Qualla: Huntington Beach State Park

Huntington Beach State Park: Introduction

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gareth Rasberry, CC BY-SA 3.0. Every autumn, enormous flocks of tree swallows gather above the salt marshes of Huntington Beach State Park, swirling in dark clouds before settling on snags silhouetted against the evening sky. Birders who know this 2,500-acre coastal preserve near Murrells Inlet in Georgetown County, South Carolina, simply call it HBSP -- shorthand traded in online forums and field guides as code for one of the Southeast coast's richest birding destinations. But the park holds more than feathers and field lists. On its grounds stands Atalaya Castle, the Moorish-style winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, and across US-17 lies Brookgreen Gardens, the sculpture park they built on former rice plantations. The birds, the beach, and the castle are all tangled together in a single story of wealth, art, and the wild Lowcountry coast.

Image: Gareth Rasberry | CC BY-SA 3.0

Huntington Beach State Park: The Huntingtons' Gift

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0. This land belonged to Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, who purchased vast tracts of Waccamaw Neck in the late 1920s for their winter compound and sculpture gardens. After Archer's death, the 2,500-acre Atlantic-facing portion of the property was leased to the state of South Caro...

Image: DogsRNice | CC BY-SA 4.0

Huntington Beach State Park: A Birder's Calendar

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fran Trudeau, CC BY 2.0. The park's mix of saltwater and freshwater marshes, beach, jetty, and maritime forest creates a patchwork of habitats that draws different species through the seasons. Winter brings ducks and waders to the marshes -- including the striking roseate spoonbill, its pink plumage unmi...

Image: Fran Trudeau | CC BY 2.0

Huntington Beach State Park: Rebuilding After Lightning

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gareth Rasberry, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the early morning hours of July 20, 2016, a lightning strike set fire to the park's Nature Center, destroying the building and killing every animal on display inside, including the live baby alligator and the saltwater touch tank inhabitants that had delighted children for yea...

Image: Gareth Rasberry | CC BY-SA 3.0

Huntington Beach State Park: Beach, Jetty, and Boardwalk

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gareth Rasberry, CC BY-SA 3.0. Huntington Beach State Park remains one of the Grand Strand's least crowded beaches -- a long stretch of sand that draws fewer visitors than the commercial strips of Myrtle Beach to the north. A rock jetty extends into the Atlantic, offering fishing and a perch for scanning the o...

Image: Gareth Rasberry | CC BY-SA 3.0