Are You Sure This Is a Beach Town?

Hilton Head is different!

You've seen one Atlantic Coast Beach and you've seen them all: Miles of sand and ocean separated from humanity by a never ending line of buildings and parking lots. Atlantic City, Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City, Virginia Beach, Nags Head, and Myrtle Beach: Cookie cutter carbon copies with few differences; all basically long sandy strips of neon, motels, rental cottages, restaurants, bars and amusements, with an occasional boardwalk thrown in for flavor. People and beach towels lay side by side, under neat little rows of umbrellas and the smell of hot dogs and sun tan lotion fills the air that is already cluttered with the sounds of the surf, mixed with a dozen different blaring radio stations and crying babies.

The edge of the sand, where it turns to concrete or wood, has all the ambiance of the midway at last years state fair: people bumping into each other and spilling drinks and food, while food and souvenir vendors imitate circus barkers as they hail the crowd; each one claiming to have the best deal or product. Add to all of this, the sounds of motorcycle engines, horns honking and hundred's of screaming seagulls, fighting over someone's spilled order of curly fries, and you have a fairly accurate description of the average day at the typical beach.

Isn't it a good thing that Hilton Head is anything but a typical beach town? Folks on Hilton Head don't much like neon, or concrete either, for that matter. There is enough beach on Hilton Head that none of it ever needs to be crowded, and when you don't have crowds, you also don't have the smells, noises and mess crowds produce. Hilton Head has hotels and stores and shopping centers and restaurants; but they're all hidden behind landscaping and trees. The only beach vendors allowed are the lifeguards; who only rent chairs, umbrellas and playthings. Sure, they have parking lots for Hilton Head Beaches, lots and lots of parking lots, but they're not right on the beach, they're just a little ways off the beach; behind the dunes, or the trees, or more landscaping, and they're mostly paved with cobblestones and tabby and have walkways leading to clean restrooms and sand showers. Naturally, as a resort town, Hilton Head Island has its fair share of bars and "grown up" amusements, but they don't line and clutter the beaches; they are neatly situated in well appointed shopping centers and other similar venues; as well they should be.

Vacationing in this South Carolina "Shangri La" isn't nearly so much like vacationing at the beach as it is like vacationing in a nice, quiet, upscale, community; that happens to be really close to a nice, quiet, twelve mile stretch of un-crowded white sand beach!