Daufuskie Island, though just across Calibogue Sound from Hilton Head, is a world markedly distinct from that of its glamorous resort cousin. The island remains rural, inhabited mostly by Gullahs, the descendants of the slaves freed after the Civil War. However, going back even further in its history, Daufuskie traditionally has stood culturally apart from its neighbor to the north. Florida's Yemassee Indians used Daufuskie, which translates as "Land with a Point," as a resting place coming to and from raids near and upon the English settlement of Charles Towne. The English, taking umbrage at the Indians' attacks upon their tenuous new colony, began to patrol the coastal islands, and they met the Yemassee in two battles on what is known today as Daufuskie's Bloody Point. Daufuskie lay largely unused for almost 30 years while the first plantations were developed on Hilton Head, but it eventually was taken by the Crown, which subsequently deeded it to Capt. John Mongin, whom the English had to thank for helping take care of the local pirate problem.

Thus the plantation culture developed on Daufuskie, its main crop being indigo, and during the American Revolution the island split with the main of South Carolina and maintained its ties to England, from which the planters had gained a generous price for their indigo. This created a tension with the Patriots on Hilton Head; their derisive moniker for Daufuskie was "Little Bermuda," and the island's mutual disdain occasionally erupted into violence, including the murder of Daufuskian Capt. Martinangel by a "Bloody Legion" from Hilton Head, who retaliated for his killing of Hilton Head planter Charles Davant. Yet after the war the two islands settled down to live more or less amicably, in parallel bucolic states, until the 1950s, when Charles Fraser inaugurated the first great wave of Hilton Head development. Daufuskie Island today greatly resembles the Hilton Head of 50 years ago.

Where much of Hilton Head's landscape has been tamed and tastefully sculpted and arranged, Daufuskie's grows lush and remains largely untouched. It has a lovely combination of forest and marshland, with thick and ancient live oaks and angel oaks sweeping low and majestic across the salt marshes. Daufuskie retains a diverse ecosystem, with ospreys, egrets and other water birds making their homes among the island's abundant reeds and rushes. Around the island are some tokens of civilizations both current and ancestral: the remains of an old plantation winery, the rural school that was the setting for Pat Conroy's memoir "The Water is Wide" and a Gullah church. The most remarkable aspect of Daufuskie is that time seems to stand still, or at least to move very reluctantly.

It is possible to tour Daufuskie; the Vagabond carries visitors to the island year-round, and once on Daufuskie, you may rent a golf cart or take a more organized tour to explore the island's beauty. We recommend that you make the trip, for Daufuskie remains as one of the last unspoiled Carolina sea islands, a land not that time forgot, but that has forgotten time.The Vagabond leaves from HarbourTown at Sea Pines. Call 843-842-4155 for information and reservations.

Many thanks to Rebecca Kaufmann Crowley, whose Hilton Head Guidebook can be found in stores across the island.