April 19, 2014 Atalaya at Huntington Beach State Park, The Sandpiper Pond Trail

Atalaya  means "watchtower".  It is a Moorish castle facing the Atlantic Ocean, the home and studio of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington.  Archer was the son of the wealthy Huntington family, who built the railroad from East to West across the US. Anna had tuberculosis and she and her husband came South from
Boston for the milder, healing weather next to the sea. Archer , a student of Spanish history and archtecture, built Ayalaya in the manner of the castles of the Moors where Anna could sculpt in the light beside the ocean.  The home remains as a rectangular structure enclosing a courtyard with palms.    Old windswept cedars embrace the light .They had a porch where they could drink their morning coffee and see the sea.  The porch is gone now and between the house and the sea, myrtles have grown.

There is a little office at the entrance where Liza helped sculpt a colorful butterfly and Sergay,Liza and I composed poems on the poem board:

"A thousand views of diamond ice"  Sergay

"A frantic storm..marble lies..shadow"  Liza

"The ghost screams embrace me" Me

Hannah, Sergay, Liza and I drove up highway 17 from Litchfield Beach.  Huntington Beach State Park is just between Pawley's Island and Murrell's Inlet. Across the road is Brookgreen Gardens with the enormous silver sculpture of a pair of rearing horses with a single rider at the entrance,  the home of the outdoor sculptures of Anna Huntington.
Our iconic family photo on my living room wall is of the towering,  moss hung oaks sheltering the long walk into Brookgreen. My brother and sister and I, just children, are kneeling beside the ivy ground cover, looking at a small frog.

In the distance, Daddy, Aunt Kitty and Mama are walking. My mother is wearing her sun  dress made of the Spring maid material with the beautiful Native American maiden.  Uncle Ned took the photo.

The old road to Atalaya is directly across the highway, but is blocked off.
The entrance to Huntington Beach State Park comes up within 100 feet.  We entered and drove across the causeway.   Driving right is Atalaya, the park offices and a gift shop.  Driving left is the Nature Center and the entrance to the Sandpiper Pond trail. The trail is two miles long with board walks into the marsh at intervals.
In the Nature Center, we watched a park ranger feed a mouse to a long black snake.

There may be ghosts at Atalaya.  If I were to meet one, I would thank them for this place of lasting beauty
they have left us.