This state park was #2 on our list for the Beaver Winter Break 2022 Road Trip. For Stop #1 (Little Pee Dee SP), click here.
To start off with, Tiffany and I are not necessarily beach people. To put it in perspective, our older daughter Teagan is 7, and she had never seen the coast of her own state. She saw it once in Mississippi and once in Spain, but never here. Neither of us grew up frequenting the beach, and we much prefer visiting the mountains.
But when you’re on a quest to visit all the state parks, and four of the parks are on the coast, then you have a reason to go to the coast.
And we’re so glad we went.
Huntington Beach is in Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach on the Grand Strand. The state park is home to some marshland, a maritime forest, the beach (of course), and Atalaya Castle.
Atalaya Castle was a residence of Archer and Anna Huntington (the namesakes of the park). Archer was the son of the Huntington for whom Huntington, West Virginia is named (a wealthy family, to say the least). Anna was a sculptor who liked to create sculptures of animals (even having live peacocks, dogs, and bears at the home).
While I knew that Atalaya was built in the Moorish style (common in southern Spain), I didn’t know that the Huntingtons had any other connection to the Spanish-speaking world. (I’m a Spanish teacher, so anything like this interests me.) I was surprised to find out that Archer was the founder of the Hispanic Society of America, and he did other things such as translating the poem of El Cid (Spanish hero) into English.
When we arrived at the state park, we proceeded immediately to Atalaya for a tour. After that, we checked out the beach for a bit. The water, for the first time in all my times of visiting the SC coast, was clear! I’d never seen it this color before. I finally had to admit that perhaps it is true that SC has great beaches.
I realized while here that this is one of the only times I can remember visiting the SC coast where there was forest right up to the beach. It really made me think about how the land used to be before European contact, the Native Americans living in these woods, hunting and fishing each day to provide for their families.
At the Nature Center, Teagan enjoyed a program called ‘Spineless Wonders’, learning about the many invertebrates in the ocean. Afterwards, we enjoyed a walk on the boardwalk into the marsh, seeing an oyster reef and a pelican, before heading to our condo.
It was a great trip, and I’d gladly return some time. What about you? What about the beach attracts you to it?
Click here for Part 3 of our tour!
Beavers in the Park 