On my recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina, food was a priority, but my sister also wanted to see a beach! As we planned our trip we noticed the plantation from the Notebook, Boone Hall, was located near some of the nice beaches in the area. We decided to rent a car and enjoy a Mount Pleasant day trip!
Unfortunately we had a pretty rainy forecast, but it was the day we reserved the car and the last day of our vacation, so we decided to move forward with our day trip plan. We had the goal of visiting Boone Hall, Shem Creek, and one of the two beaches on Mount Pleasant. We kept an eye on the forecast hoping we could squeeze it all in.
Boone Hall Plantation
Our first stop was Boone Hall Plantation, a major filming location for the movie the Notebook and a working plantation! We easily spent the entire morning touring the home, the plantation, the gardens, the slave quarters, and more. To read more about our time at Boone Hall, check out my newest article.
Lunch at Shem Creek
We left Boone Hall a tiny bit earlier than we anticipated due to rain. We decided to get lunch and see what the weather would do for the afternoon. One of our uber drivers suggested we have lunch at Shem Creek. Unfortunately we didn’t get to explore the area much, or even really see much of the creek. We did pop in Shem Creek Bar & Grill for lunch and were greeted with southern hospitality and served some wonderful southern comfort food.
The Beaches
When researching beaches, we were told Folly Beach basically had a spring break vibe. We headed to Sullivan’s Island first. We were lucky enough to find a great parking spot, but parking is extremely limited. I assume if it hadn’t been a rainy day, we wouldn’t have been able to find parking at all. This beach seemed to cater more to residents, and tried very hard to minimize tourism. It was a beautiful beach, but the water was fairly still.
As the rain picked up again we decided to head over to Isle of Palms to see the beach there. This beach was more touristy and had several shops, restaurants, and ice cream parlors in the area, as well as public restrooms. There was a parking lot for beach goers, but it was too pricey for a rainy day. We put a dollar in the meter in the town parking area and went to check out the beach. Luckily, the sun started to shine. We ended up using our whole hour at the beach and had a great time before heading home from our Mount Pleasant day trip!
None of us were eager to drive, but my sister volunteered. The roads were fairly easy to navigate, and we didn’t find much traffic. It was significantly cheaper and more flexible than using a tour group or Uber. However, I believe either option would have been suitable. We used Uber frequently while in the Charleston area and to/from the airport.
If you want to learn more about food in Charleston or what to wear when visiting Charleston, SC, check out my other posts.
