During the American Civil War, the 7-square-mile (18 km2) island served as a major staging area for troops of the Union Army that were attacking Confederate forces in the Charleston region.

When Europeans first landed on the island in the early 1600s, they discovered a Native American tribe called the Bohickets.

Folly was occupied by the Union Army in August 1863 and served as a supply depot and camp for the troops besieging the city of Charleston.

Bermudian First Sergeant Robert John Simmons of Company B of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment penned a letter from Folly Island shortly before he was mortally wounded at Fort Wagner.

My poor friend [Sergeant Peter] Vogelsang is shot through the lungs; his case is critical, but the doctor says he may probably live.

Poor good and brave Sergeant (Joseph D.) Wilson of his company [H], after killing four rebels with his bayonet, was shot through the head by the fifth one.

The General has complimented the Colonel on the gallantry and bravery of his regiment.In the summer of 1934, composer George Gershwin and author DuBose Heyward, went to Folly Island to work on their American folk opera, Porgy and Bess.

[13] The Folly Beach Public Safety and Charleston County Bomb Squad still, to this day, unearths cannonballs after bad storms, most notably Hurricane Matthew.

It is likely that these were Civil War era Union cannonballs left behind due to their close proximity to each other and the fact that none had detonated.