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Bluffton should be thankful for the keepers of the Heyward House

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A Bluffton gem, quietly cut and polished by caring Blufftonians, stands on the northwest corner of Bridge and Boundary streets: the Heyward House. Its early history is well-documented: John Cole, who owned Moreland Plantation, which is now part of Palmetto Bluff, built the house in the 1840s as a summer home for his family.

But less is known of its recent history. It deserves telling, for it makes us all proud of our community and a few special folks that call Bluffton home.

In the late 1990s the leadership of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society felt their organization needed to add preservation to their early focus of publishing and education. In 1998 Margaret Heyward put her home on the market, which proved a great opportunity for the society: It would provide it not just a home with a rich antebellum history but one well deserving of the society's interest in preservation. Jerry Reeves recalls the society may have had $18,000 in the bank at the time -- this was before "sub-prime" was part of the lexicon --which does not easily buy a $300,000 property backed only by membership dues and book sales. Not in 1998, anyway.

The solution: A group of individuals and families, with support of a friendly local banker, pledged to back the mortgage. These were Mary and Jerry Reeves, Ann and Art Elliott, Lucy Scardino and Peter Lamb, Joan Vander-Arend, Joe Harrison and the late Tommy Heyward.Over the years other financial support, direct and otherwise, has come from the Hilton Head Foundation, Beaufort County and Bluffton hospitality taxes and the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

Robert Jones was brought on board and lent his skills to much of the early restoration planning and work. Students from the Savannah College of Art and Design found the Heyward House a useful laboratory for their studies and provided a preservation manual that still guides current restoration efforts.

Bob and Jean Allen of Moss Creek led in restoring the slave quarters in the rear of the house.Members of the local Questers were vital in this effort as well.Furniture and accessories for the main house, fitting the period, continue to be sought and accepted.

Today, the Heyward House serves as the official Welcome Center for the town of Bluffton. The director, Maureen Richards, has staff support in Meagan Wilson and Emily Scott. They are further supported by 14 docents from throughout greater Bluffton -- the majority coming from Sun City Hilton Head. Numbers speak to their success: In 2004 there were 5,300 visitors.and those figures rose steadily to just shy of 10,000 in 2007.This year's figures will likely end up around 12,000.

Ann Elliott, almost singularly, has pulled together and still maintains the society's archives. These were once housed in Town Hall but as the town staff grew, Elliott, with her many boxes and filing cabinets, was squeezed out. She's now housed in the space adjacent to the SoBA Gallery on Boundary Street.

About that mortgage: It is of the "non-toxic" variety and thus will not enjoy any recovery efforts by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Congress. But that's OK. It is down to about $85,000 now, and the leadership of the society plans to zero that out soon. In fact, a few days ago a group from the community met at Joanie Heyward's home (lured there by the promise of food from Bess Soper). But their real purpose was to pledge themselves to go out and beat the bushes for sufficient funds to retire the Heyward House mortgage, which would free up funds for continued preservation efforts, education and utilization of additional real property the society recently received from the estate of the late Sophia and Leslie Teel.

Given the past successes of this visionary group in tackling the seemingly improbable, we should have no doubt about the success of this current venture.And we should all be thankful for their big dream in 1998 and for their time and resources mirrored daily on the corner of Bridge and Boundary.

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