Activity on the Isle of Palms shore centered around three beachfront pavilions, anchored by the fishing pier—the longest in the Carolinas in the 1950s.
Front Beach Isle of Palms and the pier in 2017
Marguerite Strickland Stith (center) with sister Rosie and a friend walking on Folly Beach, circa 1950
Isle of Palms
The amusement park near the Dance Pavilion featured a novel invention first unveiled in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair—the Ferris wheel
The fishing pier, circa 1940
Kicking back at the Pavilion, circa 1930
The Dance Pavilion and Seashore Hotel, in place by the 1900s, attracted visitors from up and down the East Coast
The railroad depot circa, 1890
The southern tip of Sullivan’s near Fort Moultrie curves to the Intracoastal Waterway, with Mount Pleasant’s Old Village on the far side. There, a trolley bridge across Cove Inlet once connected summer residents to the island.
Dedicated on June 15, 1962, the 140-foot-tall Charleston Light on Sullivan’s Island originally put out 28 million candelas (candlepower) and was one of the most powerful in the Western Hemisphere. Although the power has been lowered to 1.2 million candelas, it can still be seen 27 miles out at sea.
Eleanor Ilderton
Ilderton (at far right) with Gloria Rochelle, Mary Montgomery, and Carey Ilderton
Marguerite Strickland Stith with son Paul, circa 1950
The Cove Inlet trolley bridge between the Old Village in Mount Pleasant and Station 9 on the island
Beachgoers in the 1920s
Houses near Station 17 and Fort Moultrie in 1930.
Soldiers stationed at Fort Moultrie, circa 1940
The last trip of a mule-drawn trolley in 1898
While there are plans to replace the 1,045-foot Edwin S. Taylor Fishing Pier, which opened on July 4, 1995, it will remain open to the public through the summer season.
A car parked on the beach gets caught in the incoming tide, circa 1950.
The Atlantic House Restaurant in 1988, the year before it was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo
The swing ride at the amusement park in the 1960s
Robert Knight working the Ferris wheel in 1956
A staircase leads to the beach at Oceanfront Plaza
Even in the 1930s, the end of Center Street at Folly epitomized fun in the sun, a carefree place dubbed the “Edge of America.”
Beach store owner “Mr. John” Chrysostom with his wife, Rachel, who was a pharmacist in the shop
With front beach hotel and condo accommodations and an array of restaurants, bars and shops, Folly Beach (pictured above last July) welcomes visitors seeking relaxed, salty fun at the Edge of America.
Photographs courtesy Christian Hinkle, Charleston Museum, George A. Kenna, Reedy River Drone Company, Jimmy Creech, Robert Knight, Alyssa Stubblefield
Get to know Charleston’s most popular barrier island beaches
