EDISTO BEACH
DEEPWATER HOMES

Edisto Beach is a town in Colleton County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 641 at the 2000 census. The town limits include only the coastal area of Edisto Island (the majority of the island's area is part of Charleston County, though the town itself is incorporated within Colleton).

Edisto Beach was originally settled by the Edistow Indians and was discovered by the Spanish in the late 1500's. Thereafter, commerce on the Island began to develop. Rice and indigo were the most common crops during the early settlement years. Later, significant cotton plantations were built and flourished. This industry, fueled by rich land owners and slaves, prospered until the Civil War.
Although the Union soldiers thereafter invaded Edisto and Johns Islands, the Confederate forces were able to retain control of Charleston until 1865, very late in the War. By the 1920s South Carolina residents began arriving to Edisto Island and Edisto Beach to build crude retreats; hardly the vacation industry of today, but a place to relax nevertheless. In those days, access to the Island could be gained only at low tide by driving or riding across the marsh on beds of oyster shells.

Although most homes on the island were destroyed in the 1940's, Hurricane Hugo spared the island in 1989. It has since become a vacation destination with a section of the island recently purchased by Wyndham Resorts.