Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2018

64 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestOfMP.com feature .SullivansIsland i . | .SullivansIslandHomes.com B illy Simmons recalls a time when he could count the cars that passed by in a day from his vantage point behind the counter of Simmons Seafood, the family business (started in 1947) on Ben Sawyer Boulevard. He laughs and admits that after counting the cars, what kind of cars, what color cars, he’d occasionally prop himself up and take a nap and be startled awake when someone came in. That was the early 1970s. Though the seafood retail shop has since moved to Isle of Palms, the Simmons family built a dynasty on much of Shem Creek in those early years. Today, if you’ve ever enjoyed a drink or a meal along the west side of the creek, or the east side from the bridge to the far end of Red’s, gassed up at the fuel dock or walked the docks watching the dolphins and pelicans, you have the Simmons family to thank. Simmons and his son, Bubba, own, manage and lease many of the docks and properties lining the harbor side of the Shem Creek bridge. Though Mount Pleasant has had its fair share of growing pains, Simmons sees the silver lining. “I lived in it back then when it was small, but the only way you can progress and be a good city is to invest in it,” he grinned. Photo by Thomas Runion. 64 .M t l agazine.co | .I n le .c | . t f .