Hunting Island State Park

Hunting Island is a 5000acre secluded semitropical barrier island located east of Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. Since 1935, it has been classified as a state park. It is the most-visited state park facility in South Carolina and is a part of the ACE Basin estuarine reserve area. Known for its natural environment, the island remains one of the few remaining undeveloped Sea Islands in the Lowcountry. The park is known for its 19th century lighthouse which bears its name. The park's beach has been featured in several travel publications and was listed in 2013 as a Top 25 beach in the United States by TripAdvisor.HistoryHunting Island retains its colonial designation of the "Hunting Islands," which served as hunting preserves for Lowcountry planters and elite in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hunting Island light was constructed in the 1850s and soon thereafter destroyed by Confederate forces in the early days of the Civil War. Ten years after the Civil War ended the lighthouse was rebuilt, and later relocated to its current position. The 1893 Sea Islands hurricane swept Hunting Island and other nearby Sea Islands clean, but the lighthouse survived.