Beefield Community
Beefield is one of a number of James Island communities founded after the Civil War by formerly enslaved African Americans. It was originally known as the Bee Tract, an approx. 150-acre lot of high land with an eastern edge that roughly followed what became Folly Road. It was owned by the family of Horace and Sarah Rivers who in 1872 sold it to eight Black families for $1,951.
Beefield’s founders included members of the Green, Richardson, Prioleau, Hazard, Bryan, Brown, Fraser, and Bachman families. They established it as a rural farming community with land being passed down and subdivided over the generations. Children from Beefield attended Society Corner School. Descendants of Beefield’s founders continue to be among local property owners and residents.
Where it stands. Old Folly Beach Rd. and Folly Rd., James Island, James Island