Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina - May 17th to 21st, 2023
Huntington Beach State Park has a wide variety of activities both inside the park and in the surrounding area. As the name suggests, there is nice beach, but also plenty of wildlife, including alligators, along with a historic residence. Across the highway is Brookgreen Gardens and plenty of restaurants are a short drive away.
Wednesday was another long drive for us, another five and a half hours of driving time. This time it was from Roger and Bonnie’s house in North Carolina to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. Friends of ours, Brian and Patty, own a condo next to Huntington Beach, so we had made plans to meet up with them. We haven’t seen Patty and Brian in over thirty years. It is so much fun catching up with old friends.
It was about dinner time when we arrived at Huntington Beach State Park. We checked in, checked out our campsite, then drove over to our friends’ condo for the evening. On the drive into the state park, you go through a swampy area which looked like it was full of alligators. It was raining when we arrived, so we had to check that out later.
By the time we got to the condo, the rain had stopped. We sat out on their condo balcony, enjoying a drink and the view of the beach before heading out for dinner. They took us to a local favorite of theirs, Pawleys Island Tavern, otherwise known as The PIT. Dollar bills covered the walls, in several layers. Fried shrimp, burgers and pizza filled our bellies while wonderful conversations filled our hearts.
It was cool and rainy most of Thursday. There was a short break in the rain in the morning, so Ann took advantage of it and went for a walk with her camera. She took both of the trails in the campground that led over to the beach. The trails were just as interesting as the beach itself. They started out in the woods, then crossed a marshy area and the dunes before reaching the beach. There were signs warning that alligators were in the area, but Ann didn’t see any there. She did see a great blue heron and a great egret. Ann did not venture out onto the beach because she wanted to walk over to the swampy area we drove through on the way to the campground, where we had spotted several alligators.
It was not a far walk from the campground and yes, there were alligators. But there were also a large number of quite a variety of birds. There were anhingas, egrets, herons, little shore birds, and spoonbills. Ann was taking a video of an alligator and zoomed in on its head. Then the alligator quickly opened its mouth to snag a fish and Ann jumped. Alligators normally lie so still and motionless that the sudden movement startled her. We’ll see if we can salvage some of the video.
In the afternoon, Patty and Brian picked us up and we spent the rest of the day in their condo, out of the rain. The time flew by as we continued sharing stories with each other. Patty cooked us a wonderful meal for dinner. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the campground for the night.
Friday morning, we went for a walk around the state park. We walked up to the Atalaya Castle. It looked interesting, so we paid our $2 per person entry fee to check out the inside. Atalaya Castle was the winter home of Archer and Anna Huntington, built in the early 1930’s. Being an authority on Spanish Culture, Archer designed the house in the Moorish style. He also designed Brookgreen Gardens, located across the road from Huntington Beach State Park. The gardens were intended to show off some of Anna’s sculptures. She was a well-known sculptor and liked to sculpt animals. The rooms surrounding several inner courtyards including both an outdoor and an indoor studio for Anna to work in. Since she liked to use live models, they also had animal enclosures for dogs, horses, bears, monkeys, and a leopard. Beautiful wrought iron grills, which Anna designed, protected all the windows from hurricanes. In 1960, the property was leased to the state of South Carolina for free, which is what became Huntington Beach State Park (Atalaya Castle History).
From the castle, we followed the Atalaya Straight Road, which was a continuation of the arched pathway that ran down the center of the castle. The road was probably the main entrance to the house, but it is now a nice walking path that goes between Mullet Pond and Mallard Pond. We believe it was also the original entrance to Huntington Beach State Park. The ponds were full of birds and alligators. The other side of Mullet Pond is where Ann visited the morning before.
After lunch back at Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO), we went back over to Brian and Patty’s condo. From there, we enjoyed a nice leisurely walk on the beach, as we continued our wonderful conversations. We made it all the way to the edge of the state park, about a mile down the beach, before turning around.
For dinner, our friends drove us over to the Murrells Inlet Marsh Walk, which is a waterfront boardwalk lined with restaurants, with many of them having live music, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. It was a loud and lively place. We ate at the Dead Dog Saloon. Although the noise level made it hard to carry on a conversation, we still managed and had a lovely time.
We spent most of Saturday at the Brookgreen Gardens, just across the highway from Huntington State Park. The main part of the gardens was only about three miles from our campsite. However, we needed to cross a busy, four lane, divided highway to get there. We almost drove over there, but then we were concerned about what the parking would be like. Riding our bikes over was an option, but for some reason, we felt dashing across the highway on foot was safer than trying to start up on a bike, even with a class 2 e-bike with a throttle. Without having to worry about manipulating a bike, it seemed like we had more control. So we walked over.
To get there, we walked over to the Atalaya Castle and headed up Atalaya Road, which led straight for the gardens. Unfortunately, when we got close to the highway, we discovered you cannot exit the state park there. Fences and locked gates were in our way. Luckily, we didn’t have to go all the way back to the castle to get around to the park entrance. There was a road that cut over to the main park road. So we only went about three quarters of a mile out of our way, instead of well over a mile.
We didn’t wait too long to get across the highway, but did feel like we were taking our life in our own hands. The median allowed us to only cross two lanes at a time. We waited for a gap in the heavy traffic which was traveling at 55 mph or more, then we ran across, feeling like we were part of a game of Frogger.
Not far from the highway along the Brookgreen Gardens road is a small parking area and the Gardener’s Cottage where we could buy our tickets. The price was $22 per adult, but our campground tag gave us a $2 discount per person. Friendly staff was there with maps. Upon learning it was our first time there, a staff member spent the time giving us a nice overview of the place. At first she told us to drive about a mile down the road and park in the main parking lot. She was shocked to learn we were walking, but then showed us a short cut along a trail for part of the way which would save us some distance.
The man checking tickets at the entrance gate a little further down the road was also surprised when he saw us walking in. You know it’s a long walk from here, right? Yes, we like to walk. However, even with the short cut, it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get from our camp site to the Courtyard Cafe in the Lowcountry area, a distance of almost four miles. Since it was then noon, the first thing we did was have lunch at the cafe. Ann had a chicken salad sandwich while Keith had the pulled pork.
The reason we started in the Lowcountry area of the gardens was that we learned the Butterfly House closed at 2 pm, so we decided to start there. It’s a small butterfly house, but Ann always loves the chance to photograph lots of butterflies. To get over to the Butterfly House, we walked along the Lowcountry Trail. Along the trail were informational signs and historical sites about the rice plantation and slavery that was originally there.
After Ann got her fill of butterflies, we strolled over to the main sculpture gardens. Although the plants and flowers were nice, they were not the main attraction. It seemed their purpose was to provide a lovely setting for all of the sculptures.
There were a lot of sculptures by Anna Huntington, but there were also a large number from other sculptors in a variety of styles. We wandered the grounds for a couple of hours. Around every corner, something else interesting would come into view which would draw us in.
We ended up at the Old Kitchen which was a little snack bar near the Live Oak Allee. After a couple of refreshing drinks and ice cream novelties, we started the trek back to the campground. Since we didn’t make a detour like on the way over earlier, we made it back covering only 3.2 miles, but it still took us over an hour. However, part of that time was due to Ann stopping to take pictures of the alligators along the state park road. In total that day, we covered ten miles.
When we got back to Red Tail, we ended up using our own shower in our rig. We try to use the campground showers as often as possible, when they are decent. However, all the showers were taken and there was a line of people waiting. It was the weekend and everyone was trying to clean up before dinner, including us.
The evening was a repeat of the previous evenings. We went over to Brian and Patty’s condo for dinks out on their balcony, with a view of the ocean, before heading out for dinner. This time we went to J Peters Pawleys Island. The food was good, but the conversations were even better.
Sunday was a driving day, but our next location was only about a two hour drive away. So we stayed in Huntington Beach State Park in the morning to check out more of the park. Our first stop was the Nature Center. Inside were some nice displays along with a few aquariums. There was even a tank where kids could touch some fish and a small sting ray.
Behind the Nature Center was a boardwalk out into the marsh. We could only walk out about halfway because the rest of the boardwalk had been damaged by Hurricane Ian the previous fall. There was a misty rain every now and then, but it was warm enough out that we didn’t mind.
Across the road was the trailhead for the Sandpiper Pond Trail. It was only a mile long, so we hit the trail with our rain jackets in tow. However, we forgot, yet again, to grab insect repellent. We hadn’t had any issues with bugs the whole time we were at Huntington Beach, until the Sandpiper Pond Trail. It was buggy. We were swatting insects from around our heads the whole way. It made the one mile seem much longer.
The trail was mainly a walk through the woods, with a few views of the pond. About the only point of interest was the Octopus Tree. The southern live oak tree survived being pushed over on its side and its branches grew up from the horizontal trunk. It looks like its tangle of branches are rising up from the sand.
At the end of the trail is the North Beach Access trail at a picnic area. After walking over to the beach to take one last look at the Atlantic Ocean, we decided to head back to the Nature Center via the road instead of the trail. There were less bugs on the road, as it was wider with a light breeze. That was our last visit to the Atlantic Ocean for the season, but we will be back to visit the Gulf of Mexico some more.
Before hitting the road, we ate our lunch inside Red Tail while still parked at the Nature Center. Then we were off.
Despite being in a rather populated area, we really enjoyed the state park. The park felt remote, with all of its wildlife, but with the added benefit of nearby attractions and restaurants. Of course, the best part of our visit was spending time with wonderful friends. Thank you, Brian and Patty, for your lovely hospitality.
Check out our related video: Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina
(Ann)