A Place to Visit: The Beach at Hunting Island State Park

White, low dunes. A striped lighthouse you can climb. Gentle waves, palmetto trees, pelicans hunting for fish. Miles of sandy beach. What’s not to like?

Hunting Island State Park on the Atlantic is one of the most popular state parks and beach areas in South Carolina, attracting over a million visitors annually. The pristine sandy beach, natural setting and warm Atlantic Ocean make a perfect getaway among its 5,000 acres. Hunting Island features a campground, which has spaces for RV’s and tent campers, as well as a primitive camp site for established groups. The camping area has easy access to the beach.

The park is located at the eastern tip of U.S. Highway 21, about 15 miles from downtown Beaufort and a 20-minute drive from many popular neighborhoods in the Beaufort area. It’s the primary ocean access for northern Beaufort County and, unlike commercially developed resort beaches, is a natural setting more reminiscent of a deserted isle.

The Hunting Island historic lighthouse is the state’s only lighthouse open to the public to climb. From the top platform, you get a sweeping view of the ocean, beach and the marshland.

Fishing is popular in the lagoon, in the four miles of ocean surf and from the fishing pier which reaches 1,120 feet into Fripp Inlet. Located at the pier entrance is a Nature Center with exhibits of the local wildlife and marine life. Use of the pier is free with park admission.

Along with humans who come to the beach are an array of wildlife, ranging from loggerhead sea turtles to painted buntings, barracudas to sea horses, alligators, pelicans, dolphins and deer, raccoons, Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and even the rare coral snake. What they all enjoy is five miles of beach, thousands of acres of marsh, tidal creeks and maritime forest, a saltwater lagoon and ocean inlet.

Hunting Island State Park was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal Program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The program was designed to provide employment during the Great Depression while addressing national needs in conservation and recreation.

The park’s interior has one of the state’s best examples of semi-tropical maritime forest with ancient sand dunes now dominated by such vegetation as slash pines, cabbage palmetto (the state tree) and live oak. Trails wind through the forest, perfect for hiking, running or biking.

For bird watchers, hundreds of species also are resident on or visit Hunting Island, including painted buntings, tanagers and orioles, along with pelicans, oystercatchers, skimmers and terns, herons, egrets, osprey, kingfishers and wood storks.

The park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., extended to 9 p.m. during Daylight Savings Time. Admission is $4 adults, $2.50 seniors and $1.50 for children ages 6-15. Admission is free for youngsters age five and younger.

Michael Mark of Beaufort SC has enjoyed this park for 35 years, come visit, you will want to stay!