History of Charleston's Northern Barrier Islands And Their Bridges

Today, Charleston's string of barrier islands extending north from its harbor are covered with beautiful expansive vacation homes. Their sparkling shorelines are host to throngs of visitors and local beach goers spreading their blankets and chairs across their sandy beaches. With that familiar picture in mind, it would be unusual to imagine one of these pristine barrier islands with a Ferris wheel rotating in its ocean skyline, a merry-go-round spinning in its sands, and a Cony Island style roller coaster called The Steeple Chase thundering over its landscape.

In the early colonial days of Charleston and its northern barrier islands, a plank bridge built on barrels connected what is now known as Mt. Pleasant to Sullivan's Island at Cove Inlet. After arriving on Sullivan's Island in 1827 aboard the Waltham and serving as a company clerk at Fort Moultrie, Edgar Allen Poe characterized the island in unflattering yet colorful terms. He wrote in The Gold Bug, "The island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than sea sand, and is about three miles long. Its breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the main land by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort for the marsh hen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at last dwarfish. No trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found, indeed the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of the western point, and line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered with dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle." Of course, we must remember Poe had a unique and dark literary prowess.

Around the same time, Charleston architect Robert Mills had a more complimentary take when describing Sullivan's Island. He wrote in 1826, "This island forms the summer retreat for pleasure and health of all or any in the city that choose to visit it. During the summer season the boats ply constantly between the two places, the distance scarcely exceeding four miles. The village here laid out is called Moultrieville..It contains about 200 houses, all of wood, and which are occupied sometimes to excess during the summer. Moultrieville has a handsome appearance, particularly on entering the harbor; the greater some of the houses (for more than a mile) front the beach, which extends the whole length of the island, a distance of three miles. This beach at low water is very firm and wide, affords a delightful ride or walk, where the delighted visitant may inhale the pure and bracing sea breeze, which wafts health and vigor to the system."

The old floating footbridge stretching across from mainland Mount Pleasant was the only access to Sullivan's Island and stepping stone to the uninhabited 6-mile stretch of sand beyond Breach Inlet called Long Island, aside from boats. During the Civil War, the H. L. Hunley crew crossed it on their way to Breach Inlet where destiny in the form of a metal submersible awaited their arrival.

The Town of Moultrieville gave land to Robert Chisolm for the purpose of building a hotel. Located around Station 22, the New Brighton Hotel was completed in the mid 1880's, later called the Atlantic Beach Hotel. It boasted three beach cottages in addition to the main hotel structure.

Atlantic Beach Hotel

It was in 1897 the vague stretch of sand beyond Breach Inlet, inhabited only by the Atlantic surf, began to be noticed. Dr. J.S. Lawrence built a public amusement and beach resort on the island. With no beach cottages or hotel as of yet, the central gathering spot for visitors was the Pavilion. There was a restaurant that served a meal for 50 cents. Attractions included a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and a roller coaster style ride called The Steeple Chase. The Steeple Chase consisted of five mechanical horses where the riders could race each other around a U-shaped course. The Ferris wheel was originally built for the Chicago World's Fair in 1892 and was used by the Cotton Congress in Atlanta and Coney Island in New York before coming to South Carolina. The beach amusement park became so popular it was dubbed the "Play Ground of the South." The Isle of Palms was born.

In 1898, the planked-bridge was replaced by a trolley bridge designated the Cove Inlet Bridge or the Pitt Street Bridge (before electricity, the earliest trolleys were horse-drawn, and crossed on wooden rails that were known to shift in the sand beds).

Around this time, the electric street car was introduced into the City of Charleston. In July of that same year, the Seashore Road opened. The local paper reported on July 26th, "A great event for the city, the Seashore Road formally opened yesterday. When the Commodore Perry left the new dock of the Charleston Seashore and Railway Company at 9 o'clock yesterday afternoon her spacious deck was crowded with people, all anxious to be among the first to visit that, as yet, unknown country, stretching vaguely behind the familiar shores of Mount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island. The Sappho, her deck also crowded with people, and the Pocosin, not so well patronized, steamed out of their docks just a moment before."

After arriving in Mount Pleasant and departing their ferries, the passengers were loaded unto trolley cars and crossed through Mount Pleasant onto Sullivan's Island via the Pitt Street Bridge towards Breach Inlet to journey across to Isle of Palms. The very first home was constructed by Nicholas Sottile in 1898 at 807 Ocean Boulevard. A fifty room hotel was built in 1906 called the Seashore Hotel and a second hotel was constructed in 1912 called the Hotel Marion by the Sea.

Tragedy struck the Atlantic Beach Hotel on Sullivan's Island. It, along with one of the cottages, burned on January 9, 1925. It was rumored a bootlegger attempting to locate his whiskey in the bushes alongside the hotel lit a match to try and find the whiskey in the dark and thus sparked the destructive flames. A hotel would never be built on the island after that catastrophe.

The Pitt Street Bridge was widened in the 1920's to accommodate vehicular traffic and a draw bridge was added. In 1926, the trolley trestle over Breach Inlet was converted into a bridge, allowing automobiles to cross over from Sullivan's Island. Trolley service to Sullivan's Island ended in 1927.

Up until then, Mount Pleasant and the islands were only connected to Charleston by ferries. In 1929, a cantilever bridge was built across the Cooper River. The Grace Memorial Bridge now made both islands accessible by automobile from Charleston. The Pitt Street Bridge finally closed to traffic when the drawbridge was moved to a new location and the Ben Sawyer Bridge was built in 1945. The bridge rotated on a center axis to allow boat travel along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Remains of the Pitt Street Bridge

Development on the islands increased. On the Isle of Palms, 1,600 acres were purchased by the Finch family in 1972 and they developed the land into a resort known as the Isle of Palms Beach and Racquet Club. As it expanded, it was renamed the Wild Dunes Beach and Racquet Club, and after being sold to new owners in 1984, it became just Wild Dunes.

The Ben Sawyer Bridge became famous on September 22, 1989, when Category 4 Hurricane Hugo struck Sullivan's Island just after midnight and severely damaged the bridge. Pictures of the bridge tilting into the Intracoastal Waterway made the national news. The swing-span portion of the bridge was replaced in 2010 and outfitted with modern technology, but retained the appearance of the original.


With the growth of Wild Dunes and the island in general, plans were drawn up to construct a new bridge that would connect Isle of Palms directly to the town of Mount Pleasant. The Connector or the Clyde Moultrie Dangerfield Bridge was completed in 1993. A storm surge from Hurricane Tourism flooded the island and the rest is modern history.

Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island have long been my favorite beaches. You will likely find me fishing the fast moving currents of Breach Inlet on any given sunny day or leisurely sitting on the rooftop of the Boathouse Restaurant tending to a cold beer and watching the inlet's resident dolphins cruising the quiet backwaters with the brilliant colors of the setting sun lighting their way. Other times, you will catch me reclining on the nostalgic upper deck of Coconut Joe's enjoying the island sounds of a Reggae band or mounting a paddleboard at the bustling IOP Marina on Morgan Creek for a serene paddle on the island's marine rich estuary waters. Sullivan's Island is the perfect seacoast setting to photograph a flock of kite surfers catching the brisk Atlantic breezes or strolling the sandy stone barriers of Fort Moultrie watching huge container ships entering and exiting the harbor. And after all has been said and done, I invite you to join me for some light conversation and shared companionship at the tavern named after the island's famous resident author, Poe's.