Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway
Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway is a State Scenic Byway in South Carolina. Within South Carolina it covers roughly 5 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway runs a short five miles across James Island, South Carolina, from Folly Road out to the edge of Charleston Harbor. The two-lane road passes beneath a heavy canopy of live oaks as it crosses the island, ending near the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources' Marine Resources Research Institute on the water. Fort Johnson itself once stood near this shoreline; it was from here, at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, that a Confederate mortar crew fired the signal shot that opened the bombardment of Fort Sumter and started the Civil War. The drive is brief compared with South Carolina's other designated byways, but its tree tunnels and sudden harbor view at the end give it an outsized sense of arrival for such a short route. Managed by the Town of James Island, the byway runs through a mix of older residential streets and marsh edge, a quieter alternative to the more heavily developed roads elsewhere on the island.
- James Island, Charleston County
- 5 miles
- Folly Road to Charleston Harbor
- Fort Johnson: first shot of the Civil War
- Marine Resources Research Institute
- live oak canopy
Plan a drive on Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway
No campgrounds are listed close to Fort Johnson Road Scenic Highway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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