Dorchester County, SC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 28-1 of the Dorchester County Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 09-13 on August 17, 2009, addresses alcohol at the county's public boat landings. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to consume beer, wine or liquor, or to possess an open container of any of those beverages, at any public boat landing in the county that is not licensed for on-premises consumption of alcoholic beverages. Subsection (b) sets the outcome for breaking that rule: a violation is a misdemeanor. The ordinance does not attach a specific dollar fine or jail term to the offense within its own text, leaving sentencing to the magistrate hearing the case.

Because the ban is written around the boat landing itself rather than public property generally, it does not reach every public space in the unincorporated county. Streets, sidewalks, courthouse grounds and county parks are governed by other Chapter 28 provisions, not this section, and a landing that is itself licensed for on-premises consumption, such as one operated alongside a licensed marina restaurant, falls outside the prohibition altogether. The Dorchester County Sheriff's Office is the enforcing agency for landings the county maintains along the Ashley and Edisto Rivers and other county waterways.

The section sits in Chapter 28, Article I, "In General," alongside separate ordinances on unreasonably loud noise and false alarm fees that were adopted independently and are not part of this alcohol rule.