South Carolina
Hunting Island State Park and Lighthouse
February 2015
Hunting Island State Park protects 5,000 acres of barrier-island landscape near Beaufort, South Carolina. The park includes five miles of Atlantic beach, maritime forest, salt marsh, a saltwater lagoon and an ocean inlet. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed the park during the 1930s, and Beaufort County donated the property to South Carolina in 1938.
Coastal erosion continually reshapes Hunting Island. As the shoreline retreats into the maritime forest, trees become exposed, topple and remain on the beach as weathered trunks and root systems. The 2015 photographs document one stage in this changing landscape.
The island’s first lighthouse was built in 1859 and destroyed during the Civil War. The present lighthouse was completed in 1875 using cast-iron sections designed to allow the tower to be dismantled and moved. Severe erosion forced its relocation 1.3 miles (2.1 km) inland in 1889. Its 167 steps lead to an observation deck overlooking the barrier island, Atlantic Ocean and surrounding marshes.
Current Context
The lighthouse closed in 2022 for structural stabilization and restoration of its stairs, metalwork, lantern room and observation deck. It reopened to the public on May 26, 2026 and remains South Carolina’s only publicly accessible lighthouse.
