Want to catch the sunset in Old Town Bluffton? This waterfront park will be ready soon
Bluffton residents and visitors will soon have a perfect spot to watch the sunset along the May River.
Construction of Wright Family Park at the end of Calhoun Street in Old Town Bluffton - initially expected to open in May before the coronavirus pandemic hit - will now be completed in mid-October, the town of Bluffton announced on Instagram this week.
The $1.6-million waterfront park with views of the May River will feature a large central lawn, parking spots, a bulkhead and a crabbing dock. A garage on the property will be converted into public restrooms and a catering kitchen, according to development plans.
The final step of construction is to redesign the park’s drainage system and complete a plaza that connects Calhoun Street to the new regional dock being built at the end of the street, the town announced Thursday.
Long a symbol of Bluffton’s historic fishing economy, a public dock has been at the end of Calhoun Street since the early 1800s.
While building the waterfront park, construction is still ongoing on the $854,000 wooden dock that will soon replace the metal one that has floated on the May River since the 1970s.
The dock, which the town says will be similar to the public dock at Palmetto Bluff, will feature a new bulkhead, 10-by-130-foot boardwalk, 20-by-20-foot covered pier head and a 12-by-120-foot floating dock that can accommodate up to six boats.
Closed since early spring due to construction, the dock is expected to be completed on Oct. 26, according to development plans.
Historic discovery
Also on the Wright Family Park property is the Squire Pope Carriage House — one of only 10 remaining antebellum buildings in Old Town Bluffton that survived the 1863 burning of the town by Union troops during the Civil War.
The town is currently working to preserve the property with plans tentatively scheduled to be complete in 2022.
Late last year, a survey of Bluffton residents showed that 90% of participants agreed the property should be preserved, with most saying it should be a museum or visitor’s center.
Wright Family Park was also the spot of a historic discovery last winter.
Volunteers with the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society, using metal detectors on the lawn of the future park, discovered two rows of brick that appear to be structural columns buried beneath the soil.
Along with the beams, the volunteers also discovered dozens of century-old artifacts at the site, including a harmonica, an 1892 Barber dime, a doll arm and glass that appeared to have experienced a “substantial fire.”
Local architects said the discovery was the remnants of the original Squire Pope House, the once-sprawling waterfront mansion that connected to the standing carriage house.
William E. Pope, known as Squire Pope or “the Squire,” was a wealthy Hilton Head Island slave and landowner who served in the South Carolina Senate in the early 1800s and represented St. Luke’s Parish, which included Jasper County and parts of Beaufort County, in the S.C. House of Representatives.
Pope’s main house on Hilton Head was called Coggins Point Plantation, along the aptly named Squire Pope Road.
In 1850, he built the Squire Pope House across from the Church of the Cross to serve as his summer home.
For over 150 years, Blufftonians believed all traces of the Squire Pope House had been destroyed during the war-time burning or washed away by the May River.
In March, Patrick Rooney, manager of the town’s capital improvements program, said the uncovered structures would be preserved in the park.
“Some of the piers, that are in the best shape, will remain excavated and exposed to create an on-site display area with interpretive signage to tell the story of the structure and the burning of Bluffton,” Rooney said in a March email.
About 15 buildings survived the burning of Bluffton, and 10 of those still stand today:
▪ The Heyward House
▪ The John A. Seabrook House
▪ Squire Pope Carriage House
▪ Church of the Cross
▪ Huger-Gordon House
▪ Allen-Lockwood House
▪ Seven Oaks
▪ The Fripp House
▪ The Card House
▪ Historic Campbell AME Church
