Hurricane Matthew closed Hunting Island’s iconic pier. Its $1M replacement just opened
A 950-foot-long fishing pier at one of South Carolina’s most popular state parks, partially destroyed by Hurricane Matthew and closed for five years, has reopened, restoring an important public access to the Atlantic Ocean.
The pier at Hunting Island State Park, 15 miles east of Beaufort, is, in effect, a sidewalk that extends three football fields from shore. It offers visitors front row access to great fishing, wildlife viewing and solitude.
When Matthew made landfall in South Carolina in October 2016, it caused extensive damage to Hunting Island, including the pier, making it unsafe and prompting its closure.
“We’ve been waiting for this to open,” said Brian Gilfedder of Beaufort, who was fishing on the pier with his wife, Mary Lou, on a recent sunny afternoon.
The new pier, the Gilfedders said, is wonderful. Their comments echoed those of others who were fishing or just sitting on a bench, drinking in the ocean, last week, when feeding dolphins thrashed in the shallows nearby.
“When it was closed, we couldn’t fish,” John Freeman said.
Freeman, a St. Helena Island resident who lives at Eddings Point, said he’s been fishing from the pier for years. He’s pleased to be back.
“Whiting or flounder,” said Freeman, as he placed a 13- to 14-inch whiting into a cooler, “that’s good eating.”
From the pier, visitors can see waves rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean onto the barrier island. Also visible from the pier: Fripp Island and “Little Hunting Island,” the product of a hurricane that breached a lagoon, cutting the beach in two.
More than a million residents visit Hunting Island State Park and its five miles of beaches each year, putting it among the top two most popular parks in South Carolina, Park Manager Brandon Goff said. The park has been a fixture since the 1930s, meaning generations of families have been coming here for nearly a century.
The pier has been around since the 1980s. Public access for fishing drives its popularity. Goff said people come out to wet a line and make memories.
Greeting visitors with a friendly, “How y’all doing today?” Goff ticked off additional reasons to love the pier: “Sunrises, sunsets, the view, the breeze.”
Hurricane Matthew blew the pier’s end off and sections of its decking, leaving it in “rough shape,” Goff said.
Repairs, which included new pilings and replacement decking, began in May.
The pier was scheduled for completion next month but reopened early, on Sept. 18.
“It’s such a popular place, we wanted to open this back up to visitors just as soon as we possibly could,” Goff said.
The original pier was 1,100 feet. The new version is 950. The end of the pier where Matthew did the damage has been turned into a T-shape.
The repair cost was $955,404.50. Of that, insurance paid $694,890, and the state paid $260,514.50 using appropriated funds. S.C. State Parks is seeking reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The new pier has improved seating, fish cleaning stations, railings and electrical outlets.
Hanika Plowdeniz of Beaufort was seated on a bench at the very end of the pier, where the water is 28 feet deep, with her daughter Amanda Ranger. For years, Plowdeniz has been coming to the pier, which she calls a “refresher” from the stresses of life. And now, she said, while she recharges, she can also recharge her smart phone at one of the electrical outlets that have been added.
“I love the part where they have sitting stations and the places where you can charge your phone while you fish,” Plowdeniz said.
Additional benches have been added up and down the pier as well. Fish cleaning stations now have water supply. And a ledge on the top railing of the pier also has been added where cell phones or elbows can rest.
But the ocean setting from the pier is still what draws visitors.
“It’s pretty,” said Freeman, the St. Helena Island resident. “I can put it like that.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 11:20 AM.
