Edisto Island
A sea island of cotton plantations, Gullah culture and a quiet beach town.
- Named for
- The Edistow people
- Enslaved people, 1860
- 5,082
- Beach
- Edisto Beach State Park
- Tides
- Two highs, two lows a day
Then
- 1600s
The Edistow, a band of the Cusabo, live here. The island and river keep their name.
- 1800s
Planters grow rich on long-staple Sea Island cotton worked by enslaved Africans, who outnumber whites more than 15 to 1 by 1860. Their descendants develop the Gullah language and culture.
- 1861–1862
Planters flee in late 1861, escaped slaves set up camps, and Union troops use the island as a staging area against Charleston until July 1862.
- 1865–1877
Freedmen's Bureau agents and freed African Americans run the island through Reconstruction.
Now
Edisto is now a low-key resort island, with Edisto Beach State Park and the small town of Edisto Beach at its south end. Some private plantations remain.
The tide stations here spread across the ACE Basin rivers, from the Ashepoo to the North Edisto.
On the water
From NOAA's predictions for Steamboat Landing, Steamboat Creek, SC over the next 365 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).
- Pattern
- Two highs and two lows a day, close in size
- Typical daily range
- 6.4 ft
- Biggest swing
- 8.8 ft on Jan 23
- Smallest swing
- 4.2 ft on Mar 30
- Highest high
- 7.9 ft, Oct 1 at 10:16 AM
- Lowest low
- −1.6 ft, Jan 23 at 2:26 AM
40 tide stations around Edisto Island
- Steamboat Landing, Steamboat Creek2.2 mi
- Windsor Plantation, Russel Creek3.2 mi
- Peters Point, St. Pierre Creek3.3 mi
- Ocella Creek, 2 mi. above entrance3.6 mi
- Point of Pines4.2 mi
- Edisto Beach, Edisto Island5.0 mi
- Dawho Bridge, Dawho River5.0 mi
- Pine Landing5.6 mi
- Bluff Point5.6 mi
- Carters Dock, Big Bay Creek5.8 mi
Show all 40 stations
- Edisto Marina, Big Bay Creek entrance6.0 mi
- Rockville, Bohicket Creek6.3 mi
- Park Island, Tom Point Creek6.4 mi
- Toogoodoo Creek, 2 mi. above entrance6.6 mi
- Fenwick Island7.0 mi
- Seabrook7.2 mi
- Leadenwah Creek, 3 mi. above entrance7.2 mi
- Dawho River7.9 mi
- Ho-Non-Wah Boy Scout Camp, Bohicket Creek8.5 mi
- Musselboro Island, Mosquito Creek8.7 mi
- Lower Toogoodoo Creek, 2 mi. above entrance9.1 mi
- White House Woods, Mosquito Creek9.1 mi
- Yonges Island9.5 mi
- Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff, ICWW9.5 mi
- Otter Island9.7 mi
- Kiawah River Bridge10.0 mi
- Willtown Bluff, Edisto River10.1 mi
- Hutchinson Island10.7 mi
- Airy Hall Plantation10.8 mi
- Brickyard Ferry, swing bridge11.0 mi
- Bluff Islands11.3 mi
- Hope Creek, Edisto River11.5 mi
- Johns Island, Church Creek12.4 mi
- Penny Creek, south of, Edisto River12.6 mi
- Bowles Island, New Chehaw River12.7 mi
- Wiggins, Chehaw River14.3 mi
- Hollywood, Wadmalaw River14.3 mi
- Jacksonboro Camp15.2 mi
- Canaday Landing, south of, Edisto River17.7 mi
- Ashepoo19.0 mi