3 Best Sights in Edisto Island, Charleston

This 1,255-acre park includes a 1½-mile-long beachfront with some of the area's best shelling, marshland, and tidal rivers as well as a lush maritime forest with 7 miles of trails running through it. Trails are hard-packed shell sand, suitable for bikes and wheelchairs. The park's Environmental Learning Center features animal exhibits and a touch tank, and a small ranger station has fishing poles to lend and firewood for sale. Pets on leashes are allowed. This is an excellent jumping-off point for exploring the natural history of Edisto Island and the surrounding ACE Basin.

This fabled attraction, run by a pair of brothers, features an indoor atrium of snakes from around the world, plus a meandering outdoor garden with sprawling habitats for snakes, turtles, and alligators. Educational programs and alligator feedings enrich the experience, and kids love the gift shop.

Driving down Highway 174, look out for a giant red roadside chair that welcomes folks to stop for a photo op and a trip inside a vintage-style grocery selling the mill's stone-ground cornmeal and grits (which you'll find served in many a fine Charleston restaurant, including owner Greg Johnsman's own King Street breakfast joint, Millers All Day). A 1945 grits separator presides over one side of the store; ask for a demo if you'd like to see it in action. Don't leave without some fresh produce from the family farm and homemade cornmeal donuts. Crafts by area artists, cookbooks, and other gifts round out the offerings.