Hunting Island Beach Ranks As One Of America’s Best

The top 10 winners in the category Best State Park are as follows:

1. Letchworth State Park – N.Y.
2. Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park – Mich.
3. Watkins Glen State Park – N.Y.
4. Ha Ha Tonka State Park – Mo.
5. Devil’s Lake State Park – Wis.
6. Fall Creek Falls State Park – Tenn.
7. Indiana Dunes State Park – Ind.
8. Assateague State Park – Md.
9. Custer State Park – S.D.
10. Hunting Island State Park – S.C.

A panel of experts picked the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Fred Lochner (America’s State Parks), Anna Hider (Roadtrippers), Karen Catchpole and Eric Mohl (Trans-Americas Journey), Mike Wendland (Roadtreking) and Diana Gerstacker (The Active Times) were chosen based on their extensive expertise in American travel and state parks.

Hunting Island, South Carolina’s most visited state park, attracts more than a million visitors each year. Many of them come to enjoy the 5 miles of pristine sandy beach, others to tour the only publicly accessible lighthouse in the state and still others to fish the saltwater lagoon or from the beach fishing pier. In the summer months, loggerhead sea turtles come to nest in Hunting Island State Park.

Hunting Island Beach was also just named one of the “Best Family Beaches” in the country. This is a State Park and South Carolina has chosen to maintain the beach in a natural state which gives the visitor a perspective which cannot be found on any beach on the east coast. There is a lighthouse to tour and a fully forested entry to the park where parts of the movie Forest Gump was filmed. It is a wonderful experience for the entire family and is located just 20 minutes from Pinckney Retreat.

Video of Hunting Island State Park

This footage of Hunting Island Beach was provided by Kyle Hodges. Eat, Sleep, Play Beaufort posted this on their Facebook page.

The contest was promoted on 10Best and USA TODAY. Click HERE to view information on all of the winners.