Bluffton’s new waterfront park opens just in time for the holidays. Check it out
Bluffton’s newest waterfront park offers a perfect spot to watch the sunset along the May River.
Wright Family Park at the end of Calhoun Street in the heart of Old Town Bluffton — initially expected to open in May before the coronavirus pandemic hit — is now open to the public.
“Go enjoy the river,” Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka said Friday. “99.5% of us don’t get the chance to look at the water. Take some solemn time and just go and enjoy the beautiful weather and river.”
Though officials will not hold an official ribbon-cutting ceremony until construction of its new public dock is complete, spokesperson Debbie Szpanka said the town began allowing people to walk on the property last Friday.
The estimated $1.6-million park features a large central lawn, parking spots, a bulkhead, historic signs and benches for people to relax and enjoy the holiday season. A garage on the property was converted into public restrooms and a catering kitchen, according to development plans.
The lights strung in the trees of the park — which Sulka called an “ornament circle” — are a great spot for any last-minute Christmas card photos.
Calhoun Street Dock
Construction crews are still working to complete a plaza that connects Calhoun Street to the new $854,000 regional dock being built at the end of the street.
Long a symbol of Bluffton’s historic fishing economy, a public dock has been at the end of Calhoun Street since the early 1800s.
The new wooden dock will replace the metal one that has floated on the May River since the 1970s. Sulka said it’s expected to be complete by the end of the year.
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.
Squire Pope Carriage House
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 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.
Historic Discovery
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 bricks 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 archaeologists 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 owner 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.
Sometime prior to 1850, he built the Squire Pope House across from the Church of the Cross to serve as his summer home.
For over 150 years, many Blufftonians believed all traces of the Squire Pope House had been destroyed during the war-time burning or washed away by the May River.
The structural piers that were in the best shape were preserved in the soil and can be viewed in the park. An interpretive sign tells the story of the historic discovery and the history of the burning of Bluffton.
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
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 4:35 AM.
