Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina Real Estate

Charleston SC Real Estate Buyers Find Rural Pleasures on Wadmalaw Island

Wadmalaw Island is considered the most unspoiled of Charleston, South Carolina's islands. While many Lowcountry islands such as Kiawah and Seabrook are “barrier islands” which are directly exposed to the ocean and fronted by sandy beaches, such is not the case with Wadmalaw Island or its close neighbor, John’s Island. Shielded from the Atlantic by their neighbors to the east and south, Wadmalaw Island and John’s Island have remained stable through much of recorded history.

Bordered by the Bohicket River to the east and the North Edisto River to the west, Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina remains intensely rural, with farming the traditional occupation of many of its locals and owners of Wadmalaw Island real estate, both past and present. While fishing, crabbing and shrimping serve as pleasurable pastimes for local Charleston communities and proprietors of Wadmalaw Island real estate, occupations extracting the ocean's resources are still a primary means of earning a living for a number of Wadmalaw Island locals and owners of Wadmalaw Island real estate.

Along the southern tip of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, lies Rockville, the charming picturesque hamlet that was featured in scenes from “Queen,” a movie by Alex Haley. There are no stores or restaurants to speak of outside of Rockville, and hundreds of acres of Wadmalaw Island woods and wetlands are protected from real estate development. However, in recent years, some of Wadmalaw Island's waterfront areas have become sparsely populated with real estate, featuring magnificent upscale homes, many on estate-sized lots.

Each year, Wadmalaw Island hosts a Gullah festival of regional import, encompassing exhibits and demonstrations of traditional African-American arts and crafts like basket weaving.

Another point of interest is the Charleston Tea Plantation. The only tea plantation in America, it is home to plants descended from those that have been grown for more than 100 years in the Lowcountry. The plantation’s unusual heritage began in 1799 when a French botanist brought the first tea plants to Charleston SC, which were also the first in America. Wadmalaw Island provides the ideal conditions for tea growing – hot humid summers and sandy soils for good drainage. The plantation consists of fields of the hedge-like plants that produce the fresh, smooth American Classic Teas, the official Hospitality Beverage of South Carolina. //