Little Blue And Driftwood Beach Hunting Island Beaufort SC

by Lisa Wooten

Title

Little Blue And Driftwood Beach Hunting Island Beaufort SC

Artist

Lisa Wooten

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

Purchased: 2020

SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: The Meandering Photographer 6/29/2023

Featured: The Meandering Photographer 6/27/2023

Featured: 1000 Views 9/19/2017

Featured: Art District 9/12/2017

Featured: Images That Excite You 2/7/2017

Featured: 500 Views 2/26/2017

Featured: Pleasing The Eye 1/4/2017

Hunting Island is a 5,000-acre (20 km2) secluded semitropical barrier island located 15 miles (24 km) 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. Renowned for its natural beauty, 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 unique beach has been featured in several travel publications and was listed in 2013 as a Top 25 beach in the United States by TripAdvisor.[3]

The Hunting Island lighthouse from beach
Contents [show]
History[edit]
Hunting 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.
In the 1930s, the island was developed into a state park by the Civilian Conservation Corps as bridges were constructed to connect the outer Sea Islands with Beaufort. Thanks to limited human development, the island remains a preserve for its abundant wildlife. Visitors enjoy more than 4 miles (6.4 km) of beach, a dense maritime forest in the interior areas, and an extensive saltwater marsh on the western side. The most notable attraction is the 19th-century lighthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While not operational, the lighthouse tower currently features a rotating light in the tower that is turned on at night.

A campsite at Hunting Island
The southern terminus of U.S. Route 21 has been on Hunting Island since 1953. US 21 extended to the south end of the island until about 1980, when erosion destroyed a portion of the highway, forcing the state to create a new entrance to the park and a set of one-lane roads through the palmetto forest. US 21 now ends at the point where it formerly veered east toward the lighthouse.
Since 1980, Hunting Island has suffered major beach erosion as a result of heavy tides from the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Saint Helena Sound, and is expected to shrink in size by ten per cent over the next forty years. At times there is ride-able surf on the island, which is best three hours before high tide due to the large continental shelf effect on incoming waves.
In 1993, most of the Vietnam scenes in Forrest Gump were filmed on Hunting Island and neighboring Fripp Island. The last cabin standing on the southern end of Hunting Island won�t be standing much longer.

�Little Blue,� once a beach cottage but now on pilings hovering over the water, will come down before the end of the year, State Park Service director Phil Gaines said Thursday. The cabin will be demolished and removed, with the work opening to bids this month.

The work will be awarded to a contractor by early October, and the cabin could be gone this fall � certainly by the end of this year, Gaines said. The pilings supporting the cottage are strong, but the salt and wind will wear down the building.

�Over time, the elements will take its toll on the structure itself,� Gaines said. �We need to address that before that happens.�

Little Blue is about 600 or 700 square feet and was built in 2003 to replace a bigger cottage lost to erosion. The newer building was placed on 35-foot pilings to stave off erosion and storms.

Charles Steinmeyer, whose mother, Sara, owns the cottage, said the family was notified earlier this year of plans to tear down the iconic building. The family considers it state property now, Steinmeyer said.

The final family outing at the cottage was for Fourth of July in 2009. Everything was out in 2010.

The only visits since have been out-of-town family who want to see what has become one of the most photographed spots in South Carolina.

Steinmeyer believes the cabin has become a liability for the state, despite some public support for keeping it around. In recent years, people have climbed the pilings to enter the cottage and have been unable to get down, he said.

This won�t be a salvage operation � Little Blue won�t be relocated. The contract will call for demolition and removal only, a tricky task when factoring in the water and tides, Gaines said.

�It�s very unfortunate � a lot of people enjoy it still,� Steinmeyer said. �But that�s their call.� Wikipedia and Google

Uploaded

November 17th, 2016

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags