They moved this South Carolina lighthouse piece by piece, and it still stands proud

It’s the state’s most visited park

Hunting Island sits off the coast near Beaufort, South Carolina, and over a million people show up every year. That makes it the most visited state park in the state, but you wouldn’t know it from the look of the place.

This 5,000-acre barrier island is one of the few undeveloped Sea Islands left in the Lowcountry. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the original park infrastructure in the 1930s, and not much has changed since.

The wildlife and the forest got to keep the island mostly to themselves, and what you find here feels closer to wild than park.

Hunters gave it a name, then the CCC saved it

The island got its name the old-fashioned way. It served as a hunting preserve for years, and the name stuck.

Before the 1930s, you could only reach it by boat.

Bridges finally connected the outer Sea Islands to Beaufort during the New Deal era, and the CCC came in to build roads, shelters, and basic facilities. The park opened in 1935.

Because so little was ever constructed beyond those early projects, the island kept its forests, marshes, and shoreline intact through the decades that followed.

Four miles of beach wrap around the island

About four to five miles of beach stretch around Hunting Island.

The sand runs fine and light, and it pulls in swimmers, shell collectors, and people who just want to sit. North Beach is where most of the action is, with restrooms, showers, and picnic spots within walking distance.

If you want quiet, head to South Beach. Fewer people make it down there, and the shoreline feels wilder.

Shorebirds and seabirds use both stretches for feeding, nesting, and resting during migration.

Climb 167 iron steps inside the only open lighthouse

The Hunting Island Lighthouse is the only one in South Carolina you can actually walk into and climb. The original went up in 1859, and Confederate forces destroyed it during the Civil War.

The replacement came in 1875, built with cast-iron sections designed to come apart like a puzzle.

That feature saved it in 1889 when beach erosion forced crews to disassemble the whole tower and move it 1.3 miles inland.

It stands 136 feet tall, and 167 cast-iron steps take you to an observation deck with views across the Atlantic and the Lowcountry marshes. It sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

A $3 million fix brought the tower back to life

Engineers found cracks and corrosion in the cast-iron stairs in early 2022, and the lighthouse shut down.

What followed was a $3 million restoration that covered the lantern room, windows, decks, rails, and the entire stair system. Workers installed new braces designed to match the historic cast iron.

They also removed the Fresnel lens, restored it with a marine-grade stainless steel frame, and built a new ADA-accessible display area for it on the ground level.

The work wrapped up and the lighthouse cleared for reopening in 2026.

Dead trees turn the shoreline into a ghost forest

Coastal erosion keeps pulling the maritime forest toward the sea, and when the trees fall, they stay. Sun-bleached trunks and massive root systems lie scattered across the sand, forming what people call Boneyard Beach.

The whole scene looks like something from another century.

Photographers crowd in at sunrise and low tide, when the light and the wet sand turn the dead wood into reflections.

A boneyard section sits south of South Beach, and it shifts and changes shape as the island keeps eroding.

Palmettos grow straight to the sand line

Step past the park entrance and the canopy closes over the road.

Towering palmettos, live oaks draped in Spanish moss, and magnolias pack the island’s interior across thousands of acres of dense maritime forest.

Full-size palmettos grow right up to the beach, and the effect gives the whole place a thick, almost jungle-like feel. Visitors say the drive in feels like crossing into another world.

Boardwalks wind through the trees and deliver you from deep forest shade straight out onto the open sand.

Eight miles of trail run through forest and marsh

More than eight miles of interconnected trails cut through the island, and each one shows you a different side of it.

The Lagoon Trail runs 1.4 miles through maritime forest with views of the water and the birds that work it. The Maritime Forest Trail goes two miles deep into the interior, where deer, raccoons, owls, and hawks live.

The Diamondback Rattlesnake Trail stretches 1.9 miles and suits experienced hikers and mountain bikers.

The Marsh Boardwalk Trail, a designated National Recreation Trail, ends at a platform over the salt marsh where people gather for sunsets.

A dredged lagoon now has seahorses and barracuda

Sand dredging in 1968 carved a two-mile-long saltwater lagoon through the island’s interior. Over the decades, nature took it back.

Seahorses, barracuda, and hundreds of bird species now call it home.

Near the south end, the Nature Center keeps live animals and runs exhibits about the park’s habitats. From there, you can walk to the fishing pier, which extends 950 feet into Fripp Inlet.

You don’t need a license to cast a line, and the views of the marsh and the marine life below the rails make it worth the walk even if you don’t fish.

Loggerhead mothers lay 100 eggs at a time here

Hunting Island’s beaches double as nesting grounds for loggerhead sea turtles, a federally threatened species.

Females come ashore from mid-May through October, mostly at night, and each one lays about 100 to 160 eggs per nest. A single female may nest four to seven times in one season.

The Friends of Hunting Island volunteer group holds a permit from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to locate and protect nests.

Volunteers walk the beach every morning during nesting season. You can pitch in through the Adopt a Nest program.

Painted buntings show up alongside dolphins and gators

The mix of beach, forest, marsh, and lagoon packs an unusual range of wildlife into one park. White-tailed deer, alligators, raccoons, minks, and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes move through the land.

Hundreds of bird species live here or pass through, including herons, egrets, wood storks, pelicans, and oystercatchers. Dolphins surface regularly off the shoreline and near the fishing pier.

The painted bunting, a small songbird with feathers in red, blue, and green, is one of the island’s prized summer arrivals.

Ted Turner kept this second island untouched for 40 years

Hunting Island also manages St. Phillips Island, a 4,680-acre barrier island you can only reach by boat. Conservationist Ted Turner owned it for nearly 40 years and blocked all development.

South Carolina bought it in 2017 and opened it to the public. It holds a National Natural Landmark designation, one of only six in the state.

Naturalist-led boat tours leave from the Hunting Island area and include a ride along the Story River, a tram through the forest, and time on the beach.

Alligators, loggerhead turtles, bobcats, bald eagles, and painted buntings all live on the island.

Explore Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina

You can reach Hunting Island by driving U.S. Route 21 east from Beaufort until the road ends at the park. The gate is open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours to 9 p.m. during daylight saving time.

Admission runs $5 per adult, and kids 15 and under get in free.

Check the official South Carolina State Parks website before you go for the latest on the lighthouse status, St. Phillips Island tour availability, and any seasonal closures. The park fills up fast on summer weekends, so arrive early.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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