Isle of Palms

History

The island's original inhabitants were the Sewee tribe. During the Civil War, the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley departed from Breach Inlet, between Isle of Palms and neighboring Sullivan's Island. In the late nineteenth century, local residents began using the island as a vacation spot. At that time it was only accessible by ferry. It was bought by J.S. Lawrence in 1899, who gave the island its current name; before then it was known as "Hunting Island" or "Long Island". A 50-room hotel was built in 1906. In 1912, James Sottile had a beach pavilion and an amusement park built, and a trolley line was constructed from Mount Pleasant on the mainland to Isle of Palms via Sullivan's Island. In 1929, Grace Memorial Bridge was built between Charleston and Mount Pleasant to allow automobile traffic to reach the island. Large-scale residential development began when J.C. Long bought up most of the island and built low-cost housing for World War II veterans. In 1975, the Sea Pines Company (of Hilton Head Island fame) established the development now known as the Wild Dunes Beach and Racquet Club. E. Lee Spence, a pioneer underwater archaeologist and prolific author of books and articles about shipwrecks and sunken treasure, discovered, with the help of Isle of Palms residents Wally Shaffer and George Campsen, many shipwrecks along the shores of the Isle of Palms in the 1960s. Their discoveries included the Civil War blockade runners Rattlesnake, Stonewall Jackson, Mary Bowers, Constance, Norseman and Georgiana. The iron-hulled steamer Georgiana, which was sunk on her maiden voyage, was described in contemporary documents as pierced for 14 guns and more powerful than the famous Confederate cruiser Alabama. These historic discoveries resulted in the passage of South…

Geography

Isle of Palms is located along the Atlantic Ocean, by road just east of downtown Charleston. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Isle of Palms has a total area of , of which is land, and (18.40%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,667
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  17,587
• Laughing Gull

  Leucophaeus atricilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,548
• Brown Pelican

  Pelecanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  13,731
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  13,611
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,360
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  13,121
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,748

Most recent

• M 2.91 — 2026-02-08
  6 km SW of Ladson, South Carolina
• M 3.27 — 2021-09-27
  South Carolina
• M 2.82 — 2021-09-27
  3 km NNE of Summerville, South Carolina
• M 3 — 2014-03-19
  0 km WNW of Centerville, South Carolina
• M 2.5 — 2013-09-19
  8 km WSW of Summerville, South Carolina
• M 2.8 — 2012-07-31
  5 km S of Centerville, South Carolina