Atalaya

 

Portable Home Sweet Home

Anna Hyatt Huntington was a famous American sculptor who lived in the early and middle 1900s. She was the wife of a wealthy businessman who built her a winter home on the South Carolina coast when she developed tuberculosis. She was enormously successful at a time when few women were recognized in the arts and her husband established Brookgreen Garden across the road from their home to display her work. Their home and grounds, Atalaya, is now Huntington Beach State Park, just south of Myrtle Beach near Murrells Inlet. 

When the kids were young, I would do a fall craft show held inside the ruins of Atalaya. The kids loved it and have asked to go back. Unfortunately, the time I could reserve a spot, they weren't free to come. And neither Brookgreen nor Atalaya (the house) allow dogs. So I will be back again WITH the dog crate and better bug spray and hopefully, the young'uns. 

Fortunately, Ruthie was free to come and we had a grand time exploring the park and historic Georgetown just to the south. I also need to bring along a real camera with a telephoto lens. The park is a bird sanctuary and full of amazing water birds I'd never seen--all at a distance beyond the range of my phone camera. And neighboring Garden City is also the home of a dear chum from my Pittsboro days. Kathie, a former Scout leader, joined us around the campfire for S'Mores and happy memories. Enjoy the pictures. I'll get the things we missed when I go back.

 

Atalaya--Moorish influence

Atalaya Courtyard entrance

Beach path from the front door

Atalaya from the park

Boardwalk into the salt marsh bird habitat

Automatic dishwasher (I just wish my cooking justified all her hard work...)

Historic Georgetown

South of the Border--where my first husband and I eloped. Sigh.

G'night!