By Mike McCombs
If you haven’t said it out loud before, say it with me – Hunting Island is Beaufort’s jewel.
Whenever someone from out of town asks, “What should I absolutely see while I’m in Beaufort?” the answer almost invariably includes Hunting Island. It might be the only site in northern Beaufort County able to say that.
Whether it’s to use one of the more than 100 campsites or to visit the lighthouse or to walk or bike the trails or to use the fishing pier or to watch birds or to take advantage of its undeveloped and uncrowded beaches – no matter why they come, the number of visitors, from near and far, to visit Hunting Island State Park over the course of a year numbers more than a million.
It’s one of, if not the most popular and most profitable of all the South Carolina State Parks. And believe it or not, it just got even better.
Less than two weeks ago – Tuesday, Sept. 26 to be exact – the ribbon was cut on the renovated Nature Center, spearheaded by the Friends of Hunting Island (FOHI) and supported through their donations and local Accommodations Taxes.
“It’s amazing,” said Linda Miller, President of FOHI. “The spirit, the energy, the people, all of the people, the VIPs, the senior leadership of the State Parks, the Rangers, the kids, the FOHI board, the volunteers … they have all been amazing.”
The Nature Center, located at the fishing pier on the southern end of the island, features local Gullah artwork; animal exhibits housing alligators, turtles, and snakes; and a variety of artifacts and displays interpreting the area’s history, natural environment, and wildlife.
The finished product is highly educational and visually stunning. And it all started with an underused meeting room and some crayon drawings.
“We actually had our board meetings in here,” former Park Manager Brandon Goff said. “Initially, this room was just for classes. It wasn’t really even open to the public. We might open it up if we had a class come through, a school group or something like that.”
Goff said discussions started between the park staff and FOHI about how to better use that space.
“We tossed around the idea, ‘How can we make this better?’” he said. “And that’s really where it started. How can we make Hunting Island better?”
As he talked with Miller and FOHI Construction Director Randal Brown in September 2022, Goff began to envision what he wanted the Nature Center to look like. So he drew it out for them … in crayon.
“I tossed an idea out there, and they needed to see a picture,” he said. “And I sketched it with my son’s crayons. And you go from that to this.”
Apparently, the crayon sketches were impressive enough. They had a plan.
Beaufort City Council supported the project through a $30,000 state Accommodations Tax grant, and FOHI’s Board of Directors more than double-matched that, providing $75,000 for the project. Brown began work in March 2023.
As the project moved along, Miller credits Brown for bringing the idea to life.
“I have to say, without him this could never have happened,” Miller said.
Goff wouldn’t remain at Hunting Island long enough to see the project to completion. He took the Park Manager position at Ramsey Grove in Georgetown County, a historic plantation soon to be a state park.
“The opportunity to build a park from the ground up, that’s once in five careers that you get an opportunity to do that,” Goff said. “I would not have left Hunting Island State Park for any other park in the state.”
A longtime acquaintance of Goff, Zabo McCants took the position of Park Manager in May. He stepped into the role and quickly grasped the vision Goff and Miller had for the project.
“Linda referred to me as the closer, and I’m happy to be the closer,” McCants said.
As the project reached the home stretch, there was one wall left in the Nature Center that had not yet been accounted for. Miller called Luana Graves Sellars, founder of Lowcountry Gullah, a website-based source of information documenting the stories and the traditions of the Gullah Geechee people.
“I was really honored when Linda approached me to help create the interpretive (wall) of Gullah information, really starting with the definition of what the Gullah Geechee are and going through some of the traditional aspects and the connection to Hunting Island,” Sellars said.
A stunning visual, the background on the wall is a photo by longtime Post And Courier photographer Wade Spees of two men casting nets from a boat. The smaller panels give information about Gullah Geechee traditions and their ties to the island and the area around it.
“The beauty and the magnitude of … the picture and the way that it speaks was just perfect for the wall that size,” Sellars said, “and then all of the individual panels tell the different stories, using the art to bring a richness to those stories and that information.”
“I’m partial to this wall,” Miller said. “(It) was really a good thing to do for the island, for St. Helena and for the Gullah Geechee community.”
There was a crowd for the ribbon cutting Sept. 26. Dozens and dozens of people admired the vision of Goff and Miller and the work of Sellars, Spees and artist Sonja Griffin Evans on the walls and in the faces of staff members and volunteers present who had taken part in the project.
“The biggest enjoyment was seeing the kids from Hobbit Hill and their experience,” McCants said. “You pull one of our reptiles out … and people they flock to it. It’s something that not everybody gets to do. It becomes an experience and a memory that will last forever.”
Goff credits Miller and the nearly 1,500 members of FOHI for the project’s success.
“Linda was the driving force that kept this entire project going,” Goff said. “This is an example of what the Friends of Hunting Island can do anytime they’re involved with any project. If they’re involved in a project and they decide that they’re going to support it and take a part in it, this is what you get.
State Rep. Shannon Erickson (R-124) summed things up in remarks just before the ribbon cutting.
“When a community decides what they want to do with a space, and has all the support from the top to the bottom, middle, and sides – everywhere – this is what you get. And it doesn’t get any better than what’s right here. This place is honoring our past, it is embracing our present, and it is planning and educating for the future. Our environment is key to who we are as Lowcountry citizens.”
Mike McCombs is the editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
