May River Realty

1267 May River Rd Bluffton

843-757-7000

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To understand the history of Bluffton it is necessary to have some knowledge of its geographic location and the history of adjacent areas such as Hilton Head, St. Helena, Port Royal and other barrier islands for the people who first settled Bluffton were of the same families that earlier developed those places.While Port Royal, St. Helena and Hilton Head were first explored by the Spanish in 1520, the French in 1562 and finally colonized by the English in 1670, the lower parts of what is now Beaufort County, which includes the Bluffton area, were considered ""Indian Lands"". This situation existed until after the Yemassee Indian War which began in 1715. After a long, sporadic and bloody struggle the Yemassees and their Indian allies were finally defeated in 1728 and removed from the area with the majority of the surviving Yemassees going to what is now south Georgia and Florida where they were absorbed into the Seminole tribe.After the removal of the Yemassees the area was opened for settlement by white colonists. Purrysburg on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, was settled by Swiss colonists in 1732 and Savannah was settled in 1733 by the English under General Oglethorpe.