With lots of ‘natural beauty,’ SC island park is a hidden treasure. Here’s what to know
A dark forest of hardwoods, interspersed with flaming bursts of spring flowers, greeted Ayoub Abdalla as he crossed a bridge onto Boyd Island, a rocky outcropping that he’d never heard about until last week.
Located on the extreme lower end of the Saluda Riverwalk, the island has paved walking trails, iron sculptures, benches, brilliant orange azaleas and an observation deck with a view that’s hard to ignore. From parts of the island, it’s easy to see where the muddy Broad River and the clear-running Saluda River meet in Columbia.
“I just figured out this was here,’’ Abdalla said, explaining that he noticed the island from an office he works in near Riverbanks Zoo. “So I came here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.’’
“It has natural beauty and fresh air. I wish I knew it was here before.’’
Boyd Island is one of Columbia’s newest riverfront parks, a seven-acre public space that many people are still learning about. The island park is more than a mile from the Saluda Riverwalk’s Mill Race rapids parking lot and below the zoo. Some folks haven’t ventured that far down the trail, but Karen Kustafik, a park ranger who patrols Boyd Island, said that is beginning to change as word gets out and access to the island improves.
Interest in the park was evident last week when the city offered a tour for the public. It added a second tour after the first one filled up quickly. The sundown tours were held Saturday.
City officials estimate that since a pedestrian bridge was built to Boyd Island four years ago, about 34,000 people have visited annually. But most of those were hardcore hikers and river users, Kustafik said.
Why? The bridge did not connect to the riverwalk, meaning visitors had to trek through a stretch of harsh terrain, leaving only the most determined and physically able people to reach the island, she said. A section of the riverwalk was recently extended to the bridge, providing a paved pathway to Boyd Island.
“If anybody’s in a wheelchair, or even with a bicycle or stroller, you don’t have to go through the muck,’’ Kustafik said. “Before, when it rained, it got real boggy with puddles.’’
Boyd Island, obtained by the city in 2005, had sat vacant until a pair of philanthropists and the River Alliance got together about 10 years ago.
Darnall and Susan Boyd, whose foundation has funded multiple public projects in the Columbia area, wanted to make a contribution to help provide access to Columbia’s rivers.
After learning about their interest, River Alliance director Mike Dawson suggested turning the city-owned island into a park at the end of the riverwalk. The Boyds loved the idea. They visited the island with Dawson, wading through parts of the river to get there, and from that point forward, the group got to work.
“We had to walk through the water, which came up a little above my knees,’’ Susan Boyd said during an interview on the “Making It Grow’’ public television show.
The Darnall and Susan Boyd Foundation has spent more than $1 million on improvements at the island, which was named for the family. All that did was enhance what was already there, Dawson said.
“This is a wonderful public access project on property where nobody realized how gorgeous it was,’’ Dawson said. “People who go out there come back awestruck about how pretty it is.’’
Much of the Boyd Foundation’s funding came from Darnall Boyd, a successful Columbia developer, who died before the project began taking shape.
In addition to the bridge, walking trails and other amenities that have already been built, the plan is to add a covered gazebo that pays homage to the Rocky Shoals Spider Lily — a rare plant found along the Broad River next to the island — and install sculptures of the many animals that frequent the island. Restrooms are also planned for the lower end of the riverwalk.
Boyd Island is unusual because it is one of the few in the Columbia area where the Broad River runs along one side and the Saluda along the other.
The observation deck is situated at a point between the two sides of the island, allowing visitors to see the line in the water between the brownish Broad River and the bluish Saluda. The merger of those rivers forms the Congaree River, which runs through downtown Columbia.
Standing on the observation deck, Kustafik pointed out the variety of birds in the area. Geese and cormorants sat on rocks in the Broad River, as Great Blue Herons sailed above. The honking sounds of water birds filled the air.
Looking through binoculars at a huge pine on an island in the distance, Kustafik spied a bald eagle’s nest near the crown of the tree. Eagles are sometimes seen flying high above the rivers near Boyd Island.
“I’ve been lucky sometimes when giving tours that an eagle flies over,’’ she said, reflecting on her encounters with the big birds.
Other animals that frequent the island include deer, ospreys and otters. An osprey was visible from its nest atop a power pole near Boyd Island last week.
One striking feature of the island is the variety of trees and flowering plants. The forest is a mixture of beech trees, dwarf palmettos, elders and oaks, with pines interspersed throughout.
University of South Carolina scientist John Nelson estimates the island has about 75 different plant species, including a type of wild marigold he’s never seen in South Carolina before.
Below the observation deck last week, a sea of vivid yellow butterweed covered the ground below a stand of box elders, whose branches snaked toward the river. Small buckeye trees also were in bloom, their reddish flowers popping from the top of the green foliage along the island trail.
Sprigs of river cane, a type of native bamboo, grow along the banks.
Like some other spots in the area, the island provides stark examples of where South Carolina’s hilly Piedmont and mountains meet the coastal plain. The island is full of small palm trees and Spanish moss that are characteristic of the coast.
But it also has plant species like the silverbell, found more in the mountains. In one place, the white flowers of a silver bell tree stand nestled in a small grove of palms.
For Kustafik, the park ranger, the development of Boyd Island as a park is a big deal personally. She’s been with the city for more than two decades. She also is a seasoned boater who floated by the island long before it became a publicly accessed park.
“I’ve had the privilege and the ability to be able to float rivers and float to spots like this on my own,’’ she said. “But now it is accessible to everyone. And that’s really important.’’
Abdalla agreed, smiling as he thought about his future plans at the park he recently discovered.
“ I can do some walking,’’ he said.
He may have room to do more walking if riverwalk boosters are successful.
While the Boyd Island park is today the last stop on the Saluda Riverwalk, there are plans to continue the walkway up the Broad River. The walkway would connect with a bridge to be built across the Broad, linking both sides of the river, said George Bailey, president of the Boyd Foundation.
“If you had the bridge across the Broad, people could walk over’’ from downtown Columbia, he said.
(How to get there: To see Boyd Island, visitors should head downriver toward Columbia from the riverwalk’s parking area on Candi Lane, where powerlines cross the Saluda. Boyd Island is at the end of the riverwalk, more than a mile away.)
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
