State Park Edisto Beach State Park

[Warren Mary Ellen]

We checked out the campgrounds at Edisto Beach State Park when we visited for a day on the beach. Definitely comping back here as this is a great park. The parks is about 50 miles south of Charleston. There are actually 2 campground separated by a half of mile of the highway that takes you on to the island.

The Beach campground is the one closest to the beach, in fact some sites separated by only the dunes from the beach. This campground also has great views of marsh and probably about half of the 74 sites back up to the marsh. Sites 1-12 have a low clearance warning due to some trees, so you would not have very large campers near you. Site 1 was secluded and very shady. Sites 29-40 are very exposed with no trees and you will be on top of your neighbor. These are the closest to the beach.

The Live Oak Campground is the one I would choose and you can go over to the Day use next to the Beach Campground for a day on the beach. You can rent bikes that will be delivered to your site or you could drive. There are 38 sites on this loop with 9 that back up to the marsh. This loop is very shady, the sites are big, good privacy due to the understory, and a new bathhouse.

Edisto Beach | South Carolina Parks Official Site

Several good seafood options on the island. Not a lot to do out here besides the beach or fishing. There is a golf course nearby. SCDNR has a research area named Botany Bay that you can visit.

You are about 45-50 minutes away from Charleston and all the history, shopping and great food that the area has to offer. The park is just off SC Hwy 61 and as you take that into Charleston, you will come to many of the plantations that offer tours of the houses and grounds. You will get to that area in about 30 minutes or so. The closest beaches are either Edisto Island (50 minutes and little traffic) or Folly Beach (1 hour and a lot of traffic, but closer to the city). Never been to Charleston, you need to go to city to see the old homes in the area South of Broad Street, the City Market, and there is an almost end supply of great food of all prices. Military History - you have the Fort Sumter National Monument which includes both Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. You take a boat out to Fort Sumter that you board next to SC Aquarium and you drive out to Sullivan's Island to get to Fort Moultrie. Ft. Sumter is mostly going to be Civil War while Ft. Moultrie will span from the American Revolution to WWII and this place explains why there is a Palmetto tree and a gorget on our state flag. No, it is not a Crescent moon over the tree although most in SC think so too. Gulllah culture is getting a lot of attention and you will see many locations with Sweetgrass baskets for sale, be prepared to sale you first born, they can be expensive. I would recommend a meal of Hopping John, shrimp and grits, a benne wafer or maybe Frogmore Stew instead.

Mt. Pleasant is the other city and on the opposite side of the Cooper River. Patriots Point with the retired USS Yorktown there to tour. Beaches near Mt. Pleasant are Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. Folly Beach is south of Charleston.

 

[Warren Mary Ellen]

Pics of the beach at Edisto Beach State Park. The one shows you a little of the marsh that you would back up to on some of the Beachfront campground there.

 

[Warren Mary Ellen]

Camped in both campgrounds in the park. 3 days at each place. This place books up a year in advance. In S.C., the window opens for reservations for the state parks at 13 month out. We’ve found you can find 3-4 days open up if you watch daily in the coastal parks. We found 3 nights open up in the Beach Campground & a few days later 3 nights that opened up in the Live Oak Campground that connected to each other.

We started in the Beach Campground in site 2. Backed up to one of the campground hosts. Not much wind because of being behind the large dunes covered with even larger trees. Plenty of shade of course.

Bathhouse has A/C which we had not seen in S.C. before but was great since he kept the humidity low inside. 5 paths to the beach. This campground is next to the day use area, but we didn’t find that to be a problem. If you go out on the beach & go left you’ll have the place to yourself. The park is the northern tip of the island. Lots of shells on the beach.

Will try to camp here again especially in the offseason.

Moved to the Live Oak campground for the second half. Big sites in the campground. We were site 121, which is an interior site so you back up to other campers. Would like to come here again and have one that backs up to the marsh.

Bathhouse is new, so very nice. Showers have the rainfall style shower-heads with the best water pressure we’ve seen in any campground.

WiFi is not good and pretty much had to walk over to area near the bathhouse to use it. Lots of shade. It was going to rain so we didn’t bother covering the back of camper or picnic table.

For the beach, you do have to go to the day use area which is a mile away.

If you look at park map, the sites on the far right back up to the highway. You can hear the traffic there.

Only one grocery store on the island. Water taste is bad so be prepared with your own water. Great seafood market called Flowers. We had shrimp, scallops, flounder, wahoo, Mahi & crab cakes from there.

Like the other campground, we will definitely go back.

 

[The Postman]

We checked out the campgrounds at Edisto Beach State Park when we visited for a day on the beach. Definitely comping back here as this is a great park. The parks is about 50 miles south of Charleston. There are actually 2 campground separated by a half of mile of the highway that takes you on to the island.

The Beach campground is the one closest to the beach, in fact some sites separated by only the dunes from the beach. This campground also has great views of marsh and probably about half of the 74 sites back up to the marsh. Sites 1-12 have a low clearance warning due to some trees, so you would not have very large campers near you. Site 1 was secluded and very shady. Sites 29-40 are very exposed with no trees and you will be on top of your neighbor. These are the closest to the beach.

The Live Oak Campground is the one I would choose and you can go over to the Day use next to the Beach Campground for a day on the beach. You can rent bikes that will be delivered to your site or you could drive. There are 38 sites on this loop with 9 that back up to the marsh. This loop is very shady, the sites are big, good privacy due to the understory, and a new bathhouse.

Edisto Beach | South Carolina Parks Official Site

Several good seafood options on the island. Not a lot to do out here besides the beach or fishing. There is a golf course nearby. SCDNR has a research area named Botany Bay that you can visit.

You are about 45-50 minutes away from Charleston and all the history, shopping and great food that the area has to offer. The park is just off SC Hwy 61 and as you take that into Charleston, you will come to many of the plantations that offer tours of the houses and grounds. You will get to that area in about 30 minutes or so. The closest beaches are either Edisto Island (50 minutes and little traffic) or Folly Beach (1 hour and a lot of traffic, but closer to the city). Never been to Charleston, you need to go to city to see the old homes in the area South of Broad Street, the City Market, and there is an almost end supply of great food of all prices. Military History - you have the Fort Sumter National Monument which includes both Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. You take a boat out to Fort Sumter that you board next to SC Aquarium and you drive out to Sullivan's Island to get to Fort Moultrie. Ft. Sumter is mostly going to be Civil War while Ft. Moultrie will span from the American Revolution to WWII and this place explains why there is a Palmetto tree and a gorget on our state flag. No, it is not a Crescent moon over the tree although most in SC think so too. Gulllah culture is getting a lot of attention and you will see many locations with Sweetgrass baskets for sale, be prepared to sale you first born, they can be expensive. I would recommend a meal of Hopping John, shrimp and grits, a benne wafer or maybe Frogmore Stew instead.

Mt. Pleasant is the other city and on the opposite side of the Cooper River. Patriots Point with the retired USS Yorktown there to tour. Beaches near Mt. Pleasant are Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. Folly Beach is south of Charleston.

Great review. Bookmarked and saved.
Do prices drop in the off season?

 

[Warren Mary Ellen]

Great review. Bookmarked and saved.
Do prices drop in the off season?

I think some. In the S.C. system it also depends when you make them. So the price can vary. The parks on the coast are popular so they won’t change much.