By Delayna Earley
The Island News
LADY’S ISLAND – The City of Beaufort held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their newest park on Friday, April 21, 2023.
Whitehall Park, which officially opened in March, is a 10-acre park on Lady’s Island that has a walking trail and boardwalk that connects the park to downtown Beaufort and Woods Memorial Bridge.
“I call this park ‘The Connector,’” said Beaufort County Council Member York Glover, Sr. “It connects the Spanish Moss Trail to Hunting Island. You may not see that now, but this here is essential to that elconnectivity.”
Glover continued to say that the county has a plan for pathways all over Beaufort County, and Whitehall Park is the connector in the middle of Yemassee and Hunting Island.
Eight of the 10 acres in the park are devoted to a nature preserve area, and it is part of the 20-acre Whitehall neighborhood development that is expected to have town homes, single-family homes, garden cottages and large river homes once it is all built.
“Beaufort County has purchased this property for you,” Glover said.
The City of Beaufort has partnered with Beaufort County regarding the Whitehall property.
The county owns the property, but the City of Beaufort is going to manage it.
Any expense of maintaining the property will be the responsibility of the City of Beaufort as well, according to Glover.
The park is pet friendly and has picnic tables, benches, restrooms, lighting along the walking path, a shelter, large open green spaces, beautiful live oak trees and a fantastic view of the Beaufort River.
“This park will outlive all of us,” Beaufort mayor Stephen Murray said, “and my grandkids, and maybe great-grandkids will crab from that dock and kick a ball in this park.”
Whitehall Park is open daily from dawn until dusk.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She spent six years as a videographer and photographer for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette before leaving the Lowcountry in 2018. After freelancing in Myrtle Beach and Virginia, she joined The Island News when she moved back to Beaufort in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
