Atalaya Castle ...in Murrells Inlet, SC Article by Nicole CGW

Ladies Of Chrome On Location Article & Photography by Starla Robinson

Atalaya Castle

...in Murrells Inlet, SC

The history of Atalaya Castle in Murrells Inlet, SC is little known, even inside of our state but here lies a fascinating story of art and generosity dating back to the Great Depression.

Beginnings (1930’s)

Atalaya Castle was built by

Archer M. Huntington

and his wife Anna between 1931 and 1933. Archer was a philanthropist from New York City and designed the house to be a winter residence for him and his wife after she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He designed the plans himself based on Spanish or Moorish architecture coupled with his own imagination (built without drawn plans). Anna, who was an artist and sculptor, did her part as well and designed the wrought iron grills that serve as hurricane protection on all the windows. The castle living quarters consist of 30 rooms around three sides of the perimeter, while the studio, with its 25-foot skylight, opens onto a small, enclosed courtyard . In the center of the courtyard, surrounded by native plants, is a water tower that is 40 feet tall after which the house was named. ‘Atalaya’ means ‘Watchtower’ in Spanish. Various other areas included indoor and outdoor studios for Anna to work on her art, and animal enclosures where they kept bears, horses, monkeys, and a leopard. Archer insisted that the house be built by local laborers to help boost the economy of the region during the depression years. They employed many local people to work at the house and gardens, as well, and were known as very good employers. The house was situated on the ocean within an estate that originally consisted of over 9,000 acres of mixed land. They used part of that acreage to build the first public sculpture garden, known as Brookgreen Gardens, to showcase Anna’s work.

World War II (1942-1946)

During World War II, the Huntington’s left Atalaya and let the United States Air Corps use it as a barracks. The men patrolled the beach and operated a radar unit from the house. Other than a crashed plane on the beach, the house was unaffected.

Transition (1947)

The Huntington’s returned to Atalaya in 1946 and 1947. After that, Anna’s studio was moved to another portion of the property in Brookgreen Gardens, and the rest of the furnishings, that weren’t donated elsewhere, were sent to Connecticut after the death of Archer in 1955. Anna visited the house again only two more times in 1956 and 1958.

State Park (1960)

In 1960, 2,500 acres of the former estate, including the house and sculpture garden, was leased for free to the state of South Carolina. Huntington Beach State Park was formed and now maintains the house and grounds and offers guided tours during part of the year. For the past thirty-seven years, an art festival has been held on the grounds in September every year.

National Landmark (1984) Atalaya Castle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 to preserve the history of Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband Archer Huntington. It remains a unique and vital piece of SC history.

Anna Hyatt Huntington's dramatic aluminum sculpture "Fighting Stallions" at Brookgreen Gardens, SC.

Andrew Jackson, A Boy of The Waxhaws, Andrew Jackson State Park, Lancaster, SC, depicts a young Andy Jackson, sitting astride a farm horse. It is a bronze, larger-than-life statue. Usually her horses were noble, prancing, fierce beasts. She made Jackson's horse a gentler animal by fixing the energy and tension of the work on the figure of young Jackson. The sculpture was initiated by a letter from a 6th grade class at Rice Elementary School in Lancaster, asking if she would sculpt a statue of young Andrew Jackson for the state park. Mrs. Huntington submitted to do so, and replied, in part, "A picture came to mind as I read your letter and I have tried out the composition. I have Jackson as a young man of 16 or 17 seated bareback on a farm horse, one hand leaning on the horse's rump and looking over his native hills, to wonder what the future holds for him. He must have been a good looking and thoughtful boy, wondering what the future might hold, moments we all have from our teens to our nineties." The statue was completed at her Bethel, Connecticut studio, and was first worked in clay in half the scale of the final statue. Even then, it was necessary for the 80 something yrold sculptor to use a tall ladder to reach the top. SC school children responded by donating their nickels and dimes to raise the necessary funds for a massive base to support the statue. County workmen placed the statue on its Lancaster County pink granite base in time for the ceremony marking Andrew Jackson's 200th birthday, in March 1967. This was Huntington's last major work, completed after her ninety-first birthday. The statue is located at Andrew Jackson State Park, about nine miles north of Lancaster, SC, just off US 521.