The sway of marshgrass on a rising tide. Rustling palmetto fronds. Shorebirds and shells. Salty meringue carried ashore by crashing surf. Families frolicking on the sand. Tidal pools filled with fiddler crabs. Life on our barrier islands is breezy and laid-back—and mere minutes away from historic downtown Charleston, just waiting to be discovered.
If there is one defining aspect of local geography, it is water. Connected by scores of bridges, including one of the longest cable-stayed structures in North America, the Lowcountry is a mosaic of meandering rivers, picturesque salt marshes and pristine beaches.
Take a look:
Do you know Bull Island, a sprawling wildlife refuge that offers 16 miles of trails through pristine maritime wilderness and is only accessible by ferry?
Do you know Isle of Palms, home to Wild Dunes Resort and a popular spot for kiteboarders?
Do you know Sullivan’s Island, where the federal government erected the nation’s last major lighthouse and where, many years earlier, Edgar Allen Poe penned The Goldbug during his time stationed at Fort Moultrie?
Do you know Folly Beach, the charming bohemian enclave that is a magnet for surfers?
Do you know Kiawah Island, home to award-winning Beachwalker Park, The Sanctuary hotel and the Ocean Course, host of the 2012 PGA Championship?
Do you know Seabrook Island, with its world-class equestrian center and nearby marina that offers adrenaline charged charter-fishing trips—did you know you can snag a tarpon with a fly rod or score a wahoo miles offshore here?
Do you know Wadmalaw Island, with its rural farmland that is home to both the Charleston Tea Plantation, Firefly Distillery and a sleepy hamlet called Rockville, where residents have held a regatta every year since 1890?
We invite you to discover our barrier islands and beach towns with this brand new website: Charleston Area Beaches.
“You can be moved profoundly by other vistas, by other oceans, by soaring mountain ranges, but you can never be seduced. You can even forsake the lowcountry, renounce it for other climates, but you can never completely escape the sensuous, semitropical pull of Charleston and her marshes.” — Pat Conroy, The Lords of Discipline