Fish Haul Beach Park, Hilton Head Island, SC

Fish Haul Beach Park sits at the north end of Hilton Head Island, in Bay Gall — one of the island’s historic Gullah neighborhoods. Most people looking it up under its current name are actually thinking of this park’s former name, Mitchelville Beach Park, which the Town of Hilton Head Island retired in a 2020 redesignation. It’s also a different kind of beach from Coligny or Folly Field: it faces Port Royal Sound rather than the open Atlantic, so the water is calmer and the crowd is thinner — better suited to a quiet walk or birdwatching than a day of body surfing.

• Location: 124 Mitchelville Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
• Also known as: Mitchelville Beach Park (renamed 2020)
• Hours: 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. daily
• Parking: 93 paid spaces on-site, plus free overflow parking nearby

About Fish Haul Beach Park

Fish Haul Beach Park is at 124 Mitchelville Road, reached off Beach City Road on the island’s north end. Because it sits on Port Royal Sound instead of the ocean, the water here is more sheltered — a draw for wading and shelling rather than swimming laps or catching waves. The park sits in Bay Gall, one of Hilton Head’s historic Gullah communities, and is a short distance from Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, the site of one of the first self-governed towns of formerly enslaved people in the United States — a separate park with its own name and history, easy to confuse with this one given how much their names have overlapped over the years.

Parking at Fish Haul Beach Park

The on-site lot has 93 paid spaces and 4 ADA spaces. Payment is by the town’s parking app only — the lot no longer takes cash. During peak season (March 1 through September 7), metered hours run 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., at $3 an hour on weekdays and $5 an hour on weekends; parking is free the rest of the year and free year-round for residents with a beach parking permit. If the main lot is full, the Barker Field Expansion lot at 160 Mitchelville Road has 70 free spaces and 2 more ADA spaces a short walk away.

Amenities at Fish Haul Beach Park

Beach matting leads from the lot to the sand, with outdoor showers and restrooms at the access point. Free wheelchairs are available to reserve ahead of a visit, and — unusual for a beach access this quiet — the park has Wi-Fi. There’s no lifeguard, rental stand, or playground here; it’s a simpler, more low-key setup than the island’s bigger beach parks.

Formerly Mitchelville Beach Park

If you knew this spot as Mitchelville Beach Park, you’re not wrong — that was its name until the Town of Hilton Head Island renamed it Fish Haul Beach Park in 2020, in the same action that renamed the nearby Fish Haul Creek Park to Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park. The two names swapped which place they point to, which is why older reviews, maps, and directories still mix them up. Both names lead here.

Nearby

For an oceanfront beach with a full parking lot, restrooms, and more going on, Coligny Beach Park is the island’s busiest public beach, at the opposite end of the island. For the full list of Hilton Head’s public beaches, start at the Hilton Head beaches guide.