We visited Beaufort in November 2024 as part of our two-week Carolinas in November trip.

Continuing our island hop down the coast of South Carolina, we drove 1.5 hours south from Charleston to Beaufort. Beaufort (BEW-fort, not like BO-fort, North Carolina!) is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, and ahead of third-place Georgetown. But even before Beaufort’s founding in 1711, Beaufort County was the site of the second landing of Europeans on the North American continent, when the Spanish explored the area around 1515–just after Ponce de Leon landed in modern-day St Augustine in 1513.

Initially, Beaufort was known for shipbuilding and indigo trade; later, its wealth came from cotton and rice plantations. The city was occupied by the Union army early in the Civil War, making it a destination for escaping slaves who were declared emancipated. After the war, phosphate mining was the main industry until the seventh-deadliest hurricane in US history struck in 1893 and the city’s growth stagnated for 50 years. Then the military presence in the area ramped up, and tourism came along, so the town put a bunch money into revitalization, and now it’s thriving.

Fun fact I learned while reading about Beaufort history: Thomas Sumter, namesake of Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor and several Southern counties, was nicknamed Gamecock for his fierce fighting in the American Revolution. So that’s where USC’s Gamecock mascot came from.

Beaufort shares Port Royal Island with the town of Port Royal, a Marine Corps air station, a naval hospital, and a few other smaller communities. Parris Island with its Marine Corps Recruit Depot is the neighbor to the south. Another fun fact: all Marine Corps recruits east of the Mississippi get sent to Parris Island for basic training, and all recruits west of the Mississippi go to San Diego.

Campground

We arrived at Green Acres Airstream and RV in the evening, and appreciated our friendly host meeting us late on a rainy day to show us where to park. Green Acres is an interesting mix of rental Airstreams, short-term RV sites, and long-term spots, with chickens and ducks roaming around, much to Bugsy’s delight. It looks like they’re rehabbing some older structures on the property to use as rentals in the future.

The campsites are narrow, and the road out front is noisy (although J disputes that), but we had a pleasant stay at Green Acres and would return. We also heard quite a lot of jet noise from the Marine Corps Air Station, but that’s not limited to Green Acres, and it’s hard to complain when it’s advertised as the Sound of Freedom.

Exploring

Beaufort’s historic downtown is ideal for exploring on foot. We opted to do this self-guided walk, since we had Bugsy with us and wanted flexibility, but there’s no shortage of tour options depending on what you’re in the mood for: we passed several guided walking tours, horse-drawn carriage tours, and golf cart tours.

The town is full of beautiful antebellum architecture like Charleston, but on a much smaller scale, and has a charming commercial zone near the river in the historic downtown. We had a lovely time moseying around, gawking at houses, admiring historical sites, and nosing into restaurants and shops.

While out and about, we noticed the Spanish Moss Trail, connecting Beaufort with the town of Port Royal at the southern tip of the island. It’s a ten-mile paved rails-to-trails multi-use path past neighborhoods and over creeks and passes quite close to Green Acres RV at one point, making it a great option for exploring Beaufort by bike from the campground. Before leaving for Hilton Head we went for a run on the trail, and it felt very safe as lots of locals were out enjoying the day. We parked at the Depot Road trailhead rather than trying to run from the campground along sidewalk-less roads.

Last but certainly not least: J had a work meeting our first morning in Beaufort, so Bugsy and I drove just minutes down the road to the free Kazoobie Kazoo Museum. The museum and gift shop are dog-friendly, the staff is enthusiastic, the displays are super neat, and some of the kazoo items for sale are just wild. We spent about twenty minutes there, sadly not being able to do the factory tour schedule-wise. Loved it! Thanks to Stephen at No Home Just Roam for the suggestion!

Eating and drinking

Food

Our first order of business after setting up the Airstream was to find a bar showing the Commanders game. J had researched this in advance and settled on Tomfoolery, which was a lively place to watch a game, with upscale pub food like fish tacos (which we both ordered, and they were yummy), about 12 minutes from the campground. Tomfoolery is in the adorable town square of Habersham, a planned community begun in 2002 with a focus on walkable streets and shared green spaces.

As we wandered around Beaufort on our second day, we stopped for lunch with Bugsy on the patio at Magnolia Cafe. The sandwiches and salads were delicious, and we sort of had a water view from our table. We took a couple cookies from their bakery home for later, and that night J declared Magnolia’s salted caramel cookie the BEST cookie he’d ever had!

Dinner #2 was carryout from Locals Raw Bar, which seemed like sort of a sushi diner. It’s small inside but looked cool and busy, and we enjoyed our assortment of fried rice, nigiri, and ginger salad at home with Bugsy. Locals Raw Bar is about fifteen minutes from the campground, across the bridge from the historic old section of Beaufort.

Beverages

Shellring Ale Works is in Point Royal, the town at the end of the island, about 15 minutes south of Green Acres. We landed there just before sunset and watching the sun go down from a picnic table in the big back yard overlooking the river was delightful. I liked my sour enough to buy some cans to go, and J liked the pale ale better than their IPA. The resident food truck’s menu appealed to us too; adding that to our to do list.

We’re always in search of a dog-friendly coffee and wifi hangout and Urban Brew + Co was perfect. It’s a cute space with lots of light and plants and local crafts for sale inside, and a big sunny patio outside. It was a short drive from the campground with easy parking. We liked it so much we grabbed breakfast there on the way home after running the Spanish Moss Trail. Yum.

To do

We researched several eateries that we didn’t have time for, so they’re on the list to check out next visit:

• Black Sheep for sandwiches: the menu looked fab at this tiny wine shop/restaurant, and it has a high Google rating, but we had Bugsy and they have no outdoor space
• Lost Local for tacos: again, no outdoor seating, but some interesting tacos (fried California roll taco?) and fun margaritas
• Revolver food truck at Shell Ring, as noted above, depending on their current menu as offerings were sparse
• Hop Dog for hot dogs–this is more for J, but they do have vegan dogs and a 4.8 rating on Google
• Old Bull Tavern, a gastropub in the historic downtown; the menu looks too heavy to me, but the cocktails look good!
• Plums for casual comfort food with a river view

After two days enjoying a lower-key lifestyle in Beaufort, we moved on to busier Hilton Head, and loved our campsite there so much we stayed an extra night!