We Buy Estate Jewelry in Folly Beach, SC

Have you visited Folly Beach, SC? No matter what kind of beach trip you are looking for, you can find it on the barrier islands of Charleston, South Carolina. Folly Beach is your best bet for the perfect mix of relaxing beaches and spots to dine. Folly Island is 18 square miles of sand and sun and offers a beach town vibe just 20 minutes from the tourist attractions of Charleston.

This article includes:Public Beach Access on Folly IslandFolly Island Places to Eat

Take A Trip To Visit More Beaches That Are Located Not Far From The Upstate!

Folly Island On The Coast Of South Carolina

The beaches of the Low Country offer something for everyone when it comes to a beach trip. For a quiet, non-commercialized beach experience, Kiawah Island’s Beach Walker Park is my go-to option. However, if a tourist-heavy, commercialized expertise is what you seek, Isle Of Palms fits the bill.

If a sandy spot somewhere in the middle of both is what you want, then the beaches of Folly Island are perfect. They are family-friendly, quiet, and some access points have restrooms and showers for beachgoers to use. The downtown area of Folly Island offers a funky beach town vibe that’s solidified its place in the history of the SC coast.

Here’s a Great Map of Folly Island To Show The Kids

Where to Stay Near Folly Beach, SC

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Accessing The Beach On Folly Island

With six miles of shoreline, there’s no shortage of sand to spread out on when visiting Folly Beach. Finding beach access isn’t difficult, but depending on your family’s needs, one access might be more suitable than another.

Located on the southern tip of Folly Island, the county park offers families all of the amenities they might need including showers, restrooms, a seasonal concession stand, seasonal lifeguards, and chair rentals.

The parking fees range from $5-$20, depending on the season, and are $20 on weekends and summer holidays. Park gates are open from 8 am to sunset.

The Folly Beach Ocean Park is located at the end of West Arctic Avenue. It offers beachgoers restroom and shower facilities that are free and open to the public (currently only open during the summer.)

At the end of nearly every block on the island there is a beach access pathway. Some spots include parking if space permits, otherwise you can park streetside.

The further you drive away from the pier, the less the metered parking costs. By quite a bit. If you aren’t trying to be right next to the pier and center street, drive a few miles north to find cheaper meter rates. The parking meter fees can be paid through a kiosk, or with the PARK Folly Beach app.

The centerpiece of Folly Island is the Folly Beach Pier. The pier was recently renovated. Amenities at Folly Beach Pier include the gift shop, restrooms, showers, changing rooms, and wheelchair beach access.

The Pier 101 Restaurant is open Wednesday through Monday, and offers seafood, sandwiches, and more!

Swimming is permitted on the beach that flanks the sides of the pier, however, the undertow can become dangerous near the pier causing unsafe conditions. Also, people throw baited hooks off of that pier looking to catch “a big un”. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to be swimming near where people are reeling in jaws.

The parking fees range from $5-$20, depending on the season, and are $20 on weekends and summer holidays. Pier hours vary by season, so be sure to check the park’s site before venturing out.

Places To Eat On Folly Island

There are plenty of spots to choose from when it comes to meals on Folly Island. These are just a few of our favorites when we head out to spend the day on Folly Beach.

Taco BoyAmeri-mex style food with a kid’s menu, and a full bar. Great spot for nachos and margs after a day on the beach.

The Lost Dog Cafe

The perfect spot for breakfast or brunch, The Lost Dog has sandwiches, burgers, breakfast (all day), and more.

Saint James Gate Proper Irish Pub & Three Monkey’s Ice CreamThe menu here has a little bit of everything, including tacos. It’s kid & dog-friendly! Plus they have some delicious dessert options.

The Pineapple HutIf you spend any time on Folly Island, you are bound to see people walking down the street with a pineapple in their hands. This food truck is where it came from, filled with Dole Whip, or one of their weekly special flavors of soft-serve style ice cream. (March through November).

FOLLY BEACH — Phillip Sullivan knows the fishing gets good when storms approach the Charleston coast.

So on the blustery afternoon of June 19, he had several rods out at the end of the Folly Beach Fishing Pier, including three king rigs with multiple hooks meant to hook something big.

Menhaden was the bait of choice on that gloomy day. Sullivan and his fishing partner James Strange were really hoping to snag a king mackerel.

But as the storm rolled in, the two realized they’d gotten more than they bargained for.

The pair of Charleston locals wasn’t just fighting against time, they ended up in a skirmish with a massive silver tarpon.

Tarpon, a species already known for its size, strength and fighting ability, usually appear in Charleston-area waters when the temperatures get warm. They average about 100 pounds off our coast, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The fish have hard mouths, almost like concrete, said Matt Perkinson, a saltwater fishing outreach coordinator for DNR. If a tarpon bites the bait, more than likely, it’ll spit the hook.

“Getting it to your boat without breaking the line or spitting the hook is an accomplishment,” Perkinson said.

Sullivan said all three of his king rigs bent off at the same time on June 19. He lost two of the fish, but gave the other rod a little pressure. That’s when he saw it.

“This tarpon skies out of the water and it starts jumping acrobatic-like, doing flips, goes towards the beach and starts running it,” Sullivan said.

He fought the fish from the pier for about one hour and 15 minutes as it continuously ran from the beach to the end of the 1,049-footlong structure. The rain never let up, hitting like pins and needles with lightening all around.

Sullivan ultimately dropped the rod down to Strange, who was in the ocean below, for a better chance of getting hands on the fish, which he did, physically pushing it to shore from behind in the surf.

“We kind of had the upper hand but still had water flowing through the gills,” Sullivan said. “It took him a couple of tries, but James gets a grab on the jaws.”

Strange said they were pressed for time. The two got the fish released and de-hooked as fast as they could. They took about 20 seconds to snag a few photos with their catch — estimated to be about 150 pounds — as it jerked about.

As testament to the experience, both men are wearing grins of euphoria in the photo evidence.

It was then released and swam off unharmed.

Catching a tarpon off the Folly Pier is a big deal. Mark Patrick worked as the pier’s manager for 12 years and said he saw maybe three tarpon caught during that time.

“A fish that size, it would be rare to (reel it up) from the pier because it’s so large,” said Patrick, who is now the the assistant director of parks for Charleston County Parks. “You’d have to beach that fish.”

Strange said he’s caught smaller tarpon down in the Florida Keys. But the fish he helped catch off Folly Beach is the first fully grown one he has been up close with.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to hook one and to land it especially,” Strange said. “A lot of people can hook them, but it’s a challenge to be able to actually land it.”

When caught, it is important to get tarpons back in the water quickly. The species is a seasonal visitor to the Palmetto State. Adult tarpons typically spend June through October in the mouths of inlets and the open ocean here.

Perkinson said the fish can live close to 80 years, so “we need to be very careful at handling the ones that we do catch.”

Sullivan said succinctly, that at 24 years old “this is probably the most memorable thing I’ve had happen to me and is something I will never forget.”

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — Tami Bourne has lived on folly beach for over three decades.

However, because of a recent development plan on Folly's beachfront lots, she is concerned.

Folly Beach resident fears overbuilding amid ongoing legal battle over beachfront development. (WCIV)

"When you have these disasters, these hurricanes, houses blow into houses," Bourne said. "So the more you put out there, the more it's gonna' get blown into the water. So it's just a problem that way. And also with the hurting the beach as far as making it erode more."

The super beachfront lots are along East Ashley Avenue, just north of the washout down to the lighthouse.

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"These lots were platted back in at least the 1950s," Leslie Lenhardt said, "and they are the most seaward of any lots that were platted on Folly Beach."

The plots are currently held in trust by the state for the public to enjoy. Some property owners attempted to claim ownership after the 2018 Folly Beach Renourishment Project.

"So for a very short period of time after that Renourishment, these lots became high ground," Lenhardt said. "These property owners, what they are trying to do during this window of time is to develop those lots."

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This is a legal battle that goes back to 2020. A judge hear motions on whether developers could build on those lots. The legal maneuvering is ongoing, with the issue expected to go before another court in the coming months.

"The Court of Appeals has remanded the case," Lenhardt said. "Because it's a novel issue, the court said we really want a judge to determine whether or not this is a recognizable theory under the law."

Multiple preservation groups and the city say they want to figure out the boundary between private and public property while preserving the beach.

"I'd like to keep folly as it is," Bourne said. "It's unique. It's funky. And I hate to see it get overbuilt and our beaches overbuilt."

Folly Beach’s name may never seem more fitting than when one learns about a fresh legal battle playing out there — a battle that ultimately will decide if taxpayer-funded beach renourishment opens the door for public land to be converted back into private property whose owners may then build new homes on lots previously under water. The city and its allies should ensure this doesn’t happen.

Unfortunately, that will be a challenge because of Folly’s dynamic nature and unique history. More than a half century ago, Folly Beach had a road, Benke Drive, that ran between East Ashley and the ocean’s edge on the island’s easternmost end; this part of the beach was growing, and lots on both sides of Benke were platted and sold off. By the early 1980s, however, the sands shifted, and Benke was lost to erosion, and its lots were under water. A few years later, however, a sandbar migrated across Lighthouse Inlet and attached itself to the northern end of Folly, and some lots along Benke were high ground again. And the state baseline was drawn through the yet-undeveloped Benke Drive lots, allowing development on 28 of them.

Fourteen of these lots were built upon, and it’s no surprise that these homes — built between East Ashley and the beach — are among Folly’s most threatened, and the most likely to end up costing taxpayers once they fall into the ocean. The fate of the 14 remaining, undeveloped “super-beachfront” lots is now the subject of a fresh legal battle, as some owners have sought to capitalize on their freshly elevated status following the island’s 2018 beach renourishment.

To block them, the city of Folly Beach, the Coastal Conservation League, the nonprofit Save Folly Beach and several local homeowners filed a 2019 lawsuit challenging the ownership of this taxpayer-created land. Although a local judge ruled they did not have standing to bring such a challenge, the South Carolina Court of Appeals reversed that decision and ordered the case to proceed at the trial court level. That’s an auspicious step but likely only one of many to come before this matter is settled for good.

At the very least, we hope our courts continue to recognize that these groups should have standing to question this critical environmental decision. And it is critical, with implications far beyond the 14 lots on Folly Beach. As Amy Armstrong, executive director of the S.C. Environmental Law Project that represented the plaintiffs, explains: “As we have sea level rise and we have lands being converted to public trust land as they’re eroding away and going below the water, can you convert public land, with public money, into private property? It’s kind of crazy when you think about it in those terms.”

While this issue emerged first on Folly, the precedent set here will reverberate elsewhere as more coastal communities renourish their beaches more often due to sea level rise and stronger, more frequent storms. Our state’s Public Trust Doctrine says the state owns all land below the mean high water mark and holds this land in trust. A previous Supreme Court ruling has noted beachfront property owners take their title “at risk of loss to the State by natural forces,” but the courts haven’t settled what should happen when unnatural, sudden forces (like renourishment) shift our shoreline.

Locals realize Folly Beach actually received its current name (it originally was “Coffin Island”) from an old English word meaning “dense foliage,” not because of any association with a lack of good sense, prudence or foresight. But if we allow new homes to be built on its rapidly shifting sands right next to the water’s edge, the latter definition would fit all too well.

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People like to call Folly Beach the “fun” beach, and maybe it is, especially if you’re visiting for the restaurants and bars.

But there’s also a measure of serenity here if you know where, and when, to look.

Here’s the best way to find it: Get here early; 7 a.m. should work — before the traffic on the only road in and out becomes a nightmare.

Bring the dog if you have one: From May through September, they’re allowed on the beach before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

Check the tides online before you arrive: at high tide, part of this walk is underwater.

Park in the grass just outside Folly Beach County Park. Make sure your tires aren’t on the pavement or you’ll have a ticket when you get back.

Take a right when your feet hit the sand.

Keep going, past the pelicans flying so low they could dip their toes in the water, past the last jetty trying to keep the sand from washing away.

Before you’ve walked a mile, you’ll reach a bend in the beach. This is the spot.

To the left, waves lap at the coast. To the right, still water.

It feels like you’ve reached the end of the ocean. Or the beginning.

Sit in the sand. Before you head back to civilization, let the scene wash through your eyes and into your body.

Explore

The Washout

Head to the other end of the island if your companion is a surfboard instead of a dog. A spot off East Ashley Avenue known as The Washout is a favorite for surfers. A bit farther along the street, a paved trail covered in graffiti leads to a small beach with views of the Morris Island Lighthouse.

If you’re brave enough, join the kite surfers being pulled along the water on windy days, sometimes soaring high above the surface before splashing back down.

Folly Beach pier

The pier reopened in December 2022 after a two-year, $14 million rebuild. It’s 1,049 feet long. The pier has been a part of Folly Beach — you can’t miss it if you head toward the sand — since the 1930s. Pay $5 for an all-day fishing pass or just walk to the end and listen to the water.

The pier is open from 8 a.m. to sunset.

Eat and drink like a local

Lost Dog Cafe

For brunch, the go-to meal for late sleepers or early drinkers, try Lost Dog Cafe. Located in a former laundromat on West Huron Avenue, you can find breakfast and bloodies on the menu all day. Try a breakfast burrito, or grab some fried green tomatoes and a chicken salad croissant from the lunch menu. And like many other eateries in Folly, your dog is welcome to join you.

Jack of Cups

A favorite of The Post and Courier’s food editor, Jack of Cups on Center Street has a menu built for the adventurous eater. Boasting a bevy of vegetarian options on a menu the owners describe as “globally inspired,” the kitchen also cranks out dishes you probably never come across at home: Among them: Cap’n Crunch deviled eggs, dill pickle soup and unicorn pop rock cheesecake.

The Bounty Bar

Created by the owners of The Royal American in Charleston, The Bounty Bar on Center Street aspires to serve “better than it has to be” bar food. It’s open until 1 a.m. daily and has you covered whether you’re craving seafood, chicken or steak.

Chico Feo

Head to Chico Feo on East Ashley Avenue for tacos, beer and live music. Check their calendar for musical performances. Or show up on a Monday for soapbox night, when you can sign up to take the stage and show off your talent, whether it’s singing, spoken word or parlor tricks.

Shopping

If you need groceries or a quick snack, try Bert’s Market on East Ashley Avenue.

A smattering of surf and beach shops in the heart of town will have everything you need for a day on the beach, including the towel or sunscreen you accidentally left at home.

While you’re indoors — easily the worst place to be at Folly Beach — you can also pick up some souvenirs for the family members who couldn’t join you.

If you plan to spend most of your time on the beach, there are some rules you should remember:

No alcohol, glass containers, plastic bags, balloons, Styrofoam, open fires, fireworks or littering.

Surfing without a leash is prohibited. From May 15 to Sept. 15, surfing is prohibited from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from 2nd Street East to 3rd Street West. From Sept. 16 to May 14, surfing is allowed in any area. It is prohibited within 200 feet of the fishing pier.

Stay off the dunes and use public walkovers.

To protect sea turtle hatchlings, no lights are allowed that illuminate the front beach between 10 p.m. and dawn from May 1-Oct. 31. For a full list of beach rules, check visitfolly.com.