Charleston Neighborhoods: Sullivans Island

Sullivan’s Island, a barrier island north of Charleston Harbor, is home to approximately 2,000 residents in half as many households. These are primarily full- or part-time citizens who enjoy the relaxed lifestyle of the island. There are very few short-term rentals and no hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, or other transient lodgings.

The town, incorporated in 1817 as Moultrieville, did not allow lean-tos or shacks then or now. At that time lots were required to have a minimum of half an acre, and the same is true today.

Sullivan’s Island is distinctive because the beachfront lands that have built up over the years are owned by the town and held in a perpetual easement by the Lowcountry Open Land Trust, thus protecting the natural environment along the Atlantic Ocean.

The island has a long military tradition of protecting the harbor from invaders, and many wonderful histories capture those stories. The island has played a part in fiction as well. Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at Fort Moultrie from 1827 to 1828 and used the island as the setting for his short story “The Gold Bug.”

Remnants of the military are abundant in now-privately held military housing; even former fortifications are now single-family residences. Many of these historic homes have withstood the test of time and ravaging weather.

The Sullivan’s Island lighthouse, built in 1962, is a 140-foot-tall triangular building that boasts an elevator instead of the typical spiral staircase.

It stands as a prominent symbol of the island and can be seen from various points surrounding Charleston Harbor.