History

In 1929, the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, also known as the Grace Memorial Bridge, was built to connect Charleston and Mount Pleasant as part of a highway system stretching from Florida to Maine. The 250-foot-tall bridge, which took 17 months and $6 million to build, was named in honor of John P. Grace (1874-1940), the 51st mayor of Charleston, who served two non-consecutive … [Read more...] about Freeing of the Toll Grace Memorial Bridge: the gateway for IOP tourism and commerce

Legend still lingers on a tiny barrier island only 200 yards off the Isle of Palms. In the early 1930s, a man and his wife lived in self-exile on Goat Island, without electricity or water, choosing to turn their backs on civilization forever. The island remains a place of rustic solitude – a precious, slender slice of land beyond the reach of streetlights and bus stops. The … [Read more...] about The lingering legend of Goat Island

Where would we be without them? Certainly not as safe, that’s for sure. We might not even think about them until we need them but just knowing that they are there gives us peace of mind. It all started with a house fire in 1952. Since no fire department existed on Isle of Palms at the time, volunteers from the Sullivan’s Island Fire Department rushed in to help. But for … [Read more...] about Emergence and Evolution of IOP Fire Department

When we think about famous marriages, one that comes to mind is that of former Isle of Palms residents Ernest “Fritz” and Rita Liddy “Peatsy” Hollings. Their union is the definition of a true “power couple.” When Peatsy died in 2012, one of the mourners wrote to Fritz, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. senator saying, “You and Peatsy were an unbelievable team, who … [Read more...] about Keeping Up With The Hollings: IOP’s Power Couple of The Past