Bluffton is a small community about 30 miles northeast of Savannah, on the May River, just across the Savannah River. It was long known as a place where well-off Savannahians had weekend retreats. As Hilton Head has experienced rapid growth in recent years, much of that has spilled over to nearby Bluffton.

"Old Town Bluffton" is a small residential and business district centered on SC Highway 170. The main north-south street is Calhoun Street, named after the fiery SC orator and one-time U.S. Vice President, John C. Calhoun. It stretches a few blocks south to the May River, capped by the beautiful Church of the Cross.

Some of the older homes and businesses on Calhoun Street have now been turned into art galleries and gift shops, which is always a bit off-putting to me, these days, when I remember what they used to be. "Progress."

Nowadays, "New Bluffton" sprawls north of Old Town, and is more centered along U.S. 278, which stretches from Columbia, the capitol city, to Hilton Head. The rumor was that the SC Dept. of Transportation suddenly "found" money in

their budget to widen that road to four lanes, so that the Governor of SC could "have breakfast in Columbia, play a round of golf and have lunch with supporters in Hilton Head, and be back in Columbia in time for dinner."

But that was just the rumor. Nowadays the U.S. 278 corridor is filled with subdivisions on either side, various car dealerships, shopping centers, and golf courses. As people bought homes there, churches and schools followed, so that now, "New Bluffton" far outpaces "Old Bluffton."

I am not sure that is a good thing. There is no charm to "New Bluffton." To me, it is all "urban sprawl."

Calhoun Street in the old historic district is home to at least one Arts & Crafts festival each year. My wife and I always try to go if we can. As those events usually do, they provide a wide variety of various items to enjoy, at reasonable prices. Small things, mostly, but sometimes bigger ones.

(One time I was greatly taken with a framed print of an old wooden house down the street, with a colorful blue door. It was $100, but I took too long mulling it over, and we left. My darling wife went back and got it for me, as a surprise gift. It is now a prized possession.)

Old Bluffton was also once home to a small general store called "Planters Mercantile." The couple who owned it were also cash customers of my family's wholesale hardware business in Savannah, and one of them would come to Savannah once a month or so, to pick up a small order – light bulbs and screwdrivers, miscellaneous things like that.

One time, when I was new to my job as Treasurer and Credit Manager, The Mrs. came in to get a small order ($300 or so), but when she came to my office to pay for it, discovered to her surprise that she had inadvertently left her checkbook at home! And did not have the cash to pay for it.

In one of those sudden-decision moments, I told her not to worry about it, just to bring a check for it the next time she came to town. Knowing it was a 60-mile round trip, I couldn't see making her leave her order here while she went home to get her checkbook. I hoped I was not wrong.

I wasn't. In two weeks, she was back for another small order, brought me a check for her last one – and a small jar of her homemade pepper jelly as a thank-you! I thanked her for it, but knew that I couldn't eat it; hot stuff will make me sick. So I gave it to the little old Lebanese lady I worked for on Snack Bar at the Little Theatre, who I knew loved hot stuff like that. She was very happy to get it!

So then I made a batch of my famous fudge (about a dozen pieces) that my mother had taught me how to make, from a recipe handed down from her mother's mother, to give her as my "thank you" for the pepper jelly.

Only, the next time one of them came to get an order, it was the husband – a large, "well-fed" fellow who had once served as Bluffton's mayor. I told him it was for his wife, as a thank-you for her pepper jelly, and he was pleased.

The next time, the wife showed up. I asked her, how did she like my fudge? She replied, "What fudge?" I told her I'd given a can of it to her husband the last time he was in; but she knew nothing about it. The next time she came in, she told me he had admitted he had eaten the whole can on the way back to Bluffton! So then I had to make another can just for her.

Life is funny, sometimes! And people will surprise you.

Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of ("the original") Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife, both long-time Rotarians, live in eastern Liberty County with their passel of rescue cats. He writes on a variety of topics, and may be reached at rafe_semmes@yahoo.com.