"The Nature Center Marsh Boardwalk is closed to the public due to ongoing construction in the area." That one line sits in the advisory box at the top of the Huntington Beach State Park homepage, and it gives no reopening date.
For anyone at True Blue, Huntington Beach is the state park just up Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet. The line "closed" has been posted at that spot for a long time. The new part is the word "construction." Once you know how the project got here, the closure matters less in the cold months. The ducks, loons and sandpipers the park lists for winter mostly show up at two other spots it maintains, the causeway and the north-end jetty.
A 1991 boardwalk, a storm, and a long wait for a bid
The state's own paperwork tells the story. A 2024 Joint Bond Review Committee agenda describes a boardwalk built in 1991 with about 5,700 square feet of decking. It lists roughly 1.1 million visitors a year. Hurricane Ian destroyed sections of decking, handrails and support beams, and the structure was "deemed unsafe and is closed to the public." Later, another storm took out the far end of the boardwalk, overlook included.
Here's how the project has moved since then:
- May 2023. Phase I approval, with the project estimated at $500,000.
- August 2023. Phase II approval, estimated at $806,361.84.
- June 2024. A budget increase brings the full project estimate to $1,223,299. That covers the larger damaged section, the lost overlook and a new roof over the wildlife viewing area.
- The 2024 forecast. The agenda expected a contract to be signed in September 2024 and construction to wrap up in July 2025.
- January 2026. South Carolina Parks, Recreation & Tourism issues a formal invitation for bids, with a pre-bid conference at the park's Nature Center on January 30.
- February 11, 2026. Bids due.
Bids due in February 2026 mean that July 2025 target came and went. By now the park describes the boardwalk as an active construction zone. The SCPRT construction bids page still lists "Huntington Beach Boardwalk Replacement" as a project out for bid, so no public timeline has replaced the old forecast yet. Until the park posts a date, the reopening is unannounced.
What the paperwork says about the new boardwalk
The plan is a full replacement, not a patch job. The 2024 project summary calls for removing the damaged boardwalk and building a new one in its place, on the same footprint. The 2026 bid invitation describes it as "Replacement of the existing boardwalk damaged during Hurricane Ian." Chao & Associates, Inc. is the architect and engineer.
The money comes from several pots. The $1,223,299 estimate breaks down as $344,036 in FEMA funds, $300,000 from the state's Insurance Reserve, $114,679 in FEMA match and $464,584 in park revenue. Park revenue means the admission, camping, lodging and program fees collected across the state park system. So part of what you pay at the gate helps rebuild this boardwalk.
Two details are still open. The bid invitation gives a construction cost range of $850,000 to $900,000. That figure measures construction alone. The $1.22 million is a full project budget, so the two numbers don't line up directly. And the 2024 agenda says the state was "in negotiations with FEMA on possibly raising the height of the boardwalk," with length and width unchanged. Whether the new deck will sit higher won't be clear until it's built.
The winter birds are mostly on the causeway and the jetty
The park's birding page calls winter a particularly productive season. The first spot it sends birders to is the causeway, the road into the park with Mullet Pond's freshwater marsh on one side and the Murrells Inlet salt marsh on the other.
Two habitats along one stretch of road give the causeway a long winter list. The park names these species:
- Ducks and divers. Blue-winged and green-winged teal, wigeon, canvasback, ruddy duck, ring-necked duck, bufflehead, plus both hooded and red-breasted mergansers.
- Raptors. Bald eagle.
The north-end jetty is the park's other winter hotspot. It's a 1.2-mile walk from the north parking lot, and the park lists common and red-throated loons, horned grebe, purple sandpiper and razorbill there. Black guillemot is on the list too. Piping plover turns up on the beach along the way.
The park's trail list includes the 2-mile Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail, an out-and-back through maritime forest, and suggests continuing north along the beach to reach the jetty for a longer outing. For a short outing, there's the 0.3-mile Kerrigan Nature Trail.
None of these spots depends on the boardwalk. The marsh view from the boardwalk is a real loss, but the birds the park highlights for the cold months are on open water, pond edges and rocks the public can still reach.
Wednesdays at 10 at the causeway lot
The causeway is also where the guided walks start. Waccamaw Audubon runs a free bird walk at Huntington Beach every Wednesday, year-round, meeting at the Causeway Parking Lot at 10 a.m. The park runs its own Coastal Birding program on Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m. through December 31, 2026, at the same lot. The park's September and October program sheet describes it as a one-hour search for wading birds, shorebirds and waterfowl, and calls it great for beginners. The listing doesn't give a program fee, so check when you sign up.
The first Wednesday after this post goes up is October 28. The park's program has about ten Wednesday sessions left before its listed December 31 end date, and those weeks are when wintering ducks fill in.
The Nature Center is open, and timing matters
Closing the boardwalk didn't close the building. The Nature Center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with exhibits on local marine life, birding and alligators. The park itself is open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily once daylight saving time ends, and Atalaya keeps 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours.
Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for South Carolina seniors and $4 for ages 6 to 15. Children 5 and under get in free. Atalaya adds $2 per person for ages 6 and up. The park warns that weekends and holidays can bring temporary closures when parking fills up. It asks visitors to arrive outside the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. peak. On a Saturday, that makes an early start at the jetty or a late-afternoon pass along the causeway the easiest visit.
Two more dates are coming up at the park. On Friday, October 23, the evening program "Creatures of the Night" runs 7 to 8:30 p.m. The Atalaya Sleepover is set for November 14 and 15.
Brookgreen has its own bird mornings
If you want a guided bird morning with breakfast, Brookgreen Gardens, across the highway, holds "Breakfast with the Birds" on Tuesday, October 27 and Tuesday, November 10. Registration opens two weeks before each date, and participants must be at least 12. Combine one of those Tuesdays with a Wednesday causeway walk at Huntington Beach and you get two guided birding mornings at two different sites in one week while the boardwalk is closed.
When the park posts a reopening date for the Marsh Boardwalk, we'll pass it along. Our team follows these Waccamaw Neck updates because we use these places too, and if you're thinking about a home within an easy drive of the causeway lot, Taylor Keenan can help. Start your Lowcountry search and contact our team today.
