There’s something about Old Town Bluffton, a drowsy village on the banks of the May River between Savannah and Hilton Head Island: something ageless and authentic and maybe a little haunted. There’s a hint of Mark Twain’s Hannibal in the air. The gnarled limbs of ancient oaks reach over tin-roofed cottages. Egrets pose motionless near oyster beds exposed at low tide. It’s “a sweet little town,” says local potter Jacob Preston. “People wonder how something like this can still exist.”

Bluffton comes by its old-river-town vibe honestly. Many a current of Southern history flowed through this corner of the Lowcountry. Planters grew rice, then indigo, then cotton. Robert E. Lee bought his storied horse Traveller hereabouts. Canneries and fishing fleets boomed as Americans acquired a taste for oysters, crab, and shrimp.

Over the last twenty years, Bluffton’s secret has gotten out; dozens of neighborhoods have gradually sprung up, and what was not long ago a one-square-mile community of 700 souls has stretched its boundaries to manage the population swell. But its palpable sense of place and small-town appeal remain intact.

Read more and check out Mike’s 24 Hour Agenda for your visit to Bluffton at Garden & Gun HERE.

With a national audience of more than one million passionate and engaged readers, the magazine has won numerous awards for its journalism, design, and overall excellence. Learn more at Garden & Gun.