subject: What's America's Most Visited Vacation Destination? You Got It - Hilton Head South Carolina [print this page] Our group sauntered lazily along the elevated boardwalk that ran between Hilton Head Resort and the Atlantic Ocean. The boardwalk crossed the intermittent lake that filled up with each returning tide and supported an inland marine ecosystem on Hilton Head South Carolina. Singleton Beach is a pristine expanse of soft white sand that soaks up the gentle rays of the springtime sun like a sponge. The surf broke on the shoreline about 50 yards due East.
The "world's most expensive volleyball court" (according to our guide) was located just behind the dune that blocked our view of the Atlantic. The Island's exclusive beachfront cabana was built just back from that on the boardwalk. The manicured green of the Robert Trent Jones professional Golf Course was maybe 25 yards to our right.
Suddenly, there was the Atlantic. Churning inexorably as far as the eye could see. Endless, fathomless, omnipotent. Only the crystal strand restrained her and the power of another, who once decreed, "here shall your proud waves stop." "Who needs Hawaii," I reflected, "when we've got Hilton Head?"
A Strategic Vacation Destination
Hilton Head South Carolina is the most popular vacation resort of the entire Eastern United States due to its central location on the East Coast. Hilton Head ocean front villas are exceedingly popular during vacation season, typically commanding $850 per week or more. Likewise, Hilton Head rentals are a popular place for Snow Birds to spend the winter, when rates drop closer to $850 a month.
Who would ever believe that an equatorial paradise lies so close to so much of the mainland United States? It's an easy drive to Hilton Head South Carolina for the greater part of all residents in America.
The differentiation between Hilton Head and Parris Island, which is situated just 20 miles north is dramatic. Parris Island is speckled with scrub pine, cow pastures, and barbed wire fences so typical of a Northern farm. The farthest thing from paradise you can think of, which surely clarifies why the Marines singled it out for their well-known training camp. From heaven to hell in less than 20 miles.
The day we dropped by the beach was forsaken - we could only imagine the multitude of July 4th revelers playing on this very beach in just a few brief weeks. This was the mystique of the off-season, part of what makes Hilton Head such a popular vacation resort for most of the year - the only real lull coming between early October and late March.
A Strategic Barrier Island
Our guide informed us that only Manhattan Island is bigger than Hilton Head in size among barrier islands on America's Atlantic coast. These islands shield the mainland and give protection for a multitude of ecosystems. We had passed right over one of these on the half mile boardwalk from our villa to the beach.
Hilton Head South Carolina was also an indispensible player in Lincoln's Anaconda Strategy to cut off southern import of war supplies. The naval battle in the Battle of Port Royal at the north end of the Island secured for the Union a strategic staging area from which to prosecute that strategy during the Civil War.
