Our Favorite Nature Walk Near North Myrtle Beach: Vereen Memorial Gardens

Inside: A parent review of Vereen Memorial Gardens with everything you need to know to plan your visit for a nature stroll near North Myrtle Beach, SC.

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When you think “family beach trip,” your mind probably goes straight to sandy feet, ocean breezes, and maybe a boardwalk snack or two. But on our latest beach trip, we discovered a place that completely surprised us—Vereen Memorial Gardens, just 15 minutes from the heart of North Myrtle Beach. This 115-acre nature preserve offers peaceful walking trails, towering trees, marsh views, and endless opportunities for wandering in wonder!

Quick Look at Vereen Memorial Gardens
🌿 Free admission
🕗 Open daily, 7 am – 7 pm
📍 2250 Hwy 179, Little River, SC
🚻 Restrooms available at the Visitor’s Center
👟 Natural hiking trails + boardwalk option
🦀 Fishing pier with fantastic marsh views
🌲 Wishing trees with hanging seashells
📸 Tons of photo ops and wildlife spotting
🎒 Great to explore for minutes or hours!

Getting There & Parking

We found Vereen Memorial Gardens easily using GPS—it’s only a short drive from North Myrtle Beach, right before you cross the border into Calabash, North Carolina. The entrance is clearly marked, and there is a convenient Visitor’s Center right there in the parking lot.

This parking lot is the first of two free options. This one offers convenient access to the Visitor’s Center with trail maps and information, public restrooms, and trailheads for both of the main trails running through the Gardens. The second option is at the far end of the main road through the Gardens, which will put you right by the boardwalk and Intracoastal Waterway.

We wanted to get our bearings, so we opted to follow the main road and park at the far end of Vereen Memorial Gardens. I recommend that option for anyone who will be hiking with little ones like we were. This parking lot puts you right next to the Boardwalk Trail, which is the easiest to navigate with a stroller, offers instantly gratifying views of the waterway, and—if you do decide to hike the full Gardens—puts the restrooms conveniently at the halfway point.

The Trails: Choose Your Own Adventure

There’s no need to be a serious hiker to enjoy Vereen Memorial Gardens. This place is just one family-friendly option after another! Whether you’re carrying a baby, pushing a stroller, juggling toddlers, or keeping up with an eager older child, you are guaranteed to find just the right adventure for your family!

There are three main trails: the Boardwalk Trail, the Blue Trail, and the Red Trail. All these trails are wide and mostly level, perfect for beginners. The Boardwalk Trail is less than half a mile in length and in full sun. The Blue Trail and Red Trail are about 1 mile long each, running down the length of the Gardens on either side. They connect to the Boardwalk Trail at one end and to each other at the Visitor’s Center by the entrance. The main trails are also part of a recognized TRACK Trail in the Kids in Parks program, which allows kids to earn prizes for logging hikes like these.

The Blue Trail, Red Trail, and all other trails in Vereen Memorial Gardens have natural surfaces and are almost entirely shaded. There are countless smaller trails branching off the Blue and Red Trails, and these tend to be narrow and have some more difficult terrain to them. All the smaller trails eventually lead back to either the Blue Trail, Red Trail, or main road, so you can easily explore without ever getting lost!

Our family managed to push a double umbrella stroller with ease over the boardwalk, and there were only a few places where we had to navigate around roots or sandy sections on the Blue and Red Trails. When we wandered onto some of the narrower trails, we did have a more difficult time with the stroller and found ourselves carrying it in a couple spots.

Sights and Highlights in the Gardens

There were so many beautiful sights to absorb throughout the Gardens, and the natural beauty is one of the biggest reasons this is one of my new favorite places around North Myrtle Beach!

On the Boardwalk Trail, you’ll find yourself looking out at a lush salt marsh and the gorgeous Intracoastal Waterway. There is a fishing pier about midway through the Boardwalk Trail, and it’s a great spot to stop and take in the view, maybe even get some family photos together. Our kids loved looking through the railings at crabs skittering below and a heron hidden in the reeds, and there is even a way to get down on the sand here if you’d like to walk along the shoreline for a bit.

Near where the Boardwalk Trail and Red Trail meet, you’ll also find a little area that feels like magic in the marsh… The wishing trees! Visitors to Vereen Memorial Gardens are welcome to write wishes on seashells and hang them on these trees as ornaments. Most of the shells are oysters, readily available on the sandy shore off the Boardwalk Trail, but you could also decorate a shell that you find anywhere else at the beach and bring it here to add to the magic.

The trees along the Red and Blue Trails are mature, and you’re truly walking through the woods. You will love the diversity of the trees to encounter, as it makes you feel like every twist and turn leads you to a whole new place of enchantment. We could have spent hours exploring all the narrow trails without our stroller, and we definitely plan to come back again and again as our kids get older to let them explore to their hearts’ content!

When to Visit Vereen Memorial Gardens

Vereen Memorial Gardens is open year-round, 7 days a week, from 7 am to 7 pm. If you like to visit the beach in the off-season, this is absolutely one of the best possible places you could go to enjoy your time in the area! However, even in the heat of summer, I have to highly recommend this place just because it is so much cooler under the shade of all the trees, and it’s a beautiful way to do something different after spending several days on the sand.

My personal favorite time to visit—without a doubt—is springtime, when the azaleas are in bloom. It’s called Vereen Memorial Gardens for a reason! And if you visit in spring, you’ll find out why. Azalea bushes line a large section of the main road in Vereen Memorial Gardens, and it is the kind of beauty that just makes your heart feel full to behold.

So when should you visit? The answer is NOW!

Details

Hours: 7 am –7 pm, 7 days a week
Address: 2250 Hwy 179, Little River, SC 29566
Phone: 843.249.4157
Website: Little River Chamber of Commerce: Vereen Memorial Gardens

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