Why So Many Hilton Head & Bluffton Visitors Eventually Move to the Lowcountry

It Usually Starts With a Visit

Many people who now live in Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and the South Carolina Lowcountry first discovered the area while vacationing or visiting family. Repeat visits often create lasting ties to the area, especially for people drawn to the coastal lifestyle, mild climate, outdoor recreation and sense of familiarity. For some families, those visits eventually become multigenerational roots.

By Allison Cobb | The Cobb Group

A funny thing happens in the Lowcountry. People come here for a vacation, or to visit family, or for a long weekend, and years later you find out they never really left.

Not literally, of course. Some went home for 10 or 20 years first. Some moved all over the country. Some raised families somewhere else. But the Lowcountry stayed in the back of their minds, and eventually they came back.

You hear the story everywhere once you start listening for it. Friends, doctors, lawyers, teachers, servers, boat captains, business owners, retirees, young families. They all arrived a different way, but so many of them start with some version of the same sentence: “We used to vacation here.”

That is how it started for me too.

I have been coming to the Lowcountry since the 1970s with my parents to visit my grandparents. They first built a home in Sea Pines and later built another in Moss Creek. My parents now live in the house my grandparents built in Moss Creek, which still feels pretty special to me.

So this place was part of my life long before I actually lived here.

Years later, my husband, David Hussey and I were living in downtown Chicago and starting to think seriously about moving to the suburbs which for me at the time seemed like a “sell out." We had one of those conversations that seems simple looking back, but at the time felt like a pretty big fork in the road.

Do we move to the suburbs?

Or do we move to Hilton Head Island and be near family?

We chose Hilton Head.

At the time, that definitely came with some trade-offs. We missed culture. We missed shopping. We missed some of the energy that came with living in a big city. But over time I realized something: we could always go somewhere else for that.

We could go to New York or Paris or Athens and get our city fix. We could eat well, shop, wander museums, walk ourselves to death and love every minute of it.

Then we could come home.

And I still do not think there is anything quite like landing in Savannah or Hilton Head after being away and taking in that first breath of air.

It smells different here.

Maybe it is pluff mud. Maybe it is the marsh. Maybe it is the paper mills in Savannah, which is admittedly not the most romantic explanation.

But whatever it is, I love it.

To me, it smells warm and familiar. It smells like home.

I think that is part of what the Lowcountry does so well. It gets attached to your senses and your memories. The live oaks, the marsh, the water, the heat, the smell after a summer rain, the feeling of crossing the bridge, the way dinner can stretch into sunset without much planning.

For some people, those memories start as children. They grow up vacationing here, then leave for school or work and eventually find their way back.

For others, the connection starts much later. Maybe they come for a golf trip, visit friends, rent a beach house for a week or happen to spend one really good weekend here. Something clicks.

And the draw seems to work on almost everybody.

That may be what I love most about this place. It is not just for retirees. It is not just for families. It is not just for people who grew up coming here.

It is a great place to raise kids. A great place to retire. A great place to work, start a business, slow down a little, start over, spend more time outside, or simply decide you want your everyday life to feel different.

Life is good in the Lowcountry.

Not perfect. No place is.

But good.

My heart was here long before my permanent address was, and I know a lot of people who could say the same thing.

Their stories all sound a little different.

But very often, they start the same way.

“We came here on vacation...”

And somehow, they ended up home.

Thinking About Making the Lowcountry Home?
Start with how you want to live, not just which house you want to buy. Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and the surrounding communities all have their own feel, and finding the right fit matters just as much as finding the right property.

Allison Cobb | The Cobb Group
Hilton Head Island • Bluffton • South Carolina Lowcountry
Strategic Moves. Lasting Relationships.

Written by Allison Cobb

The author assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or emissions in the content of this blog. The information provided on is an “as is” basis with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, or timeliness.