Hampton Lake, Bluffton SC

The lake is the point of Hampton Lake. Doc’s Boathouse is the base for boating, kayaking, paddleboarding and fishing, and the community bills the lake as a premier bass fishery, with bluegill too. It is also a wildlife habitat and waterfowl refuge. Residents’ reviews mention boats, pontoons and kayaks to use, and one notes that the boats keep to idle speed, so the lake suits paddling and slow cruising, not skiing.

For swimming there are two options. Crystal Lake is the section set aside for paddleboarding and swimming, and Shrimp’s Puddle is a sand beach with activities for children. On land, the trails and greenways run through the Hampton Preserve.

The centerpiece is the Adventure Lagoon, a resort-style pool with a lazy river. Backwater Bill’s is the community’s restaurant and bar, and the Tower Bar serves cocktails. Fitness Central has weights and cardio machines, and a full-service spa has its own treatment rooms. Reviewers rate the gym and the mix of adult and family pools most, and one wishes the poolside bars stayed open longer.

For sport there are tennis courts, pickleball courts with clinics and instruction, and bocce. The Outpost is a campground with fire pits, tiki torches, restrooms and showers, and the Dog Paddle Park is a fully fenced park for dogs, with sand pits, earth mounds and a grass field. Walking and biking trails wind through the community.

Homes come as single-family houses, cottages and townhomes, in collections with names of their own: Anchor Bend, Cottages at Parkside, Foxpath and Arbors, the Lake Bluff Collection, the Lakeside Homes Collection, The Towns and The Sanctuary. Homesites are lakefront, wooded or facing the preserve, and buyers can either choose a predesigned home from one of the community’s builders or buy a site and hire their own.

Reviews are frank that the houses sit close together compared with Bluffton’s golf communities, and the community has no golf course of its own. For what is on the market now, and what to ask before you buy, see our Hampton Lake homes for sale page.

There is no golf course inside Hampton Lake. Golf memberships are available at Hampton Hall Club, the neighboring community, which residents reach through a rear gate. The club has its own page: see Hampton Hall Club. Hampton Hall and Hampton Lake are separate communities, and a club membership is separate from owning a Hampton Lake home. For courses anyone can book, see our Hilton Head golf courses directory.

Hampton Lake is a private, gated place to live, not a resort, and its amenities are for the people who live there. If you want to see it, start with a call to the sales team. Hampton Lake is also one of the venues on our Bluffton wedding venues page.

Old Town Bluffton, with its restaurants, galleries and the May River, is a short trip away, and our Old Town Bluffton guide covers it. If you are thinking of buying to rent the home out, the community does not publish its rental rules, so ask the association for its rules and any minimum stay in writing before you buy. Our Bluffton vacation rentals guide covers the companies that rent on the mainland.