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McKevlin's Surf Shop is the longest established surf shop in South Carolina and one of the oldest on the entire East Coast.

The 60's

The shop was begun in 1965 by Dennis McKevlin and his eldest son, Ted, who was one of the area's pioneer surfers. Their first location in Folly Beach, SC occupied a 9'x30' dusky storage room of the Folly Bowling Center. In the shop's earliest days, blocks of wax were hand-cut from huge squares of paraffin found at the local Rodenberg's Supermarket. Surfboards(all over 9' in length) and snacks (considerably smaller in size) rounded out the inventory. That's all! In those relatively primitive days, the luxuries of leashes, traction pads, board bags, and thirty-three flavors of boardshorts were nowhere to be found. Much later, these types of profit-laden products would entice several other less core shops to open their doors.

McKevlin's quickly outgrew their overgrown closet and moved to 4 Center Street converting a driveway and an old liquor store into the new surf shop. At this time some of the most sought after accessories included Slipcheck (an abrasive spray on traction), t-shirts with wrap-around floral bands, and Maltese cross necklaces. Feeling the need to spread the surfing joy, in 1967 McKevlin's opened a second shop in Sullivan's Island, SC just north of Charleston. The following year, yet another was opened on the Isle of Palms just a few miles away. Too many, too soon - despite the Isle of Palms shop having no running water and no heat, the McKevlins chose to close the Sullivans Island shop - two shops were plenty.

Commissioner Hutto, Rusty Miller,
Dennis McKevlin (1967)

Politics, Politics
As the early seventies approached, McKevlin's was called on to lead in a considerably different arena. This time the platform was a political jungle . Surfing was considered an oddity and not very well accepted or respected by the populace. Apparently, fear of the unknown motivated certain political bullies to rally to either ban surfing or regulate surfers into a too-tiny and over restricted area.

Dennis McKevlin began attending City Council meetings and singularly spoke out as the Surfer's Voice. Using the shop as organization central, he revealed to surfers and parents what the politicians were attempting. Finally, frustrated with the Council's lack of concern for all but their personal wants, "Mr. Mac" campaigned for and won a seat on Council. He then occupied his watchdog status there for ten years protecting not only surfers but also other potential targeted groups from unfair decisions.

Finally, after the surfing issue was taken to Federal Court in 1976 Folly Beach Council surrendered and returned the very best surfing areas to the surfers.

In an ironic twist the City of Folly Beach presented Dennis McKevlin with a Citizen of the year Award in 1994. The Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) had preceded them in 1992 by creating the Dennis J. McKevlin Award now given annually to an individual or group for Outstanding Support of Surfing.