Turn onto Folly Field Road beside the new Carrabba's Italian Grill on William Hilton Parkway, between Palmetto Dunes Plantation and Port Royal Plantation, and you will pass flower-named streets that could belong to any middle-class town in America. This is Folly Field, another of Hilton Head's oldest neighborhoods.
The first sign of renovation is in the lack of pavement on those first few streets you pass on the left-hand side; in preparation for new, smoother roadways, these streets are temporarily dirt roads. A few seconds more, and you pass the soon-to-be elite neighborhood of Sandcastles by the Sea, located on a massive spread of land formerly used as a driving range. Villa complexes and more single-family houses line Folly Field Road all the way to the beach, where you begin to see larger homes typical of Hilton Head's luxury reputation.
Formerly one of the island's oldest residential areas, Folly Field is undergoing vast remodeling and updating to become a major attraction as one of Hilton Head's premier vacation destinations for residents, beach-seeking families, and high-end vacationers.
Near Folly Field Beach and the Islander's Beach Park, which allows permit parking, this neighborhood contains playgrounds, picnic areas, and a boardwalk to the beach. Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort is also located here, as well as the still-under-development Sandcastles by the Sea community.
The Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort, under direction of Clint Van Aswegen, is located entirely in the Folly Field neighborhood. 10 lighted, hard-surfaced courts are available for matches and/or lessons. |