Golden Age of Folly From Amusement Park to Surfer Paradise

From a 1930s pier built of palmetto logs to a surf shop opened in a bowling-alley storeroom, Folly Beach history is the story of how an "odd little community by the sea" became one of the East Coast's most beloved oceanfront escapes - and how the small cottages along its streets have always been part of the magic.

Folly Then and Now

Strolling the beachside with damp warm sand burning between your toes and the roar of the Atlantic all around, one would never know the dramatic trials and stories hidden just beneath the windswept, always-shifting dunes of ⁠Folly Beach, SC.

Behind today's sunny veneer and vibrant surf culture lies a fascinating narrative: the island has survived devastating hurricanes, shoreline erosion caused by jetties, and even played host to artists writing American classics.

The Pier, the Pavilion, and "Folly's Playground"

In June 1931, the Atlantic Pavilion and Folly Pier opened to roughly 800 onlookers - Charleston Mayor Thomas P. Stoney gave the dedication, and the Marshall Van Poole Orchestra played the first dance. The pier itself was painted bright green and white, jutted into the Atlantic on palmetto logs, and quickly became the social heart of the South Carolina coast.

Across the street stood a block-long amusement park: Ferris wheels, swings, a merry-go-round, a ride called "the Whip," and a sign that became Folly's unofficial motto - "Welcome to Folly's Playground."

Well before Myrtle Beach was on the map, this was where the big names came. Glenn Miller played while dancers twirled under a revolving crystal ball; Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, the Ink Spots, and Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians all worked the boards.

By the late '50s and '60s, Fats Domino packed 4,000 fans onto the pier and Otis Redding, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, and The Drifters were regulars. On July 4, 1937, an astonishing 15,000 people crowded the wooden pier in a single afternoon.

The Summer Gershwin Came to Town

Long before the surfers arrived, Folly had its first artist-in-residence. In June 1934, composer George Gershwin stepped off a train in Charleston with his painter cousin Henry Botkin and rented a cottage near the West Arctic Avenue home of author DuBose Heyward - a place Heyward called "Follywood" because he'd paid for it with Hollywood royalties.

Gershwin worked on Porgy and Bess while reporter Frank Gilbreth Jr. - later co-author of Cheaper by the Dozen - banged the top of the piano with his fist. As Gilbreth wrote in the News and Courier on June 19, 1934:

"Ragtime rang out loud and clear along the deserted shore at the west end of Folly Beach... it was impossible to stand still"

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Two weeks later Gilbreth came back to find Gershwin shirtless and in torn pants, having "gone native." Gershwin took a break from the opera to judge the 1934 Miss Folly Beach Contest at the pier. The score premiered in New York that fall as one of the most important American operas of the 20th century - and Folly hasn't forgotten.

The Fires, the Pivot, and the Rise of the Hippy Beach

Folly's golden age never quite ended cleanly - it changed shape. On April 19, 1957, the Atlantic Pavilion and Oceanfront Hotel burned, visible from downtown Charleston.

A new Ocean Plaza opened in 1960 with 1,700 feet of concrete boardwalk and fifteen amusement rides, but the world around it was already shifting. In January 1977, the pier itself burned - local lore says a man set it ablaze for a lady-friend who liked watching things burn. No one was ever charged.

What rose from the ashes was something more enduring. Folly had always carried a bohemian streak. As Charleston Magazine puts it: "Sullivan's Island was too straight-laced for these carefree souls. Folly's freewheeling ways attracted legions - it was a bastion for the nonconformists and remains so to this day."

In fall 1965, Dennis McKevlin and his son Ted opened McKevlin's Surf Shop - now the oldest surf shop in South Carolina - in a 9×30-foot storage room of the Folly Bowling Center, stocked only with hand-cut paraffin wax blocks and 9-foot surfboards. The same year, locals founded the West Coast East Surf Club and ran Folly's first formal surf contest in 1966 - a tradition that continues today under the Eastern Surfing Association.

Nanci Polk-Weckhorst, who grew up here, became South Carolina's first professional surfer and was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame - after learning to ride waves on her grandmother's ironing board. The board is now in the Folly Beach History Museum that opened on Center Street in 2025.

From Big Bands to Today’s Live Music Scene

While the grand oceanfront pavilions are gone, Folly’s musical soul simply migrated to Center Street. Today, the vibrant nightlife and party atmosphere that defined the mid-century pier still thrive. Instead of Glenn Miller, you'll run into local bands playing open-air sets, reggae, and acoustic jams at walkable institutions like Loggerhead's, Chico Feo, and the beachfront deck at Pinky's.

Iconic institutions like the Sand Dollar Social Club have anchored Center Street's nightlife since 1981. Though the Post and Courier reported the property sold in early June 2026 to a Greenville developer, locals and the longtime owning family vehemently dispute the sale, insisting it remains open and under original ownership.

It's a reminder of how fiercely Folly Beach residents protect the island’s gritty, authentic character—and why finding a quiet retreat just off the main drag is so valuable. The island's compact layout means you can step out of a historic cottage and walk straight to dozens of locally owned restaurants and lively watering holes without ever needing a car.

The Best of Both Worlds

Staying on Folly Beach offers a dual experience that is impossible to replicate elsewhere on the coast. You are immersed in a laid-back, bohemian surf town, yet you are only eight miles away from historic downtown Charleston.

Guests can spend their mornings surfing the Washout, boating the coastal waterways, or exploring local wildlife, and then easily drive into Charleston for world-class fine dining, art galleries, and cultural events.

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