It is a well-known fact that the popularity of the Isle of Palms has grown exponentially over the last several decades, both as a visitor destination and residential community. With that popularity have come the headaches of traffic and parking, not only for residents but for those who wish to visit this slice of paradise. The free bus service offered by CARTA has offset a portion of the traffic woes and hopefully will catch on as time goes by. But mass transit is not a new concept for transportation to and from the Isle of Palms.
Beginning with the wave of residential development on the island in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, public bus service was provided by SCE&G, the power company that preceded Dominion Energy. Many island residents and visitors to the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island depended on it to get on and off the islands. One woman who spent summers at her family’s beach house in the 1960s used it to commute back and forth from her job in downtown Charleston. A Mount Pleasant resident remembered riding the bus to and from the beach from her home in Cooper Estates.
For the first two decades of the 20th century, long before the SCE&G line and well before our island became a haven for full-time residents, a trolley operated between Mount Pleasant’s Old Village and the IOP. It crossed over the Pitt Street Bridge and included stops on Sullivan’s Island along the way. That’s why the streets that intersect with Jasper Boulevard are named “stations,” for the trolley stops that once existed there.
But once the trolley crossed Breach Inlet’s wooden trestle, there was only one stop on the Isle of Palms: Front Beach. What later became Charleston Boulevard was the only path cutting through the maritime forest in the early 20th century. The excitement certainly built for the trolley’s passengers as they leisurely rode through the dense foliage before the path gave way to the open beach at the Isle of Palms resort.
look forward to the breathtaking ocean view from high atop the IOP Connector. The passengers on the trolley commute of yesteryear certainly experienced that same exhilaration as they awaited their first glimpse of the sea when rounding the last curve of the tracks. After all, the ocean always draws us in.
By Mary Coy
Leave a Reply