Two Big Changes to Sullivan's Island in 2026

Generations of island kids have slid down the dirt hill behind Stith Park on cardboard, garbage bags, whatever was on hand. The paths are worn smooth from decades of that particular tradition, and most people who grew up here can tell you which side of the Hill sledded faster. For most of that time, the mound itself was just topography, a lump of earth with an old military past nobody thought much about day to day.

This year it stopped being just a hill. If you have walked or driven past Stith Park since early summer, you have probably noticed a new wooden structure rising near the top, visible from Middle Street. That is not a permanent addition to the island's skyline. It was never meant to be one. And it turns out to be only half the story of what actually changed here in 2026. The other half is happening a few blocks away, on a dinner plate.

A Temporary Anniversary Exhibit at Battery Capron

The hill has a name most residents already know: it was Battery Capron, an Army mortar battery built in 1898 to help defend Charleston Harbor. Back in 2016, the Town Council was already talking about doing something with it. That year, the Post and Courier reported on early proposals for the mound that included an in-ground slide, a walking trail at the top, and historical markers, floated by a local park foundation as part of a broader Stith Park improvement plan. Nothing came of it. Ten years passed with the hill unchanged, still just a place for sliding and generations of muscle memory.

The fort replica was built as part of the island's commemoration of America's 250th anniversary. The Battle of Sullivan's Island, fought on June 28, 1776, is the reason South Carolina calls itself the Palmetto State, and this year's Carolina Day marked the 250th anniversary of that fight. A regional commission called SC250 Charleston wanted a way to mark it locally, and after considering several sites, the Town Council approved Battery Capron as the location. The vote was 6-1 on February 17, 2026, and the arrangement was notable for who was paying: the fort replica itself would be built, maintained, and eventually removed entirely at SC250 Charleston's expense, with the town's own contribution estimated at roughly $20,600, mostly for infrastructure like running conduit to the top of the mound, according to reporting from Island Eye News.

Mayor Pat O'Neil acknowledged the expected increase in visitors, as Island Eye News reported:

"There's no denying there's going to be more people coming here in the next two or three years."

The temporary installation is now the island's most visible part of the commemoration.

What's Actually Up There Now

The structure itself is a partial replica of the original 1776 palmetto log fort, a cross-section built to show the scale of the fortification that famously absorbed cannonballs from the British fleet rather than splintering. The Town's own description is direct about the design choice: it uses modern materials shaped to look like the 1776 original, which is cheaper and safer to build and, just as important, easier to take down when the anniversary window closes. That is the key detail. This was never presented as a permanent monument. It is dressed like history but built like a stage set, and everyone involved has been upfront about that from the start.

Access is free, by way of a paved walking path next to Town Hall on Middle Street, with two ADA parking spots at the top of the hill for anyone who needs closer access to the exhibit itself. If you are driving over rather than walking or biking, the town points visitors to parking along Middle Street itself or at Battery Thompson, behind the Sullivan's Island Post Office.

The exhibit was the physical anchor for a summer of programming built around the anniversary. Carolina Day itself, on June 27 and 28, brought a signature commemoration to Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, with cannon and musket demonstrations, a raising of the Moultrie Flag, and a two-line shuttle system running visitors in from Mount Pleasant Town Hall and Lucy Beckham to manage the crowd the town knew was coming. The season closed out on July 4 with the return of the Independence Day fireworks show at Stith Park, live music from the Shem Creek Boogie Band starting at 6 p.m., fireworks a little after 9. Both of those events are behind us now. The fort replica is the piece that is still standing, and it is expected to remain accessible into late 2027 before it comes down, roughly 18 months from its unveiling this spring, per the town's own timeline.

Middle Street's Other Change: A James Beard Chef Took Over the Fish Camp

If the mound is the island's most visible change this year, the one locals have actually been tasting is a few doors down. As the Post and Courier reported, Sullivan's Fish Camp, the seafood restaurant at 2019 Middle Street, brought on chef Jason Stanhope as chef and partner alongside longtime owner Jeremy Graves starting in the spring of 2025. Stanhope's résumé is not a small one for a beach town kitchen: he spent 15 years at FIG in downtown Charleston, earning the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef Southeast award in 2015, and most recently ran the kitchen at Lowland before this move.

What makes the transition worth noting for anyone who already eats there regularly is how deliberately slow it has been. Rather than relaunching with a new name and a clean slate, Stanhope described the goal as building on what was already there, gradually introducing changes while the restaurant continued operating as usual. Ben Towill and Kate Towill had been behind reviving Sullivan's Fish Camp in its current form. Ben called it "a labor of love for Kate and I," as Holy City Sinner reported, framing the handoff as a continuation rather than a reinvention.

By early 2026, the reworked menu was fully in place, built around relationships Stanhope already had with Lowcountry purveyors including Abundant Seafood, Kindlewood Farms, Tarvin Seafood, and Lowcountry Shellfish. The current dinner menu runs from a Warm Buttered Lobster Roll at $39 to a Whole Crispy Flounder at $48 and a Steak Frites built on a Brasstown Butcher's ribeye at $62, alongside more casual staples like a Double Cheeseburger at $24 and a Lowcountry Boil at $36. Even the smallest details got the same gradual, respectful treatment: according to the Post and Courier, the restaurant's hush puppies were downsized from golf-ball size to "hush puppy tots," made with a stoneground heirloom cornmeal sourced from Marsh Hen Mill on nearby Edisto Island. Stanhope has described the goal as landing somewhere between the shed-style fish camps the concept is named for and a kitchen with real technique behind it, something closer to a neighborhood seafood joint than a fine dining room in board shorts.

Same Instinct, Different Address

Put the two stories side by side and a pattern shows up in how change has taken shape on the island this year. The fort replica is temporary, and Sullivan's Fish Camp's menu has evolved while the restaurant kept its name and regulars.

If you already live here, both of these are worth seeing and tasting before they settle into the island's normal rhythm, or in the fort's case, before they are gone. The hill behind Stith Park will not look like this again after 2027. The Fish Camp's new menu, on the other hand, seems built to stay exactly as long as the seafood holds up, which on this island has generally meant a long time.

If you are ever curious what any of this means for the value of your own place on the island, whether it is a Middle Street cottage or something further down toward Breach Inlet, Handsome Properties offers a free home valuation whenever you want a second opinion, no anniversary required.