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Edisto Beach, South Carolina is a senior tourist and retirement area located in the Lowcountry.

Edisto Beach SC History

Edistow Indians were the first to inhabit this area. Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500’s, followed by English settlers in the 1600's. The English remained, first living off the sea, then cultivating money crops of rice and indigo. In 1674, the Earl of Shaftsbury, one of the original Lord Proprietors, purchased the area from the Edistow tribe of Indians for some cloth, hatchets, beads and other goods. Rice and indigo were among the first crops planted. However, Sea Island Cotton grown in Edisto became world famous. Following the end of the Civil War and the advent of the boll weevil, the cotton industry died. Truck farming, shrimping and fishing took the place of cotton farming. Today, tourism is also one of the largest industries in the area.

Resort development began on Edisto Beach in the 1920’s when beachgoers had to time their arrival to coincide with low tide in order to cross the marsh areas by driving on beds of oyster shells. They then crossed over the dunes to the beach and drove along the ocean to their cottages, which had no electricity or running water. Development was slow in the early days and damage from a major hurricane in 1940 destroyed many of the existing homes.

Edisto Beach South Carolina – Elegant Houses & Plantations

Many of the elegant houses and plantations remaining today on Edisto Beach, South Carolina are reminders of the affluence prominent in this area. Edisto Beach is now a popular senior citizen vacation and retirement area.