M.C. Riley School - Historic Marker

Michael C Riley School this is the site of two schools that serve the black community in southern Beaufort County for most of the 20th century. Bluffton graded School, it's small framed building constructed about 1900, was followed in 1954 by an Elementary and High school named for Michael C Riley long time trustee for the Beaufort County School District number 2.

From 1954 to 1970 the elementary school educated Bluffton's black students in grades 1 through 8 and the high school educated Bluffton and Hilton Head's students in grades 9 through 12. After county schools were desegregated in 1970, it was an elementary school for Bluffton's black and white students until 1991. A new Michael C Riley Elementary School went up nearby that same year.