2 weeks Ago
Grab your towel, beach chair and sunscreen and head to the beach to catch some rays. You could go fishing in the surf or on a charter boat, or take your own boat out on the water. There’s biking or hiking, too.
If golf is your thing, there’s plenty of courses to choose from. Camping — why not? Want to check out art and nature and critters, history and culture? All these things are close by in Murrells Inlet, which is in the northern part of Georgetown County. And you can cap off a busy day or week in “The Seafood Capital of South Carolina” by visiting any of the plentiful seafood markets or restaurants along both Business 17 or Bypass 17 (U.
S. Highway 17). Many of the dining places are on the MarshWalk, a half-mile wooden boardwalk along the edges of the marsh in Murrells Inlet.
The restaurant offerings include Bovine’s, The Claw House, Creek Ratz, Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack’s, Wahoo’s Fish House and Wicked Tuna, according to the S.C. Hammock Coast.
Seafood and wide varieties of other food items are often accompanied by music on scheduled nights that you can enjoy during or after your seafood dinner. DJs and bands are features in many of the restaurants. Out on the water Among the other top-notch attractions in the area are many boating and fishing opportunities.
If you have your own boat, of course, you can put it in at Morse Landing Park at 4925 U.S. Highway 17 Business in Murrells Inlet.
There are also commercial marinas in Murrells Inlet and Garden City Beach that people may use. Personal watercraft and paddle-boarding are also popular. Georgetown County maintains a number of public beach access points along its part of the Garden City Beach/Murrells Inlet area.
Just inside Horry County is the Garden City Pier that people are welcome to visit and enjoy some fishing. Several marinas offer fishing trips and boat tours. You may rent watercraft, paddleboards, or take a fishing charter inshore or offshore.
There are tour boats, cruises, head boats and party boats and parasailing. ‘Castle’ in the sand, gardens and sculptures A little south of the Murrells Inlet area are two major attractions not only for Georgetown County but for South Carolina. One is Brookgreen Gardens that was established in 1931 by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington.
The other is Huntington Beach State Park. The couple set up a private not-for-profit corporation to operate Brookgreen Gardens, which they had established. Altogether, Brookgreen Gardens encompasses about 9,100 acres.
That figure includes Huntington Beach State Park. That oceanside park takes in 2,500 acres. Huntington Beach State Park Plenty of activities and amenities are available at this coastal nature preserve — oceanfront swimming, three miles of beach, campsites for RVs, campers and tents, a park store and what many people call Atalaya Castle.
While it’s not really a castle, Atalaya — which means Watch Tower — was the home and the studio for the Huntingtons. Anna Hyatt Huntington was a well-known sculptor. Parts of Atalaya were used for her studios.
They also had areas where animals could be housed so they were available as models for her artworks. Currently, Huntington is the only fully open state park in Georgetown County. Programs and events include birding, tours and info on turtles, snakes and reptiles, kayaking and gators.
"The park's causeway offers a wonderful vantage point to observe both the salt marsh and a managed brackish water impoundment where it is possible to see most species of wading birds found in South Carolina as well as alligators," said Mike Walker, a 30-year veteran park ranger. "Two hours on either side of low tide in the salt marsh provides the greatest diversity of birds." Huntington Beach has logged over 300 species of birds.
Some of them include painted buntings, which arrive between the first and second week in April and stay until the fall, and bubblegum pink spoonbills, which arrive later in spring. "They're a sight to behold," Walker said. Much more information about Huntington Beach State Park and Atalaya is available on the park’s website: southcarolinaparks.
com/huntington-beach . Georgetown County is on the way to adding two more state parks. The Black River Water Trail and Park Network runs along the Black River from near Kingstree to Georgetown County’s Rocky Point Community Forest.
Rocky Point’s 660 acres is part of the network. Ramsey Grove is also situated on the Black River, about 10 miles north of Georgetown. It includes about 2,600 acres.
Brookgreen Gardens Across U.S. Highway 17 from Huntington Beach State Park is the bulk of Brookgreen Gardens.
At the entrance is a large sculpture of the fighting stallions. It has long been one of the most photographed objects in South Carolina. Brookgreen Gardens contains what may be the world’s largest collection of outdoor statuary.
Not only are many of Anna Hyatt Huntington’s sculptures on display, but also works by many other artists. There are multiple areas of the gardens. Sculptures, fountains, plenty of flowers, shrubs and trees, walking paths and the Lowcountry Trail provide views of natural and man-made beauty.
The Lowcountry Zoo and Lowcountry Center tell much about the area’s history, including the Gullah Geechee culture. Other displays provide beauty and showcase talent by a variety of artists. Their works help people learn more about the flora and fauna of the Lowcountry.
There is a Lowcountry Education Center with many programs. Among the programs, there are regular series about the Gullah Geechee culture of the descendants of enslaved Africans who provided the skill and the labor that made Georgetown County the wealthiest county in the United States in the years before the Civil War. The website for Brookgreen Gardens has much information about admission fees, memberships, programs and the many exhibits that are on display.
Sandy Island Bordering on parts of Brookgreen Gardens along the Waccamaw River, and on the western side, the Great Pee Dee River, is the 12,000-acre Sandy Island. About 9,000 acres of the island are part of the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge. The land is owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed by the Waccamaw refuge.
Towards the southern end of Sandy Island is a community of between 50 and 100 people who are generations-long residents of Sandy Island. They are descendants of the formerly enslaved people who first bought some of the land in the years immediately following the end of the Civil War. There is no bridge to Sandy Island.
Residents and visitors must arrive by boat. Reporter Nicole Ziege contributed to this report..
