Written by Micaela Arnett | Photography by Ruta Smith
PROJECT FILES
A Revival on Folly Beach This Folly Beach cottage endured storms, neglect, and nearly a century of change. Today it stands rescued as a true piece of Americana.
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n Folly Beach, where new builds often replace weathered cottages, one historic home has been given a second life. Known to locals for decades as the “Coca-Cola House,” this circa-1930 property narrowly escaped demolition until homeowner Wendy Gilder partnered with Adam Copenhaver and his team at CopeGrand Homes to restore it and ensure its resilience. Built in 1929 by the McDowell family, owners of Charleston’s Coca-Cola bottling plant, the house served as a beach retreat for company executives and their families. The McDowells paid just $10 for the property at a time when Folly had fewer 156 • CH+D • Fall 2025
than a dozen homes. It originally fronted Atlantic Avenue, a sandy oceanfront road platted in the 1920s. Beach erosion, accelerated by the 1940 hurricane, swept much of Atlantic Avenue and its neighboring cottages into the sea, leaving the Coca-Cola House as one of the last surviving ties to Folly’s earliest era of residential development. When the Gilder’s purchased it, the structure was unstable, riddled with termite damage, rot, and mold. “At the time, we were doing a lot of historic restorations downtown,” Adam recalls. “I never expected to be called out to Folly Beach for a project like this, preservation just wasn’t happening here. But Wendy
Adam & Ben Copenhaver of CopeGrand Homes