Botany Bay Boneyard Beach
Edisto Island, SC
Botany Bay's boneyard beach sits inside a state wildlife management area near Edisto Island, reachable only by a walk or bike ride from the parking kiosk, and only at low tide. Bleached tree skeletons litter the sand where an eroding maritime forest has been swallowed by the ocean, a scene that draws photographers as much as beachgoers.
Nothing else on the South Carolina coast looks like the boneyard's bleached driftwood at low tide, though the mile-long walk and no-dogs rule keep it a deliberate trip rather than a quick beach day.
How we score beachesCheck a tide chart before making the trip out. The beach itself is only accessible at low tide, and showing up at the wrong time means a long walk for nothing.
Free parking is available at the entrance kiosk, where every visitor picks up a required day pass.
The walk from the kiosk to the beach is close to a mile on a flat dirt causeway, on foot or by bike. There's no vehicle access to the sand itself.
Dogs are not allowed anywhere in the wildlife management area, including the causeway and the beach.
The reserve is open year-round from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset, closed Tuesdays and during scheduled hunts. Water and marsh conditions shift with hurricane season, June through November, like the rest of the Lowcountry.
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