History keeper
Written by Amy Coyne Bredeson
Photographed by Ruthe Ritterbeck
Born and raised in Michigan, Paul Tollefson spent much of his childhood in a community like Bluffton. He spent summers at his grandmother’s cottage in South Haven, a small resort town on the sandy bluffs of Lake Michigan.
Tollefson moved to Hilton Head Island 21 years ago, where he taught tennis at various clubs, and eventually moved to Bluffton, where he now lives with his wife, Carola; 17-year-old daughter, Sophia; and 16-year-old son, Sebastian.
Now director of court sports at Hampton Hall Club, Tollefson knew right away that Bluffton was a special place to live. He loves the interesting people of Bluffton and how everything revolves around the water.
“There was just something about the quaintness and the small, kind of easy way of living that even Hilton Head didn’t have,” Tollefson said.
Eccentric and the Historical Bluffton Foundation.
He became fascinated with the town’s rich history once he began researching it. Tollefson started talking to longtime Blufftonians and writing down their stories.
He didn’t want to keep those stories to himself, so last year he and his friend Tim Wood, a local journalist, decided to start a public Facebook group called “Bluffton Then and Now.”
They started out just posting old photos of Bluffton and eventually shared the stories Tollefson had gathered through his interviews.
Tollefson wanted to be able to share what he found but didn’t want to be criticized for sharing Bluffton history when he isn’t a native Blufftonian. For that reason he only posts photos and stories he has heard directly from longtime Bluffton residents.
“It’s simple,” Tollefson said about the “Bluffton Then and Now” group. “It’s to the point. And people can see what it looked like then and what it looks like now.”
Tollefson and Wood have shared stories about former teachers, principals and coaches, musicians who have played in the area and others who were an important part of the town’s history. They’ve shared tons of old photos of historic buildings, well-known spots in town, parades and festivals, the old draw bridge to Hilton Head, the aftermath of storms and much more.
“Bluffton Then and Now” is an offshoot of the private Facebook group “What’s Happening in Bluffton? (Original)” and is under the umbrella of the Lowcountry Online Journalism Initiative. Under the leadership of Wood and Tollefson, the group has garnered more than 2,600 members in less than a year.
“Paul cares so much about the history of Bluffton,” Wood said. “He is the epitome of, ‘You don’t have to be from Bluffton to be invested in the past, present and future of Bluffton.’ He is so passionate about history and about preserving the essence of what makes our town so special.”
When Tollefson heard about a dilapidated old building with an interesting story in late 2020, he was intrigued. It turned out that the building, located just past the traffic circle on S.C. 46, was originally the Pritchard Train Depot, a stop along the Seaboard Air Line Railway corridor.
He also learned that the building was later purchased by a local farmer named Bubba Crosby, who used it as a packing plant for the tomatoes and daffodils he grew and sold. The building was previously located across the street from Crosby’s property, where the New River Linear Trail currently sits.
Tollefson reached out to one of Crosby’s daughters, who suggested he ride out to see her father, who was well known for sharing old stories about Bluffton and Pritchardville. He also visited the former depot, where he was gifted a piece of wood from the building.
Tollefson sat and talked with Crosby and his wife, Joyce Crosby, for hours. He said they gave him some great information about local history.
After his visit with the Crosbys, Tollefson took the piece of wood home, where he spent about a week sanding and waxing it so it could be transformed into a special gift for the couple. He had a local high school artist named Taylor James paint the old train, along with some daffodils and tomatoes, on the piece of wood.
“I wanted to give Mr. and Mrs. Crosby a token of my appreciation for letting me sit with them and pick their minds,” Tollefson wrote in an Aug. 30, 2022, Facebook post.
“Mr. and Mrs. Crosby have since passed on,” he said. “I hope that their family uses that picture as a remembrance of the old train and that depot.”
While he claims to be no expert on the history of Bluffton, Tollefson continues to soak up all he can. In addition to the Crosbys, longtime Bluffton residents Nate Pringle and Babbie Guscio, along with Town of Bluffton historic preservationist Glen Umberger, have all been great sources of information.
“It’s fun for me to listen to the stories of growing up here from different age groups, from the old-timers who used to be able to hunt in any part of the town to the newer generations who remember riding dirt bikes and four-wheelers in the rural woods that have now all been developed,” Tollefson said.
His stories have now been published on the Lowcountry Chronicle website, which is also under the umbrella of the Lowcountry Online Journalism Initiative.
Tollefson serves on the board of the Historic Bluffton Foundation. He has every copy of “The Bluffton Eccentric,” a quirky little newspaper that was published from 1987 to 1991. He also has thousands of old photo slides to go through and knows there are so many more stories to be told about Bluffton.
Tollefson worries that if the old stories of Bluffton aren’t documented, they will be forgotten. He encourages people to share their stories and photos in “Bluffton Then and Now” to keep the memories alive. They can also contact him directly at ptollefson800@gmail.com.
Tollefson is currently hoping to find people who knew Michael C. Riley, the namesake for the elementary school on Burnt Church Road.
“What he did for education in this town was remarkable,” Tollefson said. “His dream was for all of the children in Bluffton to have an equal education, and he set out to do something about it.”
Tollefson has given presentations about Bluffton’s history at local retirement communities and hopes to soon do the same at the local middle and high schools.
“Nobody around here teaches Bluffton history,” he said. “I thought, ‘What better way to do it than with pictures and places that the kids can see, that they drive by every day.’ ”
