Sandy Island is one of the most interesting communities in the Gullah Geechee Corridor. To start, it is one of two communities that are only reachable by boat in South Carolina, since there is not a bridge connecting it to the mainland. In fact, Sandy Island is the only community in the state that has a school bus boat for its students.
Around 1954, older students began using a bus boat in order to go to high school on the mainland and were transported to the landing at Brookgreen. This boat became the first school boat in South Carolina. Students who attended school on the mainland either went to Howard High School in Georgetown or Whittemore High School in Conway.
As time went on, the need for the bus became more prominent when the Supreme Court ordered desegregation in 1966. Due to financial pressures from the government, South Carolina closed smaller schools, like the one on Sandy Island who had “inadequate facilities.” This forced all of the island’s students to attend schools on the mainland and pushed the county of Georgetown to purchase a larger replacement boat for transportation.
The original school bus boat purchased by the county was named Prince Washington. The boat got its name from Prince Washington, who was an influential member of the Sandy Island community because he helped bring necessities, like electricity, to the area around the time of 1965. Prince Washington was actually the great-great-grandson of the community’s founder, Phillip Washington.
Since its establishment, the Department of Education continued to do annual maintenance and repairs over the years to ensure that it was safe for students to travel on. However, by 2015, the boat had become outdated and needed to be replaced. That year, the Georgetown County Board of Education replaced the vessel with a newer, more modern boat. The community named it the New Prince Washington. Since then, it has been used like its predecessor, transporting children to the mainland for school. The old boat, the Prince Washington, is now used for tours of Sandy Island.
Photo of the first named school bus boat. Named Prince Washington after the founder’s great-great-grandson, Prince Washington, who was influential in bringing necessities to Sandy Island in 1965. Since its retirement from student transportation in 2015, the boat has been used for tours. Guests are simultaneously able to enjoy the beautiful view while also enjoying an inspirational part of the community’s history.
This image shows the inside of the New Prince Washington. It features life jackets for the safety of its occupants and provides a place to sit in transit to the mainland.
Photo of the New Prince Washington. This boat replaced the Prince Washington in 2015 and is the only school bus boat in South Carolina.