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4.5
3,463 votes

Hunting Island State Park

2555 Sea Island Parkway, Beaufort, South Carolina 29920 USA

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Thu 12a-11:59p
  • Independent
  • Credit Cards
    Accepted
  • Pet Friendly
  • Not Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
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“Experience the History of Hunting Island!”

Hunting Island is a secluded semitropical barrier island located east of Beaufort, South Carolina, USA. 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. 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 century. As the name implies, the island was once used for hunting deer, raccoon, waterfowl and other small game. The first signs of human activity came in the 1850s when the first Hunting Island light was constructed. The original light was 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.

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Reviews of Hunting Island State Park

49 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.1 Access
4.7 Location
4.5 Cleanliness
4.1 Site Quality
4.5 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G

Confirmed by 21 users | Last reported on February 21, 2024

AT&T 4G

Confirmed by 13 users | Last reported on February 06, 2022

T-Mobile 4G/5G

Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on August 06, 2022
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Reviewed by
ktthomad1007

  • 2 Reviews
  • 3 Helpful
January 25, 2015
Rated 5.0

$2/person (cash) to go up in thepo lighthouse. Very nice, friendly staff. Beach is gorgeous. Don't forget the nature center!

3 people found this review helpful

Reviewed by
Paris

  • 12 Reviews
  • 6 Helpful
August 19, 2014
Rated 5.0

This is a small but great state park. It has restrooms and beach access. They charge per person. They do offer a senior discount but only if from SC. It doesn't say that on the sign. It looks like a lush tropical jungle driving in and out. Its very clean but rustic you can find shells and watch the dolphins feed at sunset. There is a lighthouse also but it closes at 4. We will definitely go back to this park and the beach.

2 people found this review helpful

Reviewed by
jnleavitt

  • 11 Reviews
  • 20 Helpful
September 30, 2014
Rated 4.0

The beach was nice. There's a small entrance fee to get into the park, and don't forget to stop at the visitor's center. And when you do, see if you can spot the alligator that lives in the pond just outside the building.

1 person found this review helpful

Reviewed by
Paris

  • 12 Reviews
  • 6 Helpful
August 19, 2014
Rated 5.0

I forgot to add to bring your own food and drinks as there are no local restaurants within about 30 min.

1 person found this review helpful
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Reviewed by
Campendium

January 30, 2015
Rated

This park has about 3500 acres with 4 miles of beach, which is so easy to get secluded. Good clean and quiet experience in campground. Great seafood nearby. Well stocked camp store and very nice Rangers and volunteers. Good surf fishing, free pier fishing. Deer and Racoon roaming campground. Only thing missing is full hookups, but does have dump.

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 14

Site Number: -

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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 07, 2015
Rated

We stayed here for 2 nights in a tent over Spring Break. The campground was booked to capacity, but we were able to snag a site about a week out. There are designated tent and RV sites, but we were not able to secure a tent site. Site 132 had electric and water access, but it would have been suitable for only a small camper or RV (very small!). It ended up being the perfect place to pitch a tent under the palmettos. Other sites that we saw were equally nice. Some had more privacy in the way of palms and shrubbery, while others were more open and carpeted with pine needles. Despite being full, the campground quieted down by 9:00 or so. We could even hear the ocean as we fell asleep.

Arrival at the park couldn't have been nicer. The volunteer hosts actually came out to our car to check us in and even treated our dog with a Milkbone! Customer service at its best! This campground is VERY pet friendly - we met tons of dogs and even a couple of cats. Dogs are welcome on all the trails and at the beach.

The beach was easily accessible from our site through several trails. It was well maintained and clean, but no lifeguard is present. During low tide, we were able to explore sand bars and walk about halfway around the island. We hiked several trails while visiting, one to the nearby Hunting Island Lighthouse - about 3 miles round trip.

We utilized the bath houses since we were tent camping. They were pretty old, but clean enough. The showers were hot each day with good water pressure. My only advice would be to bring some kind of gnat repellent - the bugs were a little annoying in the evenings. There didn't seem to be any great restaurants nearby, but that's understandable given the remote location.

All in all, we really enjoyed this place and can't wait to return!

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Nightly Rate: $35.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: 132

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

November 15, 2015
Rated

We have stayed here a couple of times and if you're looking for a fun campground on the ocean this is the place. The sites vary in size but most are generous. The restrooms were clean, the camp/office store was a fair size with a variety of last minute necessities and souvenirs. The first time we were there we were in the wooded section which was a very large site and felt somewhat secluded. The next time there we were closer to te beach and that site was nice as well although not quite as large but still pretty big. At night a deer showed up and we hand fed it. The bird feeder I usually put out on all camping trips is what initially attracted her. At the nature center we saw an alligator lying in wait. The park is large and the lighthouse is pretty cool as is the beach, of course. The campground was not noisy for the most part.

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3 Access
5 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
4 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 18, 2016
Rated

This is a special spot. Much of the campground is located just of the beach (find a map) with easy walking to a wide open expanse of shallow water and sand. Everyone we met there seemed to come often and was super nice. Note, all SC state parks are no *alcohol free.* If you choose to play by the rules, that is...

We went down to the lighthouse one day, the highlight of which was driving the one lane, one way dense jungle road out to it and a lagoon full of nesting egrets on the way back.

Highly recommended, *if* you can get a reservation...

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Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

May 15, 2016
Rated

We were able to score a spot facing the beach last summer a week before we arrived. I was super impressed with the entire part upon arrival. The campground hosts were super friendly and happy to answer any questions we had. The process of checking was swift and efficient.
Since this was last summer I don't remember too much about the surrounding area but I do know they have camp store that sells the basics.
The beach was dog friendly, if I remember correctly, so we had a blast walking our dog along the beach and I think he enjoyed himself too.
There is a lighthouse that you can walk to and pay a small entrance fee to go to the top.
It really is a great beachside campground that is well maintained and a joy to stay at! We hope to make it back some day.

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Nightly Rate: $30.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
- Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

October 31, 2016
Rated

We are fortunate to have Hunting Island State Park within an hours drive of us, but with that being said we have traveled far and wide and seen many campgrounds and this is still one of our favorite campgrounds we have ever camped at. We have camped here now about four or five times. We love it! I would get a seasonal site here in a minute, if they allowed that.

It has the best of both worlds, a beautiful soft sand beach and a nicely wooded state park campground. The camp store is fully stocked at all times from wood to white bread and lots of really nice souvenirs in between. We have camped in site 36 a few times - which is a really spacious corner site located very close to the camp store, entrance to the campground and a bathhouse. The bath houses are clean and well maintained, but a little old - I believe they are being renovated so that's good.

The sites vary in size and direction, it's kind of like a puzzle seeing how you can fit some campers into the sites, but with the exception of a few they are very easy to get in and out of. Some are back-ins and some are pull-thrus.

Our favorite sections of the campground are Loop 1 and 1-A since those are right on the beach side of the campground. The rest of the sites are tucked away and more wooded, but the entire campground overall is awesome. The beach is definitely within walking distance from Loop 1 and 1-A and pretty much within walking distance of the whole campground - especially biking distance from anywhere in the campground.

This campground is a real gem and will hopefully be around for a long time. It gets beat up from time to time with all the storms that come thru like Hurricane Matthew - they make a lot of effort to keep it well maintained and we hope to keep camping here for years to come. You really have to be strategic in planning a visit and book as far in advance as you can because the campground is completely full most of the time.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $25.00

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: 36

4 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
2 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Hunting Island State Park

2555 Sea Island Parkway
Beaufort, South Carolina
29920 USA
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Hours

Open 24 hours today
  • Sun - Sat: 12:00 am - 11:59 pm

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  • Check
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Check
    Wifi
  • Unavailable
    Wheelchair Accessible
  • Check
    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
State park or forest
Back In RV Sites Count
30
Last Nightly Rate
35.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
39.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
1.0
Max Length
50ft
Max Stay
14
Sites Count
102
Standard Tent Sites Count
10
  • Unavailable
    Swimming Pool
  • Unavailable
    Paved Sites
  • Check
    Fifty Amp
  • Unavailable
    Full Hookup
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    Rec Facilities
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through
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    Tent Sites
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    Dump Station
  • Unavailable
    Big Rigs
  • Unavailable
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
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    Back In RV Sites
  • Unavailable
    Boondock
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    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Unavailable
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
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    Group Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Potable Water
  • Unavailable
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Unavailable
    Pull Through RV Sites
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    Reservations
  • Unavailable
    Sewer Hookup
  • Check
    Showers
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    Sites
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    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Vehicle Wash Permitted
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    Water Hookup
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    Outdoor Seating
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