Dubois Dispensary

Today we take a deep dive into one particular parcel here in Bluffton.

On the west side of Calhoun Street and the North Side of Lawrence Street sits a small, quaint cottage that is known as The Mulligan House, built by Eddie Mulligan in 1944. The property is now owned by Richard Coffield and is occupied by Calhoun Street Gallery which specializes in art and boutiques.

Behind the Mulligan House is a popular Bluffton eatery and bar known as Agave, formerly known as Old Town Dispensary. Most folks that have lived in Bluffton or even Hilton Head have made that stop to wet their whistle at some point or another.

That corner was also the site of a general merchandise store that was referred to as The Dubois Store from the late 1800’s until the early 1940s. The Dubois family migrated south from New York in the late 1800s and were noted as being merchants in the 1890’s census.
Richard Coffield is the grandson of Mr. Timotheus and Mary Coffield, who built a house on Crystal Beach off All Joy. Richard remembers driving with his father down Calhoun Street, and his father pointing at the Mulligan House, telling young Richard that his father had once owned that corner.

On that corner was a store that his father referred to as the “Dispensary.” The dispensary system was a state-run monopoly on liquor sales which operated from 1893 to 1907. This was pre-prohibition.

When Richard was able to move to Bluffton in the late seventies, he always looked at that corner and wondered about its full history. It was not until the late eighties that parcel came up for sale. Richard was fortunate enough to be able to purchase the property from the Mulligans.

So, Richard and his wife, Beth, indeed bought the property. It was Richard’s plan to use the old Mulligan House as his office for his growing realty business. The old cottage had seen better days, and he knew that he would have to put some work into getting it back in usable shape. When he started looking at the lot, he noticed something pretty unique.
“I could see the vague outline of a square where bricks had slightly broken the ground. I knew that there was something under there, or there once had been, so I started digging. I had a buddy who knew how to run an excavator, and when we started digging, we found some incredibly unique items. One set of items brought to light the old story my dad had told me.

“What we found was a cellar/basement lined with old Savannah grey brick. And what we found in one corner were many old liquor bottles helping prove that it was once an establishment that sold liquor (Dispensary). Some were found with the South Carolina Dispensary logo on them.”

Richard began researching the property which led him to the Hodge family. A lot of the Mulligan House was built with the wood from the old store that was simply repurposed and used for the floors in the house. Further, the front doors and some of the fixtures were from the old military barracks from Camp McDougal on Hilton Head Island during WWII. The story goes that the Hodge brothers procured a barge and brought back a lot of reusable materials from the old base.

So, what ever happened to the old Dubois Store/Dispensary?

In early August 1933, a large tornado ripped through Bluffton leaving massive damage and turmoil in its path. Uprooted trees, wrecked homes, and villagers left with nowhere to go. Although no residents were killed or seriously injured, many of the Calhoun Street shops and houses were left in shambles.

According to an article in the Savannah Evening Press on August 5th, 1933: “The operators of the Dubois store were still looking for parts of the roof which were taken away (in the storm). Pieces of tin thought to be from the building were found up to a quarter mile away.”

The last piece of the puzzle:
Newly shared photographs from 1933 by Mr. Chris Broome showed the destruction of some of the buildings from the tornado. There was one building in particular that we could not place, as we had never seen a picture of the Dubois store/Dispensary. After being shown to my friend and local architect, Ms. Ansley Manuel, she was able to place the awning from “The Store” (owned by the Peeples family at the time, and now the Guscio family) in the background of this mystery building. Sure enough, this mystery building sat on the corner of Lawrence and Calhoun!

Since that picture has been shared, Richard retrieved the old bill/deed of sale for the property from his records that Mr. Mulligan had given him. The bill of sale shows that Mrs. Mary Coffield purchased the property for $200 on December 16th,1940 from Mrs. Katherine DuBois. During that time that Timotheus and Mary Coffield owned it, they continued to rent it out to a local merchant, Mr. Bruin. Richards Grandmother sold the property to Mr. J.E. Mulligan on April 19th,1943 for $400. It was then that the Mulligans tore down the store, using what materials they could, and built their new house, the quaint cottage that still stands today.

Paul Tollefson is the Director of Tennis at the Hampton Hall Club in Bluffton. He found his love for the Lowcountry in early 2002 after graduating high school and unsure of what career path he was destined towards. After moving from Hilton Head to Bluffton he became enthralled with the history of the town and the people and cultures that called it home for many generations. He has found a passion in writing and enjoys being able to share the stories and pictures of long-time locals. He is the co-creator of the Facebook page “Bluffton Then and Now.”