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Daufuskie Island
The Spirits of the Gullahs
Location: South Carolina, U.S.
Extraordinary Islands > Islands of History > Myth & Legend
Tourist information: www.daufuskievacation.com">www.daufuskievacation.com
Airports: Hilton Head, South Carolina (1/2 hr. away).
Ship: 40 min. from Hilton Head: Calibogue Cruises ☎ 843/342-8687; www.daufuskiefreeport.com Palmetto Ferry Company ☎ 843/684-7819;
Hotels: Villas and condos ☎ 800/445-8664; www.daufuskievacation.com
Airports: Hilton Head, South Carolina (1/2 hr. away).
Ship: 40 min. from Hilton Head: Calibogue Cruises ☎ 843/342-8687; www.daufuskiefreeport.com Palmetto Ferry Company ☎ 843/684-7819;
Hotels: Villas and condos ☎ 800/445-8664; www.daufuskievacation.com
Like its fellow Low Country sea islands, Daufuskie has a picturesque landscape that borders on steamy Southern Gothic. Live oaks wreathed in silvery Spanish moss frame dense woods, where unseen critters croak and twitter. Thick, salty air hangs in beams of sunlight, its perfume pungent and primeval. Tidal flats stretch long, bony fingers into the sea. It seems only natural that the island is rife with ghosts.
Daufuskie's rich black loam once grew cotton so silky it had its own name—Sea Island cotton—and in the years leading up to the Civil War, the island was the site of 12 prosperous cotton plantations. West African slaves were brought to this isolated place to work the cotton fields, and over the years they developed a unique culture that married African traditions with the customs of the New World. In the postwar period, after the slaves were freed and white plantation owners fled the island, its isolated position—with no causeways to the mainland—kept the old traditions alive. "Gullah" refers to the descendants of those slaves, their culture, and their language, a musical hybrid of English and West African.
Most of the old places on the island are haunted, it's said, including the 1883 lighthouse at Bloody Point, where Daufuskie legend Arthur Ashley "Papy" Burn once lived. Papy had four wives; he made wine from sweet scuppernong grapes, elderberries, and pears, and stored it in the Lamp Room that once housed the lighthouse's back range light. He called the little brick structure Silver Dew Winery, and it's still here. Other historic structures on the island include the white-frame First Union Baptist Church, built in 1864, and the two-room schoolhouse, the Mary Fields Elementary School, where a young Pat Conroy taught for a remarkable year, later immortalized in his autobiographical novel The Water Is Wide (made into a movie with Jon Voight called Conrack). As you travel around the island (golf carts are the favored mode of transportation), check out the old Gullah homes: You'll spot a peeling blue windowsill here, a faded blue roof there, even a whole house done up in brilliant sky blue, for the Gullahs believed that painting the window trim blue kept the evil spirits away.
Success seemed forever to elude Daufuskie. The boll weevil wiped out the cotton crop in 1921; another local treasure, the Daufuskie oyster, was doomed by environmental pollution, the oyster beds shut down in 1959. Mid-20th-century Daufuskie had a dwindling but tight-knit populace of Gullah-speaking African Americans eking out a meager island existence in peaceful isolation. But today, as old-timers die out and real-estate development creeps in (though at nowhere near the pace of Hilton Head), Gullah heritage tours have become a popular tourist activity. Big oaks that withstood hurricanes and bulldozers stand guard over sprawling "Low Country–style" homes and golf courses. The Daufuskie oyster is back, growing plump and creamy in newly pristine waters; the waters brim with fish, shrimp, crabs, and the occasional gator. The spirit of the Gullahs resides on Daufuskie still.
Daufuskie Island
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Daufuskie Island, SC
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Daufuskie Island
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Daufuskie Island Historic District
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| Nearest city: | Hilton Head, South Carolina |
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| Coordinates: | 32°6′47″N 80°51′59″W / 32.11306°N 80.86639°WCoordinates: 32°6′47″N 80°51′59″W / 32.11306°N 80.86639°W |
| Built: | 1728 |
| Architectural style: | Greek Revival |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 82003831 |
| Added to NRHP: | June 2, 1982[1] |
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This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (August 2010) |
Daufuskie Island is a residential "sea island" between Savannah, Georgia and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina about 2.75 miles (4.43 km) offshore. The total island surface is just 8 square miles (21 km2) within the maximum length of 5 miles (8.0 km) and maximum width of 2.5 miles (4.0 km).
Daufuskie has a full-time population of around 250. There are two resorts, a private residential community, and a large undeveloped tract of lands identified as residential property.
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Contents
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History
The island's recorded history traces back to Pre Revolutionary War times. It was the site of a skirmish called the "Daufuskie Fight" during the Yemassee War of 1715–1717. The island was home to a sizable population of Gullah inhabitants from the end of the Civil War until very recently. Gullah are the descendants of freed slaves. The 1988 Jimmy Buffett song, "The Prince Of Tides" laments the urbanization of the island and loss of the Gullah.[citation needed]the song can be found on the album hot water The 1972 Pat Conroy book The Water is Wide was set on Daufuskie, fictionalized as "Yamacraw Island." The book recounts Mr. Conroy's experiences teaching on the island in the 1960s.
The Daufuskie Island Historical Foundation (www.daufuskieislandhistoricalfoundation.org) has a museum with historical artifacts of the island as well as a display with information about the Gullah history of the island.
Locations
The island is now split into five parts.
To the northeast is the Haig Point Club[1], a private, member owned residential club with around 150 year-round residents and over 225 homes.
South of Haig Point is the Daufuskie Resort. Formerly a private vacation club with an emphasis on golf and tennis, and offering a private residential component, this is now a publicly accessible resort. Farther south on the eastern side of the island is Oak Ridge, a small undeveloped oceanfront community, followed by Bloody Point, a private residential community.
The western part of the island is unincorporated land. Several dozen residents live in a variety of accommodations, from trailers to beautiful waterfront homes with private docks. This section of the island received federal designation as a Historical District in the early '80's. According to a study conducted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the island has excellent examples of Gullah homes which have not been altered. There are descendants of the Gullah people living in this area on land which they have owned since just after the Civil War.
A recent census in 2007 by the local Daufuskie Island Fire and Rescue Department counted a total of just 429 residents living full time on the entire island.
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Daufuskie Island
Culture
The island is also home to the First Union African Baptist Church, which is Daufuskie's oldest building, and is still in use today as a place of worship.
There are two historic lighthouses on Daufuskie Island. The Bloody Point Lighthouse, built in 1883, and the Haig Point Lighthouse, built ten years earlier.
Education
Daufuskie Island School is a Beaufort County public school built in 1997. It is a modern facility with two classrooms, lunchroom and library. The students are in multigrade classrooms; Pre-K through 2nd grade and 3rd grad through 5th grade. Generally there are around 15-18 students each year and the school has significant community support and many volunteers on the island.
Students in grades 6-12 are transported to the Hilton Head Middle School and High School by a ferry. On Daufuskie, these students take a small school bus to the ferry. Once the students reach Hilton Head, they are picked up by a county school bus and taken to their appropriate school campus. The entire trip is about an hour and ten minutes each morning and afternoon. The students often do their homework or simply nap during the boat ride. It's a unique way of life for schoolchildren.
Transportation
There are no bridges that connect Daufuskie with mainland South Carolina; therefore all island access must come by boat. Ferries run from Hilton Head Island twice a day that connect the island.
Beaufort County provides a subsidized ferry that transports residents. The Haig Point Club has its own private ferry service. There are also several private companies that provide high speed water taxi services to the island.] Residents of the clubs, as well as some of the other residents on the island, use golf carts and bicycles to travel around the island, although there are a handful of cars and trucks, too.
Flora and fauna
The Daufuskie Island Conservancy is one of several local organizations charged with preserving the ecosystem, flora and fauna, and quality of life on Daufuskie Island. Details of these groups and their meetings can be found at the island's only news source The Daufuskie Front Porch. In addition there is a web portal for the island with local interests and local business listings at Daufuskie Tides
Daufuskie Island boasts a wide variety of nature and animal life. One of the notable animals that inhabits the island is the Fox Squirrel. The bald eagle is also one of the magnificent creatures found on the island. During the day, you can see eagles soaring high in the air and occasionally swooping into the water for a catch.
Resort amenities
The island has three golf courses, the Bloody Point Course (currently under renovation) designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, the Melrose Golf Course designed by Jack Nicklaus, and the 20 hole Haig Point Signature Course plus the 9 hole Haig Point Osprey Course designed by Rees Jones.
The twenty hole Haig Point Golf Course is designed to be played as two separate 18 hole courses, one easier, one more difficult. The course has two extra "easy" par threes and many holes have two sets of tees. It is a unique and ingenious design that allows every level of player to enjoy the Signature Course and its natural beauty. Ten of the twenty holes have spectacular marsh, sound and ocean views.
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
External links
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Frommer's 500 Extraordinary Islands
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