Palmetto Bluff; 20,000 Acres of Lowcountry Luxury

by Mary Ann Hester

Sunrise is the first luxury of the day at Palmetto Bluff, and you don’t have to get out of bed to see it. Just peek through the Plantation blinds in your cottage toward a glowing Palmetto tree and the sun will slowly rise over the May River. Then, if you are so inclined, make the gourmet coffee that has been left for you (with real half and half in the small Sub Zero refrigerator) and curl up on your own screened veranda to see the dawn break wider. Your most important decision of the day might be choosing between the dolphin spotting tour, kayaking through the almost nine miles of lagoons, or enjoying a “bath on the bluff” spa treatment. There are few places in the world where you can greet the day so civilly and have such sumptuous choices.Even the land is a luxury: 20,000 unspoiled acres of lowcountry. R.T. Wilson inherited the acreage in 1914 from his father and built Palmetto Lodge, a 72-room, 22-bathroom “cottage” with a ballroom that was imported from Europe. The Lodge burned in 1926, and in 1927, Wilson sold the land to Varn Cattle Company and Turrentine. It was farmed for 10 years, then bought by Union Bag and Paper Company (later Union Camp), who used it as a hunting retreat for executives and customers. The abundant wildlife and rustic retreat made for an invitation that no sports-minded celebrity, head of state or CEO could turn down. Then in 2000, the land was sold to Crescent Resources, a deep-pocketed real estate and development subsidiary of Duke Energy. This 20,000+ acre Brigadoon of secluded property called Palmetto Bluff stretches from the May River near Bluffton to Bull Island and Daufuskie on the Cooper River and to the fresh water rice fields of the New River, encompassing untamed forests and marshes.

Palmetto Bluff has several personalities, and all of them are indulgent. The Inn and Spa are run impeccably by Auberge Resorts, a company well known for its attention to detail. The Inn at Palmetto Bluff is home to the excellent River House dining room, a 4,000-bottle wine cellar, private dining room, ballroom and conference rooms. There are no overnight accommodations in the Inn, as that would be too mundane. After checking in, you and your luggage are gently guided to a golf cart and whisked away to one of the 50 big cottages. Guide Norris Smart is knowledgeable about the property and its history, making the elegance comfortable. Each cottage is outfitted with a gas fireplace, incredible thread count bed linens, steam shower, huge marble bathtub, upscale reading material, a small table with binoculars, Audubon bird watching book, suntan lotion and a flashlight. The wet bar with the small refrigerator is well stocked, and management also leaves a bottle of wine and delicacies from the pastry chef. For those who cannot disconnect, the rooms are equipped with multi-line phones and Internet, but shame on you if you waste this wonderful wilderness with wireless. The Inn is part of Palmetto Bluff called the Village, an area designed to be enjoyed by residents of Bluffton, Inn visitors or anyone smart and lucky enough to find it. It is organized around the ruins of the old R.T. Wilson “cottage” and is open at one end for a view of the May River. The Village has a post office, bookstore/café, gallery, chapel and museum. It is accessible by water or land and is designed as a place to stroll. Cars are not the preferred mode of transportation at Palmetto Bluff and are replaced by bicycles, golf carts and that often forgotten appendage, feet. As Tommy Baysden, Vice President of Marketing says, “You can’t have a village without real people...we wanted a place that has energy and body heat.” Even the village sculpture has energy – statues of small boys playing with a fire hose squirt water every hour or so.All meals at the Inn’s River House are memorable, but dinner shines with local items sich as May River oysters and less native dishes including Earl Grey Chocolate Soufflé. The desserts are truly spectacular, and the Crème Brûlée is not one dish but three, including separate chocolate, pecan and vanilla custards. If dessert guilt overwhelms you, watch the next sunrise on a StairMaster at the Fitness Center and then head to the spa for an “Amazing Grace Bodywork and Massage” or a “Resurrection Facial” that is as restorative to your skin as rain is to the resurrection fern.As if all this sleeping, eating and pampering were not enough, there is a golf course. The Nicklaus-designed May River course, recently named SouthCarolina Magazine’s best new course of the year, is, according to Director of Golf Charlie Kent, “a beautiful experience...you won’t feel beat up when you finish, but challenged.”But this is not a golf resort. Horses, boats, and hiking trails are just as popular as golf. The non-profit Palmetto Bluff Conservancy provides not only resource protection, but fun and educational classes as well. They offer freshwater fishing, archaeology dig visits, nature or bird watching tours and history and shopping tours of Bluffton. Actually, the concierge at the Inn can arrange almost anything from private boat tours on the resort’s classic Hinckley Picnic Boat to champagne hidden in a tree house.There are residents who get to enjoy this place anytime, or all the time. In 2005, 288 real estate transactions were completed for a total of $171 million. Home sites range from a quarter acre to 31 acres. The village is surrounded by homes on the smaller acreage and is already quite built up. It is designed for people who want to be within walking distance of the village and Inn amenities. Some of these homes are available for rent. May River Forest will eventually have about 240 homes and Headwaters, which has the largest sites, will include 10 family compounds. To help preserve the unspoiled beauty of Palmetto Bluff, only 2,917 homes will be built on about 12,600 of the 20,000 acres. Even if you are only a visitor to this Lowcountry Brigadoon, count your blessings. You will feel your pace slowing during the four mile drive into the property. The attention to detail starts here as you cross the first bridge and the expansion joints get further and further apart and you get into the slow, calm rhythm of a place where land and time are the real luxuries.

© 2007 South Carolina Magazine. To read more articles in South Carolina Magazine, click here

• •Hilton Head & Lowcountry Accommodations
• •Hilton Head & Lowcountry Golf Courses

Sticky Businessby Mary Ann Hester

The Guys of Sticky Fingers Take Friendly Ribbing to a Whole New Level read more

Wish You Were Here!by Kristi Keenan

Forget about that timeshare rental this summer. You have a standing reservation in your own condo on wheels read more

Your Boat or Mine? Boat clubs are a fun alternative to owning a boatby Heidi Strantz

What a perfect way to spend the day — boating on the South Carolina waterways, basking in the southern sunshine. Fishing, crabbing, tubing, skiing, swimming, relaxing, and exploring the rivers and marshes. So it makes sense to buy a boat, right? Everyone will love it. read more

Lost at Seaby Richard Bernabe

Perfectly tucked between Hilton Head and Charleston is an island refuge of natural beaches, luxuriant maritime forests and bountiful wildlife. read more