Things to Do on Folly Beach: Surf History, a Historic Pier, and a Painted Boat

Surfing and McKevlin's Surf Shop

Folly Beach is South Carolina's most established surf town, and the clearest evidence of that is McKevlin's Surf Shop, which opened in May 1965 in a 9-by-30-foot storage room attached to the old Folly Bowling Center -- a room that had reportedly served as a temporary jail cell in the 1940s. The shop moved to the front of the remodeled bowling alley by 1967, and to its current address at 8 Center Street in 1980, where it remains today. McKevlin's is recognized as one of the oldest family-owned surf shops on the East Coast, and it marked its 60th anniversary in May 2025.

The Washout, located about 14 blocks from Center Street along East Ashley Avenue, is Folly Beach's best-known named surf break. This page does not state current surf lesson prices or board rental rates, since those change seasonally and were not independently confirmed for this build -- contact McKevlin's or another local surf shop directly for current offerings.

The Edwin S. Taylor Folly Beach Fishing Pier

The current pier, opened in July 1995 by Charleston County Parks, replaced an original 1931 city-built pier that burned down in January 1977. At 1,045 feet long and 25 feet wide, it is one of the longer public fishing piers on the South Carolina coast, and it underwent a full reconstruction, closing in October 2020 and reopening in February 2023. It is named for Edwin S. Taylor, the former owner of the Atlantic House, a landmark local restaurant destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Beyond fishing, the pier is a genuine public gathering and walking destination on the island.

Morris Island Lighthouse

The current Morris Island Lighthouse tower, 161 feet tall, was completed in 1876 at a cost of $149,993, replacing an earlier wooden tower first built in 1767 to guide ships into Charleston Harbor. It was decommissioned in 1962. The area around it saw real Civil War history -- Union forces occupied the area in 1863, and the pitched Battle of Fort Wagner nearby included the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the African American Union regiment made famous by the film 'Glory.'

Decades of shoreline erosion have left the lighthouse stranded well offshore, surrounded by open water rather than connected to the beach. The clearest current viewing point is Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve at the east end of Folly Beach, reachable via a parking area and walkway at the end of East Ashley Avenue, roughly 17 blocks from Center Street. The walk from that parking area to the viewing point along the preserve is itself a genuinely scenic stretch of undeveloped shoreline, a real contrast to the more built-up Center Street end of the island, and it is a popular destination for photographers specifically because of the lighthouse's now-isolated, offshore position.

Folly Beach County Park

Folly Beach County Park stretches along the island's west end between the Atlantic Ocean and the Folly River, offering 2,500 feet of ocean frontage and 200 feet of river frontage, with dressing areas, outdoor showers, restrooms, boardwalks, picnic areas, and a seasonal snack bar. Boogie board, bicycle, umbrella, and chair rentals are available between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and lifeguards are on duty during the summer season. The park does not charge an entrance fee but does charge a parking fee per vehicle, and its western edge is home to Skimmer Flats, a documented Eastern Brown Pelican rookery.

The Folly Boat: A Genuinely Unusual Local Landmark

The Folly Boat is one of the more unusual pieces of local lore on the island, and it is real, not an urban legend. A steel boat, later filled with concrete and estimated at roughly 20 tons, washed ashore near the Folly Road bridge during Hurricane Hugo's storm surge in September 1989. Its owner left it unclaimed for nearly three decades, and in that time it became an informal public canvas -- locals and visitors painted it with birthday messages, marriage proposals, and any other message they wanted to share publicly, turning it into an unofficial symbol of Folly Beach.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma displaced the boat from its longtime roadside spot, depositing it onto a resident's dock; in December 2019, Chad Reynolds, owner of The Barrel (a bar on James Island), moved it to the edge of that property, where it remains, still repainted regularly by visitors, though it is now on private property rather than public right-of-way. It is a genuinely documented, storm-connected piece of local culture worth knowing about even though it has moved off the island itself.

The Folly River Boat Landing: A Gateway to the Marsh

For visitors who want to get on the water rather than just look at it, the Folly River Boat Landing at 97 Center Street Extension is the island's only public boat access point, managed by Charleston County with four launching lanes, courtesy docks, and 57 free paved trailer parking spaces. It serves boaters, kayakers, and paddleboarders heading into the calmer, marsh-lined waters of the Folly River, a genuinely different experience than the open Atlantic surf on the ocean side of the island, and it is the practical starting point for anyone wanting to explore the marsh creeks that separate Folly Island from James Island.

What This Page Doesn't Cover

This page covers the real, well-documented attractions on and connected to Folly Beach -- its surf history and McKevlin's Surf Shop, the historic fishing pier, Morris Island Lighthouse, Folly Beach County Park, and the Folly Boat. It does not state current pricing for surf lessons, pier admission, or park parking fees, since those change and were not independently confirmed as current figures for this build. Confirm current hours and fees directly with each specific attraction or Charleston County Parks and Recreation before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is a paid promotion.