Daufuskie Island, South Carolina http://www.daufuskiesouthcarolina.com/

County sweetens deal for Daufuskie ferry operator By JOSH McCANN jmccann@islandpacket.com 843-706-8145 Published Tuesday, November 23, 2010 7 Comments Email Article | Print Article | Feeds | | Search the Archive tool nameclose tool goes here The last remaining operator of public Daufuskie Island ferries plans to keep running for another year under a new agreement that could prove more costly to Beaufort County. The county pays private ferry providers to take some riders, such as property owners and residents, between Hilton Head Island and Daufuskie. The county recoups some of its expenses through fees, which range from $2 per trip for students or seniors to $7 for people who own property on Daufuskie but don't live there. The county's last contract called for it to pay $13.50 per passenger to J&W Corp. and $13 per passenger to Palmetto Ferry Co., although Palmetto has since ceased service. The unsubsidized cost for riders such as tourists is $28 round t

Public ferry for Daufuskie Island ending? I'm on Daufuskie Island right now. People here found out LAST NIGHT that there are no more public ferry tickets starting TODAY. People can still ride the boat. They just have to present their Daufuskie ID and sign a voucher. But who is going to pay back the ferry company? Beaufort County, if it eventually works out another contract? Or the individual? The Daufuskie Island Council is springing into gear. There is now an even more urgent need to find a public ferry solution. Many people are not able to afford the $28 RT passage -- and the current ferry service hours are not very useful for working people. So in the interest of working with what we have, I thought it would be good to start looking at SC's state transportation policy. I've never paid particular attention to it before. So if you are curious also, here is the link: http://www.scdot.org/inside/multimodal/multimodal_transplan.shtml Posted by Laura Von Harten at 12:44 P

OPINION: Gullah, Gullah Island Exist in Daufuskie Monday, 15 November 2010 14:17 Tiffany Dodson Alligators are not the only thing to look out for when visiting Daufuskie Island DAUFUSKIE ISLAND, SC - Upon traveling to Daufuskie Island near Hilton Head Island, S.C. last summer with my family, I did not know what to expect. I had heard little to nothing about it, apart from the supposed dolphins that tourists usually saw when traveling there. Sadly, within that 45 minute boat ride, I only spotted two dolphin fins for about 5 minutes, but traveling in itself served as an interesting way for my family and me to discover new aspects of the South Carolinian Island that we often frequent. The first thing I noticed about the Daufuskie Island was the public restrooms located outside the General Store and the simplicity of my surroundings. Being that there was a General Store in the first place made me feel as if I was transported into a bad Western movie, but I disregarded that though

Origin of the Gullah The Gullah people are the descendants of the slaves who worked on the rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. They still live in rural communities in the coastal region and on the Sea islands of those two states, and they still retain many elements of African language and culture. Anyone interested in the Gullah must ask how they have managed to keep their special identity and so much more of their African cultural heritage than any other group of Black Americans. The answer is to be found in the warm, semitropical climate of coastal South Carolina and Georgia; in the system of rice agriculture adopted there in the 1700s; and in a disease environment imported unintentionally from Africa. These factors combined almost three hundred years ago to produce an atmosphere of geographical and social isolation among the Gullah which has lasted, to some extent, up until the present day. The climate of coastal South Carolina and Georgia was excellent for the cultivat

Bankruptcy judge says Daufuskie resort can be sold in parcels By JOSH McCANN jmccann@islandpacket.com 843-706-8145 Published Wednesday, November 10, 2010 4 Comments Email Article | Print Article | Feeds | | Search the Archive tool nameclose tool goes here A bankruptcy judge has divided the assets of the Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa into groups and allowed creditors to claim many of them after an auction last month produced no bidders for the entire property. The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy will continue trying to sell the property as a whole until the creditors' deals close, a trustee's spokesman said. The resort was once a major employer on the sparsely developed island off the southern tip of Hilton Head Island. If a single buyer doesn't emerge, AFG, a private investment group that loaned money to the resort before the bankruptcy, will assume the Melrose golf course and other amenities, which include two lodges, a conference center

http://laurasguide.blogspot.com/2010/11/sipping-sweet-scrap-iron-at-daufuskie.html From Laura's blog about Daufuskie Saturday, November 6, 2010 Sipping sweet Scrap Iron on Daufuskie Island It was a beautiful day for Autumn Fest on Daufuskie Island. Great deviled crab, fried shrimp, roasted oysters -- all local. I also sampled Old Daufuskie Crab Company's signature drink, the Scrap Iron. It's made with sweet tea Firefly Vodka that's distilled up near Charleston. Why the name Scrap Iron? It's a reference to a Daufuskie Island metonym for moonshine. The distillers would take the moonshine to Savannah by boat -- and would hide the jars under layers of scrap iron. If anyone asked, the islanders would say they were hauling scrap iron to Savannah. I learned this story today from Wick Scurry, who operates the restaurant, as well as Freeport Landing and the Daufuskie Ferry. It was a special treat to have his live narration on the ferry trip this morning. Posted by Laura V

By JOSH McCANN jmccann@islandpacket.com 843-706-8145 Published Thursday, October 21, 2010 19 Comments Email Article | Print Article | Feeds | | Search the Archive tool nameclose tool goes here The future of the bankrupt Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa remains unknownafter no one bid on the property, despitea standing-room-only crowd atan auction Thursday. Twelve potential bidders had pre-registered for the auction, but none presented the $1 million cashier's check necessary to participate, said trustee Robert C. Onorato, who is overseeing the bankruptcy. The minimum allowable bid was $16.5 million. "At this point, we have no bidders," Craig King, president of J.P. King Auction Co. of Gadsden, Ala., told the crowd gathered in a ballroom at the Hilton Head Marriott Resort & Spa. Auction organizers considered breaking the assets into groups and allowing secured creditors to claim them, but decided to wait for an already scheduled hearing