Isle of Palms is a city located in South Carolina in the Charleston County. The 2000 census showed that the city has a population of 4,583. It is a barrier island that stands on the South Carolina coast. The US Census Bureau defines the city as a party of the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area.

Seewee Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the Isle of Palms. During the later part of the 19th century local Charleston County and North Carolina residents started using the Isle of Palms as a vacation spot. During that time, the island was only accessible by Ferry. The island got its current name when it was purchased by J.S. Lawrence in 1899. Prior to that, Isle of Palms was known as Long Island or Hunting Island. In 1906 a 50-room hotel was built there and in 1912 a pavilion and an amusement park was established by James Sottile. Post World War II, low cost housing was built on the island for veterans by J.C. Long. This resulted in further large scale residential development for Isle of Palms.

The island was the first destination in celebrity chef Alton Brown's coast to coast tour in his program 'Feasting on Asphalt'. In September 1989 the island was struck by Hurricane Hugo which left much of Isle of Palms flooded by the storm surge. E Lee Spencer together with Isle of Palms residents George Campsen and Wally Shaffer discovered many shipwrecks along the shores of the island. Some of the wrecks they discovered included Mary Bowers, Rattlesnake, Stonewall Jackson, Georgiana, Norsemen and Constance.