Pepper's Porch / Bluffton Farmers Market

My first morning in South Carolina we drove slightly inland from the coast to Bluffton, a quaint southern town with a storied history and my first experience in "the South".

An old Lowcountry town with a bit of elevation and a sea breeze, Bluffton was settled in the early 19th century by plantation owners seeking refuge from insects and heat.  This town has deep Confederate roots, literally - the "Secession Oak" was the site of an anti-federalist protest, 16 years before South Carolina became the first state to secede and during the Civil War, and 20 years before Union soldiers burnt the majority of the Confederate stronghold to the ground.  Bluffton was slow to rebuild but with the growth of the fisheries along the coastline it became a commercial center by the 1880s with multiple oyster companies including Bluffton Oyster Co (founded in 1899 and still operational today).  Today it is a tourism destination as it is a snapshot into the historical "southern" coastal town.

We had lunch at Pepper's Porch a southern-style family restaurant in a 100 year old barn.  I had my first real southern meal and we tried a little bit of everything: BBQ pulled pork, oysters, hush puppies, grits, fried green tomatoes and fried pickle spears.  I somehow get the feeling everything this week is going to be fried!

Contrasting the saturated meal was a fresh farmers market featuring local staples: Georgia peaches, Carolina grapes, okra, squash, tomatoes, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, beans and rice.  We also got ravioli stuffed fresh on the spot with crab, corn and bacon!  Then I explored the few remaining antebellum structures that survived the fire, now housing an outdoor art gallery, a general store and quaint shops including one selling only dresses that I fell in love with.