Why Old Town Bluffton Still Feels Like a Small Town

I hope your September is still giving you some warm afternoons outside.

Every time I have a showing or a meeting near Old Town Bluffton, I try to park a street further away than I need to, so I can walk past Church Street on the way. Old oaks, small shops, the May River at the end of the road. After all these years here, it still does not get old for me.

I came to Bluffton from Berlin, and Old Town still surprises me. It is small, only a few blocks, but it holds a lot.

A small town with a long memory

Bluffton started in the early 1800s as a summer retreat for planter families who wanted to be near the river breeze. It was incorporated in 1852. The historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, and it covers homes and buildings built between 1815 and 1945.

Some of the oldest are still standing and still in use. The Heyward House on Boundary Street was built in 1841 by enslaved craftsmen, and today it is Bluffton's museum and welcome center. The Church of the Cross sits right on the river at 110 Calhoun Street, built in 1857. The Card House on Bridge Street goes back to about 1825.

I like that Bluffton did not tear these buildings down to make room for something new. They kept them and gave them a new purpose instead. Nothing wasted. That is how I grew up thinking about things too.

Life still runs by the river

The name Bluffton comes from the bluff the town sits on, above the May River. That river still shapes the whole place.

Every Thursday, from 1 to 6 in the evening, the Bluffton Farmers Market sets up at Bluffton Oyster Company Park on the water. It began as a grassroots idea in 2006 and opened as a market in 2008, and it is still run mostly by volunteers. Local vegetables, flowers, bread, a little live music. I like markets like this. You end up talking to people a lot longer than you planned, and somehow that is the whole point.

Around the market, along Calhoun Street and Church Street, small galleries, shops, and restaurants keep the district busy even outside of festival season.

A good week to see it for yourself

If you want a reason to visit, the Historic Bluffton Arts & Seafood Festival runs October 9 through 18 this year, with the juried fine art show and street festival on the weekend of October 17 and 18. Over a hundred artists, fresh local seafood, music on the street, and the whole town out walking. It is one of my favorite weeks on the Lowcountry calendar, and an easy way to see the historic district at its liveliest.

For buyers, Old Town itself is a small footprint, so homes right in the historic district do not come up often. But Bluffton has grown a lot around it, and there are good options close enough to walk or bike into town for an evening out. If a walkable, historic feel is what you are looking for, this is the part of Bluffton to start with.

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This article was created with the help of AI and reviewed by Loni Lueke, The German Realtor.