Hunting Island, about a forty-five-minute drive east of Beaufort, is the most popular state park in South Carolina and one of the very few barrier islands on the coast that has been left undeveloped. Five miles of unbroken Atlantic beach front a maritime forest of palmettoes, magnolias, and slash pines slowly losing ground to sea-level rise — fallen trees skeletons line parts of the shore.
The 1875 Hunting Island Lighthouse is the only lighthouse in South Carolina open to the public to climb. The 167-step climb up the iron staircase ends at a small platform with a 360-degree view of the islands, the marshes, and the open Atlantic. Allow most of a day if you also want to walk the beach or paddle the lagoon.