BlockBefore

Folly Beach, South Carolina

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1919 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the James Island census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29439. It lies near Folly Island. The Survey maps it on the James Island quadrangle. 2,078 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 16 feet above sea level.

Folly Beach within Charleston County

On record in Folly Beach

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Folly Beach fell from 2,617 to 2,078 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20102,617
20202,078-539 (-21%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 15 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

7 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Folly Beach between 1996 and 2015, burning about 92 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning2
Natural2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Arson/incendiarism1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 August 1999Natural4.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
16 July 2015Natural75 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
28 April 2006Debris and open burningunder an acreSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
11 April 2012Recreation and ceremony1.4 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
21 March 2009Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
26 February 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named
5 December 2000Debris and open burning3.0 acresSouth Carolina Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Charleston County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Folly Beach: 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Zirconium, Thorium, Titanium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Folly BeachIron, Zirconium, Thorium, TitaniumUnknownPlacer , Modern , Beach

Every working recorded in Charleston County

Storms near this place

22 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Folly Beach in 22 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 waterspout. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2008Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach$25,000A portion of a roof was torn off of the Marshview Villas on Mariners Cay Drive near Folly Beach. Several Vehicles in the parking lot needed to be towed away due to the damage from the debris. The screen of a screened in porch was also removed. The same storm knocked down a light pole on the Westbury Bridge.
July 2014Flash FloodFolly Beach$15,000Folly Beach police dispatch reported a roadway closed due to flooding at the intersection of Center Street and West Arctic Avenue. There were also other reports of flash flooding in the downtown Folly Beach area including flood waters entering several businesses in the Center Street area.
July 2011Flash FloodFolly Beach$5,000The Public reported that 5th East Street was closed due to flooding on Folly Beach, South Carolina.
February 2006Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach$5,000Strong winds from a gravity wave, produced from nearby thunderstorms, continued past midnight on the 4th. Damage from the winds included a large oak tree blown down in Fort Johnson Estates near the Charleston Harbor on James Island, trees down in the Old Village of Mt. Pleasant, large limbs knocked down in downtown Charleston, and 2 power poles knocked down on Sullivan's Island.
July 2018LightningFolly Beach$3,000Lightning struck a power pole on Folly Beach Road between Oak Island Drive and Little Oak Island Drive resulting in a power outage to Folly Beach.
February 2006Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach$2,000Nearby thunderstorm produced a gravity wave caused winds to gust to 65 mph on Folly Beach and strong gusts were reported in Charleston, James Island, and Mt. Pleasant prior to midnight on the 4th. One tree was reported blown down on Rifle Range road in Mt. Pleasant.
August 2025FloodFolly Beach-Social media pictures showed water in a business near the intersection of Center Street and West Arctic Avenue.
January 2024Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow site located at the Folly Beach County Park measured a 66.6 mph (57.9 knots) wind gust.
February 2020Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow sensor on Folly Beach Pier measured a wind gust of 64 mph.
September 2020Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow site at the Folly Beach pier measured a wind gust of 58 knots.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow site at Folly Beach Pier measured a 52 knot wind gust.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow site at the Folly Beach pier measured a 51 knot wind gust.
September 2017Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-The Weatherflow site on the Folly Beach pier measured a 54 knot wind gust.
July 2014Flash FloodFolly Beach-Law enforcement on Folly Beach reported that portions of Ashley Avenue and Center Street were blocked off with barricades between 2nd East Street and 2nd West Street due to flash flooding.
March 2008HailFolly Beach-Nickel and Dime sized hail was reported by a trained weather spotter along Folly Road.
May 2008Funnel CloudFolly Beach-A funnel cloud was sighted on Highway 171 near the bridge leading to Folly Beach, South Carolina.
August 2001WaterspoutFolly Beach-Waterspout sited off Kiawah Island moved northeast and then dissipated.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-Power lines down.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-Trees and limbs down.
May 1995Thunderstorm WindFolly Beach-Large tree limbs down.
June 2005HailFolly Beach-no account filed
April 1998HailFolly Beach-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Charleston County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Secessionville Acres3.2 miles15
Secessionville3.5 miles15
Bur Clare3.8 miles15
Riverland3.8 miles15
Seaside3.9 miles15
Grimball Shores4.0 miles15
Kings Acres4.0 miles15
Westchester4.2 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Folly BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1983620The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1231287. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.