Beaufort’s history rolls by in an open-air golf cart. I love the fully narrated format and the way the guide connects major eras, including the Spanish, French, and English periods, to the Civil War and the Hollywood scenes people come for. You also get a relaxed, up-close look at antebellum homes and plantations without wrestling with traffic or parking.

My main caution: the tour is about 1 hour, so the pace is brisk. If you want extra time for photos, movie details, or deeper conversation at each stop, plan to spend a little more time exploring on your own right after.

Key things to know before you ride

Small-group golf cart setup. Max 5 people per vehicle keeps it more personal than a big bus.

Headsets help you hear clearly. Reviews highlight the headphone setup as a real quality upgrade.

Movie locations are paired with real history. Forrest Gump and The Great Santini stops are mixed into Beaufort’s 300-year timeline.

Guides add personality. Names that come up often include Kathy, Kaitlyn, KC, Mike, Gina, Penny, and Janet.

You get more than the ride. The National Park Service desk area and the Beaufort History Museum are suggested for after your tour.

Chocolate shows up. A free sample linked to the Russell Stover story is included after the tour.

A golf cart way to see Beaufort, fast and comfy

This is a one-hour, narrated tour using an 8 passenger Yamaha golf cart, with a maximum of 5 travelers per vehicle. That small-group limit matters. The route keeps moving, but you are not trapped behind a crowd, and the guide can actually notice when people are curious.

The vibe is easy and friendly. Reviews repeatedly mention that guides are warm, and that they answer questions without making you feel rushed. You can also follow along because the tour is described as fully narrated, and many guests praise the headsets for keeping audio clear during the drive.

One practical note: it is outdoors and the carts are open air. Even if it sounds sunny, Beaufort can get chilly or hot. Bring a light layer if you run cold, and in warm months, plan for sunscreen and water.

Price and value: why $38 can work well here

At $38 per person for about an hour, this is not the cheapest thing on Hilton Head Island, but it is not trying to be either. What you are paying for is guided context plus transportation, and the guide does the hard part of turning street scenes into stories you can remember.

Also, it includes a driver/guide and the cart ride itself, so you are not paying for a car rental, parking stress, or a DIY route that may miss the spots people actually talk about. If you are doing Beaufort as a side trip while staying in the Lowcountry, this is a smart way to get oriented fast before you spend your daylight wandering.

If your group loves movie trivia, you will likely feel like your money is doing two jobs at once: history plus filming locations. If your group mostly cares about movie trivia, remember the emphasis is still the town’s overall story and the hour has to cover a lot.

The Hollywood angle: Forrest Gump and The Great Santini, without turning fake

The tour is not just name-dropping movie locations. It threads Hollywood moments into Beaufort’s real landmarks, so the scenes make more sense when you see the buildings, cemeteries, and street views in person.

Expect Forrest Gump sites to come up more than once, including stops connected to the Gump Medical Center and cross-country run. The Great Santini also appears through a cemetery connection. The guide frames these as part of why Beaufort feels so filmable and why directors keep coming back.

That balance is where this tour often wins people over. One review even sums it up as seeing a mix of filming locations and history, and leaving with a clear sense of what Beaufort looks like at street level, not just from memory or a screen.

The 300-year story that ties the whole route together

The narrative starts by laying out Beaufort’s changing influences over time, from early exploration by the Spanish, French, and English through later conflicts. As the cart rolls down the streets, you are guided past gorgeous antebellum homes and plantation landscapes that shaped the town’s identity.

What I like about this approach, for your planning: it does not treat the movie locations as random trivia. It explains why the town has the kind of architecture and geography filmmakers want, and why later events, like the Civil War era, left marks that still show up in institutions and memorials.

The tour also includes references to major local storytelling. One of the stops ties in Pat Conroy stories, which gives the day a Lowcountry-literature flavor, not only a film-and-fact approach.

Beaufort National Cemetery: where major scenes meet real memory

One of the first major stops is Beaufort National Cemetery. This is where the tour’s tone turns serious in a good way. The guide connects the town’s longer timeline to how people are remembered, and then it folds in the movie layer.

You will see sites tied to The Great Santini, including where he is buried. You also get a reference to a bridge connected to Forrest Gump’s cross-country run. Even if you have not watched every version of these stories, seeing the setting helps you understand why filmmakers chose Beaufort and what the town looks like in broad daylight.

If you are the type who likes your history respectful and grounded, this stop tends to land well. It also helps you pace yourself. After this, the tour shifts back toward architecture and film scenes.

Tabernacle Baptist Church graveyard and Robert Smalls’ escape

Another stop takes you to the graveyard of Tabernacle Baptist Church, where Robert Smalls is buried with family members, including his first and second wives and a daughter. Robert Smalls is highlighted as a slave born in Beaufort who made a daring escape with the steamship The Planter.

This part of the tour is valuable because it refuses to keep history in the past tense. The guide points you toward a real person and a real act of resistance, grounded in an actual local burial site.

If you care about meaningful context, this is one of the stops you will probably remember the longest. It also works well for families, because the story is clear and the setting is easy to understand as you stand and look around.

The Arts Center, Something to Talk About, and the Julia Roberts phone moment

The tour moves from cemeteries into the town’s movie footprint, and one key location is the Center for the Arts. The guide connects it to two films shot in Beaufort: Forrest Gump, including the Gump Medical Center, and Something to Talk About.

For Something to Talk About, the tour points to the school setting at the end of the movie where Julia Roberts appears. It is not just trivia. The guide ties the scene choices back to how Beaufort looks on camera, and why these specific buildings could stand in for broader story worlds.

After that, you pass a building that is now a bookstore and was used in a scene where Julia Roberts confirms by phone with her best friend that Dennis Quaid’s character is sleeping with women in her Savannah Women’s Club. It is a very specific detail, and that specificity is exactly why this tour feels fun for movie fans.

If you are hoping for a slow, scene-by-scene movie reenactment, this is still a one-hour tour. But if you want the movie places pointed out so you can later connect the memory to a real building, you’ll be satisfied.

Churches and balconies: the 1712 Church of England and Lafayette’s farewell

Beaufort has layers of architecture, and this tour picks a few that help you see those layers quickly.

You will stop at a Church of England built in 1712. The guide notes it is the fourth building on the property now and that it is open for docent-led tours after your tour ends. This is the kind of detail that matters because it turns your one-hour experience into a start point for a longer visit later.

Another standout is the John Mark Verdier House, built in 1804. The guide shares that Marquis de Lafayette gave his farewell to America speech from the top floor balcony here in 1825. That balcony detail is the sort of thing you would never guess by looking at the outside, which is why a narrated tour is worth it.

Like the church, the house is described as open for tours after your tour wraps, Monday to Saturday.

Forrest Gump chocolates, Russell Stover, and the practical fun stuff

Yes, chocolate is part of the tour. You will stop for the story behind a Russell Stover box of chocolates that Forrest Gump had on a park bench in Savannah. The guide points out that the chocolate inside was Chocolate Tree chocolate.

Then, after the tour, you get to stop by for a free chocolate Sand Dollar sample. It is small, but it is memorable, and it gives you a reason to linger for a minute rather than treat the experience like a drive-through.

For anyone traveling with kids or movie lovers, this kind of practical fun keeps the hour from feeling like a textbook. For adults, it adds a light note right when you might otherwise be thinking, OK, we saw a lot, now what.

National Park Service downtown HQ and the Reconstruction Era story

A big theme connecting many Beaufort landmarks is the Reconstruction Era. The tour points out the National Park Service downtown headquarters and explains that it is elevated to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park.

Here is the smart part for your planning: you are told you can enter after the tour to learn more about Reconstruction and why Beaufort was an ideal place for studying that era. That means the guide is not only passing you along. You leave with a clear next step.

If you like museums and interpretive displays, set aside a little time after the cart ride. Even a short stop in the museum area can deepen the morning or afternoon you just had.

Beaufort History Museum and the best way to use your remaining time

The route also points out where the Beaufort History Museum is located, inside the Beaufort/Port Royal Convention Visitors Bureau on Craven Street. Along the way, you are told about shopping and restaurants as you pass by.

This matters because one-hour tours are often just a sampler. The best ones help you decide what to do next. After this tour, you are well positioned to pick your own lane, whether that is architecture, local history artifacts, or simply walking the streets the cart showed you.

If you go later in the day, you can use the tour as your daylight map. It helps you spot what you want to see up close without guessing.

Timing tips: departures through the day and how to dress

The tour lists several departures throughout the day, and it is commonly booked about 13 days in advance. If you have a specific day you want Beaufort, book early so you get the time slot that fits your pace.

Dress for weather and comfort. Since the golf cart is open air, bring what you would bring for a walk in town. If it is hot, use sun protection. One review specifically notes water was provided on a hot day, which is a nice touch, but you should still plan to be comfortable.

Also, one review mentioned a bit of confusion about the meeting point due to construction, but they found the guide. If you are arriving from out of town, give yourself a little extra time to locate the correct pickup at 1006 Bay St.

Guides make the difference, and the names keep popping up

When people rave about a tour, it is usually the guide. Here, many guests call out specific guide names and praise how friendly and informative they were.

Kathy, Kaitlyn, KC, Mike, Gina, Penny, and Janet are all mentioned in glowing terms. You can also see a common theme in the comments: the guides seem to enjoy sharing Beaufort, and they handle questions with confidence. If you get one of the guides people talk about most, you likely will feel like the hour flies by.

If you like tours that feel personal, this is one more reason to choose this format. Small carts help, but the guide still drives the experience.

So, should you book the Beaufort history and movie golf cart tour?

I think this is a strong choice if you want a high-impact orientation to Beaufort in just an hour. It is especially worth it for movie fans of Forrest Gump and The Great Santini who also want the story behind the settings. The pairing of cemeteries, architecture, and film locations gives you more to take home than a standard walk.

You might choose something else if your group wants lots of time for photos, deep movie scene breakdowns, or slower stops. A few people noted the tour can feel quick, so go in expecting a fast, organized overview, not a linger-and-stare experience.

If your schedule allows, do the tour first, then extend the day on your own at places the guide points you toward, like the National Park Service area or the Beaufort History Museum.

FAQ

How long is the History and Movie Tour of Beaufort by Golf Cart?

The tour is about 1 hour.

What does the tour cost?

It costs $38.00 per person.

Where does the tour start?

The tour starts at 1006 Bay St, Beaufort, SC 29902, USA, and it ends back at the meeting point.

What language is the tour offered in?

The tour is offered in English.

What size group rides in each vehicle?

The tour lists a maximum of 5 travelers per vehicle.

What is included in the tour?

It includes a driver/guide and transport by an 8 passenger Yamaha golf cart.

Is there a mobile ticket?

Yes, the tour uses a mobile ticket.

Is the tour affected by weather?

Yes. The experience requires good weather. If it is canceled due to poor weather, you are offered a different date or a full refund.

What is the cancellation policy?

Free cancellation is available, and you must cancel at least 24 hours in advance for a full refund. If you cancel within 24 hours, the amount paid is not refunded.