Atalaya is the strangest house on the Carolina coast: a Moorish-style winter residence of courtyards and herringbone brick, built from 1931 to 1933 inside what is now Huntington Beach State Park. The ranger-led film tells the founding plainly — Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington built it with all-local labor, teaching residents construction skills they kept for life, after Anna's tuberculosis diagnosis sent them looking for a warmer winter climate — while Brookgreen Gardens rose across the highway at the same time.

Atalaya Castle - Huntington Beach State Park

I Love RV Life

I Love RV Life tour Atalaya Castle, the Moorish-style winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington inside Huntington Beach State Park: the carriage house exhibits, the courtyards, the water tower, the horseshoe-shaped residence with Anna's sculpture studio, and the servants' wing — a $2-admission walk through one of the most unusual historic homes on the Carolina coast, which also served as a WWII radar station.

Key takeaways
  • Atalaya admission was $2 per person when filmed — 'worth much more,' per the hosts
  • Archer Huntington, heir to a railroad and shipping fortune, built Atalaya as a winter home in the 1930s
  • Anna Hyatt Huntington, a renowned sculptor, worked in the castle's studio

Exploring the Treasures of South Carolina's Coast

Big Blend Radio

A Big Blend Radio conversation with travel writer and photographer Jo Clark about three neighboring treasures south of Myrtle Beach: Huntington Beach State Park (her favorite beach — walk far enough and it feels like a private island), Atalaya Castle within it, and Brookgreen Gardens across the highway — with the nature center, birding, and the history that ties the Huntington properties together.

Key takeaways
  • Huntington Beach is in Georgetown County, about 12 minutes from the host's Myrtle Beach home
  • The park's nature center has native-species tanks and hands-on exhibits
  • Over 300 bird species have been recorded at the park

Atalaya Castle

DougColdwell

A quiet 2008 walkthrough film of Atalaya Castle by Doug Coldwell — room-by-room footage of the empty brick residence, courtyards and tower as they stood before later preservation work, a watch-only period piece on the Huntington winter home.

The tour

I Love RV Life's full walk covers the carriage house exhibits, the courtyards, the water tower, the horseshoe-shaped residence with Anna's sculpture studio and the servants' wing — admission $2 as filmed — plus the chapter nobody expects: the house served as a WWII radar station. A travel writer's conversation supplies the context that ties the Huntington properties together, birding and nature center included.

The quiet records

A 2008 walkthrough films the empty brick residence room by room as it stood before later preservation work — a period piece in its own right. MyrtleBeach.com's short profile introduces the castle in miniature. Five films, one house: the Huntingtons built Brookgreen to be visited, and Atalaya to live in — together they are the best history stop on the Strand.

Sources: the 5 videos on this page, filmed at Atalaya Castle; admission as filmed.

Watch: Atalaya Castle, guided

2 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Atalaya Castle at Huntington State Beach

MyrtleBeach.com

MyrtleBeach.com's short profile of Atalaya Castle, the Moorish-style winter home inside Huntington Beach State Park. Loaded as watch content.

Huntington Beach State Park Atalaya

MyrtleBeach.com

Interpretive ranger Jocelyn Steiner leads a guided tour of Atalaya: Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington built the Moorish-style winter home from 1931 to 1933 with all-local labor (teaching residents construction skills they kept for life) after Anna's tuberculosis diagnosis sent them looking for a warmer winter climate — while Brookgreen Gardens rose across the highway at the same time. Inside, the herringbone brickwork marks the public rooms (library, breakfast room, dining room, sunroom, foyer); Archer modeled the place on the Spanish and Moorish forts of his youthful travels.

Key takeaways
  • Built 1931–1933 by local labor during the Depression
  • Anna Hyatt Huntington's health drove the move to a warmer winter home
  • Herringbone brick floors mark the rooms where guests were received

More Myrtle Beach essentials

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