Huntington Beach State Park


I visited this park a few times while at Myrtle Beach.  My cousin lives in Murrell's Inlet a nice little town.

 

  

The park has a causeway out to it where you can see all kinds of birds.

Besides the beatiful beach and wildlife.  It was the winter home of industrialist and philanthropist Archer M. Huntington and his wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington known as Atalaya Castle.

The living quarters consist of 30 rooms around three sides of the perimeter. The one-story brick building is dominated by a square tower that rises nearly 40 feet from a covered walkway that bisects the inner court. It is functional in design, having contained a 3,OOO-gallon cypress water tank. Water drawn from an artesian well was pumped into a 10,000gallon concrete cistern where the sand settled out. From there, it was pumped into the tower tank. The height of this tank gave the water enough pressure to flow through the house. The covered walkway of open brickwork is lined with archways and planters on both sides. Living facilities, including the dining room, sun room, library and bedrooms, occupied the ocean side of the house. The southern wing housed Mr. Huntington's spacious study, his secretary's office and Mrs. Huntington's studio. The studio, with a 2S-foot skylight, opened onto a small enclosed courtyard where she worked on her sculptures. Mrs. Huntington enjoyed sculpting from live animals therefore facilities such as horse stables, a dog kennel and a bear pen were included in the construction.
Heating was done entirely by coal room heaters and wood fireplaces. Ramps, instead of stairs, lead from the courtyards up to each entry door and wood was hauled in by small carts. Grillwork, designed by Anna, and shutters were installed on each window to protect against hurricane winds.
The Huntingtons returned to Atalaya after the war for their usual stay in 1946 and 1947. These were the last years they used their home.
After Mr. Huntington's death in 1955, most of the furnishings from the house were sent to the Huntington home in New York City. The equipment from Mrs. Huntington's studio was transferred to the new studio at Brookgreen Gardens. The 2,500-acre tract including Atalaya was leased to the state by the Brookgreen Trustees in 1960. Mrs. Huntington died at her Connecticut home in 1973.

I leave Huntington Beach to head to Hunting Island and Edisto Island to decide which one I will stay at for the next month.  I then get a call from Ronnie at Jekyll Island Campground inquiring if I would like to come work cleaning the Bath Houses 4 days a week in exchange for a site.  Let me think about it - OK!  I tell him I can only afford to do it for 3 months.