Best Things to Do in Bluffton, SC

Bluffton began as a summer village on the bluff, and Old Town still feels that way. Put on your walking shoes, pick up a map at the front desk, and head out into a shaded grid of live oaks, porches, and antebellum cottages. The 1841 Heyward House serves as the town's welcome center and is a good first stop for a little history, and there are quiet finds all through the district, from the Squire Pope Carriage House to the Palmetto Oaks Sculpture Garden. Everything here leans toward the river eventually, so there is no wrong way to wander.

For its size, Bluffton has a serious creative streak, and Old Town is a designated South Carolina Cultural District. The art starts before you even leave the Inn, whose lobby doubles as a private gallery of Lowcountry paintings by local artist Mickey Boisvert. From there it is a short walk down Calhoun Street, where working studios and galleries like the Society of Bluffton Artists, the Red Piano Art Gallery, and Ben Ham Images sit within a few blocks of one another. Much of the work is by artists who live and paint right here, and most of it is for sale straight off the gallery walls.

Where Calhoun Street meets the bluff, the Church of the Cross has stood since 1857. Built of unfinished pine in the Carpenter Gothic style by Charleston architect E. B. White, it is one of the few buildings to survive the burning of Bluffton in 1863. You do not have to step inside to feel it. The grounds, the live oaks, and the May River just beyond are worth the short walk to the end of the street.

If you do one thing in Bluffton, get on the water. The May River is one of only a handful of federally designated pristine waterways in the country, a tidal stretch of salt marsh and oyster beds that locals treat as a backyard. Guests of the Inn have direct access through our partnership with Outside Brands, including a private 90-minute river cruise that departs from the Calhoun Street Dock at Wright Family Park, a few minutes' walk from your room. You can also paddle a kayak or stand-up board through the tidal creeks, cast for redfish and speckled trout on an inshore fishing charter, or head out toward Daufuskie Island, an unspoiled barrier island reachable only by boat. Keep an eye out for dolphins, herons, and egrets. They tend to show up on cue. Any of it can be arranged through the front desk when you book or once you have settled in.

At the end of Wharf Street, Old Town opens onto the water at the Bluffton Oyster Company, the oldest continuously operating oyster shucking facility in South Carolina and still a working operation after more than a century. The surrounding Oyster Factory Park is free and open daily from dawn to dusk, with shell paths, shade, and a front-row view of the boats coming in. Come at low tide and you will understand the whole rhythm of the place.

Bluffton's story is a Lowcountry story, which means it is also a Gullah and Black story, and Old Town holds it in plain sight. Campbell Chapel AME Church, built in 1853, was purchased in 1874 by nine formerly enslaved men who founded the congregation that still gathers there. Nearby, the Garvin-Garvey Freedman Cottage tells the story of Cyrus Garvin, a freedman who built his home on land tied to the town's past. These are quiet, essential stops for anyone who wants to understand Bluffton beyond the postcard.