THE SULLIVAN’S ISLAND COMMUNITY

Sullivan’s Island is a very special community, with a laid back beauty and a rich history.  This residential community of about 1,800 permanent residents is only five minutes from Mt. Pleasant and only twenty minutes from downtown Charleston.  It has a wide beach on the Atlantic Ocean, unspoiled by any commercial development.  In the 1980’s, the Town of Sullivan’s Island took innovative steps to preserve the island’s beaches by placing a conservation easement on all of Sullivan’s Island’s publicly owned ocean front property.  Over the past 15 years, Sullivan’s Island’s charm has been quietly discovered and the real estate prices reflect the value the market places on this location.  The New York Times determined that it had become the seventh most expensive second home market in the country and Forbes lists its zip code as the 64^th most expensive, with a median house price of $1,220,000 in 2005. 

There are no hotels on the island.  The Town prohibits rentals for a period of less than a month (other than the few houses that have grandfather status).  Its small commercial strip of four blocks features a number of good restaurants and bars, a spa offering facials and massages, a neighborhood grocery store and an ice cream parlor.  There are a few remaining 19^th century summer homes, a block of magnificent “officer’s quarters” built in the early 20^th century and a growing number of new and very expensive houses.

The island boasts a 1962 lighthouse, the last one built by the Coast Guard which is still in operation.  Fort Moultrie was the site of the country’s first victory against the British in the American Revolution and played a role in every war after that through World War II.  Edgar Allen Poe was stationed at Fort Moultrie where he wrote his story “The Goldbug”.  The streets are called “stations” from a 19^th century cable car system. 

Sullivan’s Island is an unpretentious place where the living is better than good.