You can rent an entire SC island that belonged to Ted Turner. Here’s what it will cost
For those who want to socially distance like a media mogul, there’s a unique opportunity on the coast of South Carolina.
Ted Turner’s former private retreat, St. Phillips Island in northern Beaufort County, is now available to book for a week or more at a time from the State Park Service. Depending on visitors’ budgets, the five-bedroom, 3,500 square-foot home on the water can rented for $12,000 for a five-night stay while public tours of the island continue or $20,000 for the right to a private island.
The stay includes bicycles, kayaks, golf carts for beach access, a fishing pier and miles on hiking trails on the ancient dunes of the island. A pool table and game room, flatscreen televisions and hammock on a large, screened porch are among the amenities.
A great room with a soaring ceiling includes curio cabinets with books on S.C. history, local birds, Gullah culture and beach novels. A plaque on the fireplace marks St. Phillips as a national natural landmark.
Turner sold what was the largest privately owned island on the S.C. coast to the state at the end of 2017 for $4.9 million. State park officials envisioned the remote getaway as a complement to nearby Hunting Island State Park — and another source of revenue as intense storms forced numerous closures at the park. Hunting Island attracts more than 1 million visitors each year.
For those looking for day trips to St. Phillips, the state offers tours of the island through Coastal Expeditions. The naturalist-led tours take off by boat from Hunting Island.
Along the way passengers learn about the unique estuary, including thousands of acres of oyster rakes, and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. A guide might opt to point out birds like a roseate spoonbill or American oystercatcher.
On the island, a Native American shell mound is proof the island was inhabited long before Turner bought the property in 1979. Visitors might see alligators, white-tailed deer, fox squirrels and woodpeckers.
There’s a freshwater pond, grand native magnolia and bubblegum lichen that visitors will learn is a sign of high air quality. Visitors can use their time by combing the beach or hiking trails before a tram returns them to the boat back to Hunting Island.
Coastal Expeditions launches day-trip tours twice a day on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Cost is $45 for adults and $25 for children 12 and younger.
