Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Folly Beach was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1960.
The Folly Beach post office opened in 1923, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1938.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Folly Beach is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
South Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Carolina town has 3.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Folly Beach’s 47.4 sits above most of its state (78% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Folly Beach’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Folly Beach.
The Folly North Site (38CH1213) and Secessionville Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Folly Beach. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Folly Beach.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Folly Beach’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,137 and 2,617 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Folly Beach’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Folly Beach itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Folly Beach’s post office has been open since 1923.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Folly Beach post office opened in 1923, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1938.
Folly Beach is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Secessionville Historic District (listed 1979).
3% of Folly Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1990.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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