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Editor’s Letter

Is the party over on Morris Island?

Matt Winter

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Matt Winter

… and would that be a bad thing?

You can have a good time on Morris Island. No doubt about that.

On some days, if you have the place all to yourself, you can pull your boat right up to the beach, hop out and enjoy a quiet walk along one of the most interesting and historic shorelines in South Carolina. There’s a beautiful view of nearby Fort Sumter, and you can sit and listen to menhaden flipping on the water’s surface just a few yards away as vessels big and small criss-cross Charleston Harbor off in the distance.

On other days, you go for the sheer spectacle. When the boating season really heats up, the tip of Morris Island can seem like the Rockville Regatta, only less well behaved. Dozens of boats nose up to the beach, and many more raft up just off the shoreline. Tiny johnboats rub elbows with million-dollar sportfishers. There are so many center consoles, you could practically walk from Fort Sumter to Morris Island without ever getting your feet wet.

Huge crowds of mostly young adults take over the beach. There’s drinking, to be sure, as the stereos thump and the horseshoes clang and the din of the crowd rises and falls.

Like countless others, I’ve pulled my boat up, cracked a beer or two and whiled away a steamy summer day joking and horsing around with old friends.

But some days — most summer weekends, really — I find that visiting Morris Island is just too much of a hassle. Too hard to get near the beach, too much alcohol, too many fools, too many ways to get your boat dinged up.

On days like that, it seems a bit of a cold shower would do Morris Island some good. This seems especially true when you remember that Morris Island, despite its growing popularity, really is hallowed ground.

This is the island where, during the Civil War, African-American troops fought for the first time in a major battle. In a bloody encounter some might recognize from the movie “Glory,” Confederate defenders of Battery Wagner repelled the attack by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Union troops killed in the assault were buried in a mass grave on the island.

For many years, local leaders have been maneuvering to defend this site from development and protect the island’s natural condition and historic value.

Most recently, the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission hired consultants to assess the historic, environmental and archaeological condition of Morris Island, as well as the northern tip of Folly Island.

The study delivered two options for Morris Island. One would provide a dock, boardwalks, rest rooms and an informational kiosk. The second would provide only a kiosk and signs detailing the island’s history and ecology.

Under either option, the uninhabited island would still be open for visitation.

But both options carry new rules that seem designed to put a dent in Morris Island’s growing reputation as a boat-party hot spot. These rules, which appear on the conceptual plan (available through www.ccprc.com), would ban all consumption or possession of alcohol and outlaw dogs on the island, as well.

The proposals were open to public comment through April. Most who commented favored the option with the least amount of disturbance. Barring any unforeseen political roadblocks, Morris seems poised to receive at least some new level of protection.

Anyone interested in getting a closer look at the plan for Morris Island should consider attending a master plan open house on June 26. The open house is split into two sessions, one from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Folly Beach Community Center (55 Center St.), and the other from 4 to 7 p.m. at the public library in downtown Charleston (68 Calhoun St.).

In the meantime, if you absolutely, positively need to whoop it up, there’s always Capers Island.

— Matt Winter, editor

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