Folly Beach: Megalodon Tooth Rockhounding in Charleston County, South Carolina

Plan your visit

Generally open to casual rockhounding

County

Charleston County

State

South Carolina

Nearest road

West Arctic Avenue

Postcode

29439

Coordinates

32.65216, -79.94473

Coordinates are approximate. Confirm the exact ground in the RockHoundR app, where land overlays show which agency manages the area.

Land & collecting status

Generally open to casual rockhounding

Most public-tagged spots sit on BLM, U.S. Forest Service, or other federal land where reasonable hand collecting of common rocks and minerals is allowed. Confirm posted rules and active mining claims before you dig.

Access note: Fully public beach with marked access points and paid parking. Surface collecting of loose shark teeth above the low-water mark is legal and needs no permit. Low tide near the Washout on the east end is the prime window. No digging into the beach.

Public-land rules vary by agency, season, and field office. The RockHoundR app pulls live BLM, USFS, NPS, and tribal overlays so you can see exactly which agency manages the ground at this spot.

Best time to visit Folly Beach

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Conditions here are workable year-round, with typical highs from 58°F in winter to 88°F in summer.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, DWTN CHARLESTON station (9 mi away).

Geology at Folly Beach

This spot sits on Beach, mapped as sand and gravel that formed within roughly the last 12,000 years. Loose deposits like these are float-collecting ground: erosion keeps moving durable rocks and minerals into gravel bars, cutbanks, and washes.

Mapped unit

Beach

Age

< 1 Ma (Holocene)

Rock types

sand and gravel

Elevation

0 ft

Geologic mapping via Macrostrat and the underlying state geological survey maps (CC BY 4.0). Bedrock at the surface can vary within a mapped unit.

Sources & verification

Spot details combine the public RockHoundR location dataset, normalized mineral labels, agency land-status checks in the app, and community submissions. Coordinates are approximate until verified in the field.

• South Carolina Geological Survey
• South Carolina State Parks rules
• Sumter and Francis Marion National Forests
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules