Best Jewelry Store near Johns Island, SC

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston County School District staff ensure the opening of upgraded baseball fields for St. Johns High School baseball and softball players is “on schedule,” after concern from families over winter weather delays and turning over the turf in time.

Newly upgraded baseball fields at Johns Island Park are set to be the new dugout for St. Johns High School athletes. The upgrades include new grass, fences, lighting, scoreboards and batting cages costing around $4.8 million. The project has seen a long list of delays nearing the year-and-a-half mark.

The district and its contractors claim to be preparing for one of the two renovated fields to be available for practice and tryouts next week, February 3. The district added a second field for school use will be available “soon thereafter.”

The district expects all aspects of the project to be done in time to start high school baseball season in March.

Parents say baseball and softball are a hotspot on Johns Island, with more than 600 kids involved in Little League programs, yet a majority of its student athletes travel to other areas for the sport. They believe the problem is a lack of resources.

“We want it to be done. I want it all, I’m sorry. I don’t want halfway anymore. They tell us they want to give us an equitable solution, equitable fields. On par with what we’re seeing elsewhere at other schools. We’re just not seeing that,” parent Lindsay Jackson says.

Shelton’s son is a senior at St. Johns High School, among many who are hoping to play college baseball.

" The goalpost is continuing to be moved. We’ve never had a good, every deadline or timeline we’ve been given has fallen through, it’s been broken, it’s inadequate. Everything in this process along the way has been completely inadequate and our kids deserve more. They put in the work, the effort, they deserve a lot more," parent Jeremy Shelton says.

In Monday’s board of trustees meeting, the district pointed to snow and ice from last week’s storm, prompting challenges for construction crews. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Borowy mentioned the weather placed workers out of a week’s worth of work.

“We have fielded questions from constituents, from board members, about that. We have ensured we’ve prioritized a practice space and we are scheduled to open on time, although last week’s weather episode with the ice made it challenging,” Superintendent Anita Huggins says.

Borowy intends to keep the opening date, set for the beginning of February, despite those delays. Borowy also mentioned collaboration with the City of Charleston, who owns Johns Island Park, added a step to the process.

The district expects to install the new scoreboard, venue parking, stands and pavilion pavers by the end of February. It does not intend to interfere with St. Johns High students' ability to practice.

“We feel very confident that the best has been done with that field to minimize the impact on St. Johns High School and as the superintendent pointed out, have it ready for the upcoming season this spring,” Borowy says. “That project, from a construction perspective, will end up taking 10 months. 10 months for a construction project is pretty incredible. We’ve had other teams that have lost an entire season because of the construction process.”

The district claims sod for the fields was placed last October, along with an emergent to accelerate root establishment. Once installed, the sod takes root within 10-14 days and 406 weeks to establish. The district claims the sod is suitable for play.

Since August 2023, Live5News has published three articles surrounding the completion of the fields, not including this one:

In 2023, those delays were prompted by reallocating the funding to other “priority projects.” The district claims the cost of the project was never cut, but rather increased by the board of trustees.

In the meantime, players have been using rectangular fields on campus, formerly tennis courts, or traveling to different parks, fields or facilities. The district says one of those facilities is the Haut Gap Middle School baseball fields, located 1.4 miles from St. Johns High.

“How are they going to provide what they promised? Not really for us, but our kids. They’re the ones getting affected most by it,” parent Jothem Jayne says.

“This is the best way to get parents to keep kids on the island. 50% of the kids living on the island at high school age leave and go to other high schools. I wonder why. We don’t have a baseball field and we haven’t had one since 1923,” parent Karen Tetrev says.

The district replied to comparisons of St. Johns infrastructure to Lucky Beckham High’s baseball field. The district claims that the field was under construction for 15 months, making it so the team could not use the existing field for an entire baseball season. The Johns Island Park project, on the other hand, was compressed to 10 months so the team would not lose a season of play, according to the district.

The team is asking for a defined completion date and full commitment to the completion. If the district is unable to provide the requested information, parents are asking for help with transportation to alternate parks, practice fields or facilities.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

If you’re looking to experience a different side of quintessential Charleston, consider visiting the Johns Island area for the day to spend time surrounded by nature and reset as the new year begins.

Johns Island, the largest island in South Carolina, rests between Charleston and the Kiawah and Seabrook island communities. The area evokes a rural, off-the-beaten-path feel that’s ideal for outdoorsy folks, but it’s also got a few artsy hidden gems, including a community Art Walk.

Here are some spots to check out in the John’s Island area:

Music and visual art

Freshfields Village stands at the crossroads of Kiawah, Seabrook and Johns islands and hosts family oriented, pet-friendly community events throughout the year. This year the annual Art Walk takes place from 4-7 p.m. on Feb. 14, gathering art lovers and artists together for an evening of live art and live music. Attendees can see live art demonstrations, view works from local and visiting artists and browse the surrounding art shops.

There are a variety of free outdoor concerts coming up on the village green, including Blues by the Sea, which takes place 3-7 p.m. April 13 featuring blues bands from Mississippi, Florida and Houston, and Spring Music on the Green, which takes place 6-9 p.m. April 18 and features a four-piece party band.

Fun fact: One of the oldest independent bookstores in the Charleston area, Indigo Books, is tucked away in Freshfields Village.

Brewery and coffee roastery Estuary Beans & Barley is laid back and pet-friendly, with regular food trucks and live music from Charleston artists. For those who enjoy dancing, there’s the Swing n’ Brew event taking place 6:30-8:30 p.m. Jan. 22. Starting Feb. 2, the Sunday Sessions are back from 3-6 p.m. featuring music, poetry and comedy.

With high season about to kick back in, a handful of other hangouts on Johns Island will regularly host local live music including Tattooed Moose, Seanachai Whiskey and Cocktail Bar and Low Tide Brewing. Check out their social media pages to stay updated.

Nature

The iconic, ethereal Angel Oak Park should be at the top of any nature lovers list. The Angel Oak, which is 400-500 years old and known as the “Lowcountry Treasure,” stands at 65 feet high. It’s a holistic experience to stand beneath this ancient tree that has withstood centuries.

Johns Island County Park has beautiful walking trails as well as a disc golf course and a six-target archery range course. With the Mullet Hall Equestrian Center on site, it’s not unusual to see people riding horses, too. When the weather warms, Toast Under the Oaks live music series starts back up from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on March 6 and April 3.

Stono River County Park off of Main Road also has gorgeous walking trails with views of the marshland along the Stono River. This park is also the trailhead for the West Ashley Greenway.

While Folly Beach is the go-to, for those looking for an alternative beach-day experience when the weather warms up, it could be fun to post up at Kiawah Beachwalker Park before checking out a new place on Johns Island before heading back home.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – City of Charleston council members approved Tuesday night nearly $12 million for a new fire station located on Johns Island.

Station 23 is expected to have one engine and one ladder with eight people on staff. This comes as the city acquired the land several years ago and now have the final cost and contract. Station 17 is the only one operated by Charleston right now.

“It allows us to start expanding in the future,” Forrest Cockcroft, deputy chief of the Charleston Fire Department, said. “We have more plans for more stations as we go forward in years, but right now this is a big piece to get us more closely aligned with where we need to be with our response packages.”

As the second station comes in, the Johns Island area isn’t reliant on just Station 17. With the large service area, the city has been working with St. John’s Fire District to respond to calls through an auto-aide agreement.

“There are seven departments that are working in the auto aide group right now. We all respond under the ability to have the closest engine respond,” Cockcroft said. “So, on Johns Island that would be us and St. John’s Fire District, and we are able to not only to improve our coverage by sharing resources and sharing personnel – we’ve also been able to improve our response times through that.”

St. John’s Fire District is working on expanding as well. Both agencies are addressing the population growth on Johns Island by adding more stations.

“So with new fire stations comes new units and more firefighters. With one unit you can have several firefighters on scene within 5-10 minutes of every single fire and we’re trying to beat a national standard,” Ryan Kunitzer, fire chief of St. John’s Fire District, said. “We feel like we’re going in the right direction with that.”

The fire district is able to funded by Charleston County and has plans to get one new station and replace old stations.

“As the population grows, the fire district needs to grow along with it. Every year is our busiest year, so we need to effectively respond to everyone on Johns Island. We work with the city of Charleston in regard to that. So, we’re expanding on the southern end of Johns Island. We got some large neighborhoods going up so we’re adding fire stations there and some of our fire stations are getting old and need to replaced too,” Kunitzer said.