feature story "It's What I Can Do" Friday, Sept. 5, 12 08 p.m.
Two local artists give back to their community and its people by using art to fuel life. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments
feature Story The Imaginary World of Highlands Friday, Sept. 5, 12 06 p.m.
Best-selling novelist Cassandra King lets us a peek into her next book, Bridal Falls. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments delectable delights True Southern Spirit Friday, Sept. 5, 12 05 p.m.
We have enjoyed exploring, tasting, and celebrating with you and sincerely thank our loyal readers. Read More 1 comment(s) / read/add comments A Lowcountry Life A Different Kind of Animal Friday, Sept. 5, 12 02 p.m.
Local vet Dr. Michael Forcier trades records and microphones for dogs and cats to live out a dream. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments Just dogs Bonkers for Bassets Friday, Sept. 5, 12 01 p.m.
These floppy-eared hounds are stealing hearts all over the Lowcountry. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments Essay Discovering the Sounds of the Lowcountry Friday, Sept. 5, 12 00 p.m.
Musician and professor Trevor Weston searches for "exotic" sounds and gets a lesson in Gershwin and Gullah culture. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments Feature Story Sustainable Seafood: On The Bubble Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
Efforts to make sustainable food more visible and available are increasing. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments get outta town Kendall Lukas Visits Wilmington, N.C. Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
Kendall Lukas has stars in her eyes and history under her feet as she explores the neighboring port city of Wilmington, N.C. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments A Lowcountry Life From Ballet Shoes To Bikinis Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
Poland native Maria Dobrzanska Reeves uses her dance discipline to achieve success in Charleston. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments essay Splashing Through Childhood Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
Author Ron Daise looks for joy and finds it in remembering his children in their youth. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments homestyle Cooking in the Great Outdoors Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
More on Megan Westmeyer and Jennifer Smith’s visit to Swimming Rock Fish Farm Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments from the editor Water World Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
I love being in water. I love that clear, cool swishing feeling around my ears. In fact, on a warm, sunny day, I like to go outside and get as hot as possible and then dive into a cool pool. For me, it’s refreshment at its finest. Read More 1 comment(s) / read/add comments distinctively charleston Beach Music Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
You can see the shrimp boats from your restaurant table, so that shrimp pasta on the menu has to be fresh and local. Right? Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments just dogs Water Babies Tuesday, July 1, 12 00 a.m.
We celebrate what we treasure in the Lowcountry and beyond that gives us an interior smile. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments from the editor Maxximum Style Thursday, May 1, 03 49 p.m.
My 14-year-old niece visited Charleston with her parents in March. She’s from Moscow, Russia, and I had not seen her in more than 10 years. There’s a big difference between 4 and 14! Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments feature story Holy City Style Thursday, May 1, 03 49 p.m.
When Nancye Starnes decided to move out of Memphis, she drew up a list of “must haves” for her new hometown: it had to be a walkable city, located on the water, and sizeable enough to support a vibrant performing arts community. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments just dogs Citadel Charmers Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.
Move aside – bulldog coming through. In January, the American Kennel Club announced that the Bulldog, one of the most recognizable and iconic purebred dogs, has muscled its way into the 10th spot on the organization’s annual list of the most popular breeds in America. Read More 2 comment(s) / read/add comments delectable delights Beyond Cookie Cutter Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.
Prime ingredients, Nostalgic tastes and creative bakers transform Lowcountry cookies into high-style confections. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments A Lowcountry Life Working for Peanuts Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.
Anthony Wright, the man known throughout the Lowcountry and across the nation as Tony the Peanut Man, never intended to make his living selling boiled goobers. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments get outta town Kendall Lukas Visits Charlotte, NC Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.
I had never been to Charlotte … not really. Well, I’ve gotten my kicks at Carowinds because that was part of being a kid in the Carolinas, and I’ve been to concerts at the open-air Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre because it’s a large complex for big-time acts. I’ve visited my sister at UNC Charlotte and have flown through the city’s major transit airport many times. But as for the metropolis of Charlotte, I’d only ever viewed its high-rises from afar. This time I took an up-close look at the interior and found a lot of reasons to relish in North Carolina’s top travel destination. Read More 1 comment(s) / read/add comments distinctively charleston Turning Heads Thursday, May 1, 03 48 p.m.
Bessie is almost 50 and looks as good today as she did in her youth – maybe even better. After all, back then she was hanging from a pole. Now she runs circles around the rest of us, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments homestyle Café Comfort Thursday, May 1, 03 46 p.m.
Banquettes are big. Heidi Walker, Allied ASID, of Walker Design Group, is currently working on three different kitchens that have banquettes. For this kitchen in a young couple’s home on Sullivan’s Island, Walker created a café atmosphere by building on the existing element of the laminated floor. “This promotes a casual impromptu gathering space,” she says. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments ESSAY Lowcountry Style Thursday, May 1, 12 00 a.m.
If you want to experience real Lowcountry style, you need to come to the Hebron Saint Francis Senior Center. Its members are long time Johns Island residents, a hardscrabble group of African-American women who meet every Wednesday for devotion and quilt making. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments homestyle Jewel Box Saturday, March 1, 12 00 a.m.
Although one of the smallest rooms in a house, a powder room is nonetheless important since most of your guests will pay it a visit. Jennifer Rhodes, ASID, principal designer of J. Rhodes Design, took the popular concept of making this room a “jewel box” and ran with it, creating a luxurious surprise in this 3-foot by 7-foot Daniel Island room. Read More 0 comment(s) / read/add comments
Recipe box On the table or on the rocks, Firefly Vodka is HOT, HOT, HOT!
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Beach Music
Written by Stephanie Burt Williams
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Photo by Doug Hickok
The sounds, swells and shagging at Folly beach pier keep fans coming back for more.
Walking above ocean waves is a singular experience. You hear them crash against the pilings and glimpse the water moving through the spaces between the slats. Soon you step past the breakers to the glistening swells that move behind them. It is a feeling of being stable and still and in the middle of things all at the same time. It is the experience of being on a pier, the meeting place at the beach – that man-made structure extending the edge of something out into a space all its own.
The Edwin S. Taylor Folly Beach Fishing Pier has been a Charleston mainstay since the 1930s when Folly first became a beach destination. It has beckoned many a person to drive those 10 miles from downtown to the dunes, park (on the beach in years past) and suddenly be someplace else.
“The pier was almost like going into another city, taking a trip,” says James Island resident and Charleston native Jerry Wade. “It took so long to get there, and once you were there, you never wanted to leave.”
Wade’s young adult days were spent at the Folly Beach Pier, listening to Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, dancing with the young woman who would later be his wife, and drinking some of the coldest draft beer he could find.
Folly Beach, July 4, 1937, Courtesy of the Charleston Museum
The old pier structure that housed those music-filled nights burned in 1977, and Hugo took care of the next Folly pier incarnation when it blew through in 1989. Today, the beautiful structure extends 1,045 feet into the Atlantic Ocean and is 23 feet above sea level. A pavilion on the end hosts the popular Moonlight Mixers every summer, where 550 people sway to the music under the stars and over the waves.
The pier house holds a bright and clean pier shop on one side (hot dogs, gifts galore and fresh bait) and Locklear’s Lowcountry Grill on the other, where diners enjoy one of the few beachfront views on Folly. Managed by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, the structure recently reopened after the second phase of a refurbishment project. It has five full-time and 20 part-time employees whose biggest challenge is managing the crowds.
“We record 250,000 visitors a year and about 20,000 fishermen,” says Kerry Hanson, facility manager for the Folly Beach Fishing Pier for the past 12 years. “It can get hectic, but I love coming to work.”
Hanson’s day begins at 5:30 a.m., and he often gets a chance to watch the sunrise over the water before he turns to the tasks of the day, which recently have included reopening the pier and welcoming fishermen (and women) once again to its railings.
The renovation included new bathrooms, hurricane-resistant windows, HardiPlank siding and replacing deckboards and adding pickets. There were also new benches and rod holders added, creating a structure as well as an atmosphere that can withstand the large amount of visitors. The reopening of the pier on Sunday, March 16, brought 2,420 people to see the changes and take a stroll, once again claiming ownership of their boardwalk out to sea.
For many, though, the pier is still not about its physical attributes but its sense of place, its inherent nature as a centerpiece and a destination for the region. And for some people, it is almost a second home.
Judy Moody of North Charleston has been fishing the Folly Beach Fishing Pier at least three times a week for the last five years. “We have a family out here,” she says, gesturing around her as she calls to someone to watch her rod for her. “I’ve met so many nice people from here and out of state. I love being out here.”
And, it goes without saying, the fishing’s not bad either. Judy often enjoys catching whiting and black drum, as well as the occasional elusive sheepshead that unsuspectingly bites her bait while feeding near the pilings in the shade of the pier.
There have been plenty of record-size fish caught on the Folly pier, including a five-pound spotted sea trout and a 100-pound tarpon. But it’s not the fishing that necessarily keeps those who love the pier coming back. It’s the people, and the sounds of those waves endlessly crashing against the pilings.
Lowcountry Living is a bi-monthly magazine of The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, S.C. 29403-4800. Copyright 2007 by The Post and Courier.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without express written permission from The Post and Courier. Printed by R.L. Bryan, Columbia, S.C. Click here to email the editor
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