Middle Street is the hub of activity. Brightly painted buildings house pubs and restaurants with outdoor seating, where residents and tourists alike relax and watch the parade go by. The community is mostly residential, with no hotels or motels and a beachfront without commercial development. Beaches, accessible by several marked paths, are maintained in their natural state, and therefore have no facilities—if you want to avoid the crowds, this is where to come. Parking is permitted along the side streets.
It’s hard to believe that this laid-back hamlet is the location of Fort Moultrie, where American troops first triumphed over the British forces during the Revolution. In fact, Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at the fort from 1827 to 1828, and he showcased Sullivan’s Island as a setting in his story “The Gold Bug” (the town library bears his name). Other writers inspired by the stark beauty of this stretch of Carolina coastline include Pat Conroy, who penned “Beach Music,” and Dorothea Benton Frank, author of “Sullivan's Island.”
Numerous shipwrecks have been discovered off the coast of Sullivan’s Island, including several Civil War blockade runners. The H.L. Hunley, a vessel operated by the Confederacy, was recovered in August 2000 more than 3.5 miles off the coast. The first submarine to sink an enemy warship, it mysteriously disappeared soon after completing its 1864 mission. The vessel can be toured on weekends.
The Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse, 163 feet tall and slender, isn’t what you would expect in the traditional sense; after all, it is said to be the only U.S. lighthouse outfitted with an elevator. The unusual modern structure is situated north of the harbor’s entrance at the island’s southern tip.