We visited Charleston in November 2024 as part of our two-week Carolinas in November trip. Read about our first trip in 2017 here.

This visit was very different from the first time we took the Airstream to Charleston in 2017! Then we focused on touristy stuff in the historic district; this trip we didn’t much feel like dealing with city parking and traffic so mostly stuck closer to home. Plus, there was a special event at our campground!

We hadn’t planned on returning to Charleston this trip, but a work meeting for J in NYC threw a wrench into our plans and flying out of Charleston was his best option. We had to get a bit creative to pull it off, but it all went swimmingly.

Campground

We stayed at James Island County Park, as we did for part of our 2017 stay. It’s absolutely wonderful, one of my favorite campgrounds, and everyone agrees–it’s very hard to get a reservation there. We were lucky to be able to grab a spot late in the game, but could only get a single night.

James Island County Park is enormous–650 acres–with a 124-site full-hookup campground, five miles of trails, boat and bike rentals, fishing areas, playgrounds, a dog park, a spray pad, picnic areas, a disc golf course, a climbing wall… you name it, they’ve got it. The campground is tucked away to the side and is surprisingly peaceful while being full of friendly activity. The campground has a camp store and offers shuttles into Charleston and to Folly Beach.

The highlight of our stay this trip was a sneak peek of the Holiday Festival of Lights that takes over the park from mid-November through the end of the year. For two nights before the festival opens to the public, the county holds a two-mile fun run/walk through the over 200 light displays, and campers got free admission.

Dogs are welcome–although it’s a lot of chaos for a dog to handle, I was very proud of Bugsy–and tables along the way had special treats for both dogs and humans. It was AWESOME.

One last useful tidbit about this campground: checkout is at 11:00. If you, like me, need a spot to stash your trailer between checkout and leaving town (Bugsy and the Airstream and I were due to meet J’s taxi from the airport west of town at 5:00, but we wanted to go adventuring in the meantime), there’s a big overflow parking lot near the tent camping area that was a stress-free and safe-seeming place to drop it off.

Exploring

After we set up the Airstream at James Island, we all piled back into the car to take J to the airport, and then Bugsy and I proceeded to cram as much fun into our 30 hours as possible.

The one activity we did in downtown Charleston was to stroll through the grounds of College of Charleston, the oldest university in South Carolina. We chose this destination for two reasons: it’s a beautiful campus; and I wanted to send a photo of Bugsy in front of a pretty college building to our favorite C of C alumni, our super Atlanta cousins. We parked in a pay lot near campus and were in and out in less than an hour.

Our next stop was Charles Towne Landing, the birthplace of South Carolina, where English settlers first landed in 1670. It’s a lovely park with dog-friendly trails winding through trees and meadows and past historic displays.

The next morning, after we dropped the Airstream in the overflow lot at the county park, Bugsy and I drove fifteen minutes down to Folly Beach. Even on a dreary November day the town had a fun beachy vibe, and the beach is dog-friendly from October 1 to April 30–except dogs aren’t allowed on the pier, or at Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve. The beach is wide with packed sand and perfect for walking. We can’t wait to take J next time we’re in Charleston!

Eating and drinking

Bugsy and I missed J, and so in his honor we visited three breweries for tiny tastes. Frothy Beard has a taproom just a few mins away from Charles Towne Landing, so after our walk we relaxed for a bit on their large dog-friendly patio. I had sips of two kettle sours, one tangerine and one cranberry, and they were nice and tart. The pizza smells from the kitchen were goooood.

We enjoyed Charles Towne Fermentory our first time Airstreaming to Charleston, and their new location on James Island is only ten minutes from the campground! I tasted their guava mango pineapple lime sour while Bugsy sat beside me in the big dog-friendly warehouse, and liked it so much that I bought some cans to take to Beaufort, our next stop.

Revelry Brewing was another brewery we enjoyed in 2017, and they have a new taproom in Folly Beach. Bugsy and I couldn’t resist taking a break in their very cool patio space sampling a tasty passion fruit sour.

I wanted to pick up carryout before going home for the holiday lights festival fun walk thing, and I’d recently read a travel magazine article that mentioned Caribbean roti, so I had roti on the brain. Searching Google, I first came upon Roti Rolls food truck which sounds like the best thing ever invented, but it seems they only come around for special events. I managed to find roti close to home at Taste of the Islands; it was a massive and flavorful meal, but I had to deconstruct it before eating because the shrimps were wrapped up with their tails on.

Finally, because I was flying solo, I required dessert. LB Sweets and Treats is a charming bakery on the way home to James Island, and everything in the display case looked so good… but there was a key lime pie tart starting at me, so obviously that’s what I got. If you’ve been here a while, you know my feelings on key lime pie. I ended up saving it to share with J, and will report on it next post, because he had some feelings.

For next time: I want to check out the businesses in the Avondale neighborhood of Charleston. It’s not terribly far from James Island, and looked really neat when I drove through. And, a friend recommended 167 Oyster Bar in downtown Charleston.

After Bugsy and I were done adventuring, we picked up the Airstream and drove up to the designated meeting point, Citadel Mall, to wait for J. I had no idea when I picked Citadel Mall that it was a filming location for The Righteous Gemstones and we randomly stumbled upon the prayer center!!!

J arrived mostly on time from the airport, and we were off to Beaufort!