Edisto Beach State Park Campground

Beautiful campground - unfriendliest welcome ever

We love Edisto and although we have not camped at the campground, we did visit the state park. We loved the park but Beware of Unfriendlies. We did not know that the fee listed in the e-mail ad we received and on the website was for SC residents only. Even when we stopped by the local vegetable market to inquire as to the location of Botany Bay and State Park - we were told it was $5. We rented a house on Big Bay - a little distance from the state park, and decided ot go out to the beach for a couple of hours and wanted to go to the state park as we had heard good things about it. My daughter-in-law was driving and she and my granddaughter live in SC - so SC license tag. However, my mother-in-law and I are NC residents and when we saw the posted sign we made that known to the attendant. The attendant wanted our driver's license and was very unfriendly when we told her we did not have them, we only our beach gear with us. She told us we couldn't get in w/o our identification showing our ages. We told her we would pay the out-of-state fee and that my mother-in-law was 75 (and looks it). She was even more unfriendly and told us my mother-in-law had to also have her id to get the senior discount rate. We had to drive back to the house we were renting - 5+ miles away and get more money (as we were short about $2 - going by what the ad we had seen on the internet showed as the fee) and then drove back. She then did not want to take my mother-in-laws id as her picture on her driver's license was very faded - due for renewal, but still visible to anyone that really looked. The attendant was the most unfriendly person I have ever met and I wanted to report her but didn't want to make a scene with my granddaughter. Her attitude took a lot of the fun out of what started out as an adventure for us. We went to the public beach just the other side of the rock barrier on the following day, and were just as satisfied. This happened last August, and maybe someone did complain and hopefully she will not spoil another day for foreigners from another state.

Unique Quality: The beach was beautiful, the visit - after the initial "welcome" - was very enjoyable. The price was TOO expensive for the 2 hours we were there. However, if we were going back and spend the day, it would be worth it to have the bathrooms and grills. We did not use the bathroom or campground facilities, so can not speak as to their cleanliness.