for succession from the Union.
Sixteen years later, South Carolina did become the first state to secede from the Union and in June 1863, Union gunboats and infantrymen charged up river to Bluffton to repress Confederate insurrections. After a fierce battle the Confederates were outnumbered and outgunned, and dozens of local homes and churches destroyed.
The early years after the Civil War were tough for Bluffton, but today the city is one of the coasts most vibrant. Many pretty antebellum homes and churches still stand, adding charm to the community, and a steady stream of new residents enriches our local community.
- NUMBER1EXPERT 
