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Palmetto Bluff – A Rich History of Eating Well Southern food, perhaps more than any other regional cuisine in America, has long been recognized for its diversity and history, and for the stew pot of cultural influences that history has brought to it. Its primary influence has undoubtedly been African. From the early Colonial period, beginning with the rum and sugarcane plantations of the West Indies and the Creole French and Spanish inhabitants of the Deep South, food was interpreted through African hands. They harvested the fields, cleaned the game, ground the spices
and cooked the meals. Thus evolved a tradition of food selection and preparation that has withstood 400 years of cultural assault. Moreover, though it has clung tenaciously to the underpinnings of its heritage, southern food has adapted gracefully to new and creative interpretations of its time-tested methods and ingredients. A quick review of the history of Palmetto Bluff shows that people have eaten well here for a very long time. The earliest Native Americans, the Altamaha and Yemassee, found sustenance in the remarkable bounty of fish and game. Their shell middens on the high bluffs are testament to the first oyster roasts – a social and culinary tradition still carried on with great relish here today. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, R. T. Wilson, Jr. entertained lavishly in his magnificent “Palmetto Lodge.” One can only imagine the elegance and bounty of the meals served there, with the freshest of ingredients harvested from the surrounding waters and woods, and the produce of his extensive farms. In the 1950’s, Union Camp Paper Company’s “Trophy Room” was the venue for sumptuous feasts prepared by lifelong Lowcountry cooks, an evenings’ meal might include quail, venison, boar, shrimp, crabs and oysters – all harvested on the property or from the adjacent waterways. As many as 28 guests would visit the 14-bedroom lodge at one time. Presently, as a residential community and resort, Palmetto Bluff
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