Daufuskie Island History

Daufuskie Island, South Carolina is a sea island located one nautical mile south of Hilton Head Island, marking the southernmost point in the State of South Carolina on the Atlantic Seaboard. This 5,200 acre property has been continuously inhabited for over 4000 years, making it the first inhabited island in South Carolina. Daufuskie Island is located well on the 100 year flood zone with a significant portion on the 500 year flood zone.

Access to Daufuskie Island is by boat and ferry transportation only. There are three primary embarkation sites for Daufuskie Island, all of which are on Hilton Head Island, although service from nearby Savannah, Georgia (a 35 minute trip) has recently commenced on a limited basis. Rides to the island can range between 10 to 45 minutes depending on the point of embarkation and debarkation. The current population on Daufuskie Island is approximately 300 full-time residents, with about 80 more part-time residents.

Daufuskie is an island rich in legend, lore, history and an abundance of nature, yet offers a simple existence to her population. The Island is fringed with the green undulating marshes of the Southern coast; shrimp boats ply the waters around her and fishermen cast their lines along her bountiful shores. Deer cut though the forests in small silent herds. The great Southern oaks stand broodingly on her banks. There is something eternal and indestructible about the tide-eroded shores and the dark, threatening silences of the swamps in the heart of the island. Today Daufuskie Island is looked upon in a romantic fashion by tourists and environmentalists and with hope for the future by longtime residents.

Change, growth and development have been a part of Daufuskie Island since the very beginning. From indigo to cotton, from plantations to farms, from sallow poverty to whatever the future holds - the motion has always been there. However slowly, the island is always shifting like the sands of its own shores. Like the tides that wash its shores, the island has known the ebb and flow of prosperity and peace, and hardship and bloodshed. Indian pottery found on the island is among the oldest of its kind in North America, dating back more than 9,000 years. But the time of the Indians ended in the early 18th century after a battle with English soldiers in 1715. As the sand ran red with the Indians’ blood, the southern tip was given the moniker Bloody Point, a name it carries to this day. The island knew the high tide of splendor in the mid-1800s when plantations produced world-famous Sea Island cotton. The island saw another high tide of prosperity in the 1940s and 1950s when more there were more than 1,000 inhabitants - oyster houses, the primary employers at that time, shipped famous Daufuskie oysters around the world and at least two steamship lines ran regular service to Savannah.

A high tide of notoriety came to the Island in the late 1960s when Pat Conroy wrote “The Water Is Wide,” a narrative of his year spent on the island as its only school teacher. Later, the film adaptation of the book, “Conrack,” featured Jon Voight as Conroy.

For every high tide, there is a low tide. English soldiers took the lives of the island's Indians. The boll weevil took the island's cotton. Pollution from the Savannah River took the island's oysters. Pat Conroy took the island's innocence and as the ever burgeoning population filtered in from points north and west, it gave way to tasteful yet nonetheless outside development.

It was not until the 1970s, when property (especially beach front property) had been nearly depleted on other islands, that all eyes have been focused on Daufuskie Island. Enter Charles Cauthen. Charles L. Cauthen is a graduate of The Citadel, resident of Sea Pines, real estate developer and broker, and owner of The Daufuskie Company. Charles organized the group that purchased nearly 50% of the island and started to develop. It is important to understand Charles' emotional commitment to Daufuskie. He loves the island; that's terribly clear. It shows when he talks about it; it glows when he's there. The islanders sense it and they all know him by name. He knows their children and their worries, their secrets and their cares. He sings their music, trusts their wisdom, respects their talents and has a keen understanding of these values. His vision for Daufuskie was to create a community without paved streets . . . using oyster shells and sand and never building a bridge. "We're looking for the man, possibly from Hilton Head or Savannah, who, rather than driving fifteen miles on the interstate would rather ride his bike down to River Street, put the bike on a ferry, dictate two more letters and have a highball, and when he got home his blood pressure would be way down." Charles still hints at a Town Center with a charming Nantucket style marina village. Since the beginning of his involvement with Daufuskie, developers and new property buyers have been on the scene and have invested over $500 million over the last twenty-five years. Everyone acquainted with this island will agree that this is only the beginning.