 By Tom Crosby
(April 2008) Shortly after opening in January 1998, The Boardwalk Inn, a 93-room hotel in the prestigious Wild Dunes® Resort on a barrier island near Charleston, earned the coveted Four Diamond Rating from AAA.
Wild Dunes Resort is a 1,600 acre private oceanfront complex with miles of white sand beach on the northern tip of the Isle of Palms bracketed by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other. The Boardwalk Inn is one of several types of accommodations the Resort offers.
An uphill circular driveway provides access to the Boardwalk Inn’s lobby, with polished Brazilian cherry wood floors, off-white walls and cream colored woodwork that creates and open, light and tropical atmosphere. Check-in is personal and intimate.
Around the corner on the left is a mahogany bar facing a gas fireplace, for the few cooler Carolina months, with stuffed chairs scattered about. Warm and intimate, this sitting area is a place for sharing stories about the day’s events.
The name Boardwalk Inn refers to the Victorian-style wooden boardwalk that leads several hundred feet from the back of the 5-story Inn to The Grand Pavilion and its oceanfront gazebo (The Grand Pavilion Café and Bar) located among the dunes a stone’s throw from the ocean waves.
The boardwalk bisects a group of pastel-colored private homes and villas with balconies behind white wooden fences. The homes are part of the Resort’s guest room inventory, and range from 3 to 4 bedrooms.
The hotel divides its rooms among 83 standard rooms, eight junior suites each with a king bed and a patio, a poolside hospitality suite with a bedroom and a two –story, one-bedroom Presidential Suite.
Water sports dominate recreational activities with jet skiing, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, parasailing, four freshwater pools (two are oceanfront) and the biggest pool of them all – the Atlantic Ocean.
Guests can choose between two Tom Fazio designed golf courses, The Links and the Harbor. The Links Course is beautiful, with ocean views, meticulously manicured fairways, carpeted greens and enough beauty for it to be consistently rated among the most beautiful costal courses in the state. The Links Course has also been rated among the top 100 golf courses in the country.
The Harbor Course is another winner and still one of Charleston’s top resort golf courses where water comes into play on almost every hole as fairways skirt salt marshes and the Intracoastal.
Tennis fans can sample the 17 Har-Tru courts and enjoy a variety of tennis clinics and offerings. Wild Dunes is one of Tennis magazine’s top 10 Tennis Resort’s in the US.
“We have a coastal environment that appeals to many repeat guests who like the feel of ocean breezes, waking up and walking along the beach at sunrise,” said Jurgen Hummel, General Manager of Wild Dunes Resort. “They may see dolphins frolicking in the waves, shrimp boats putting out to sea or sand dollars washed ashore.”
The Boardwalk Inn recently received enhancements including new bedding, curtains and sheers, all adding to the relaxed Lowcountry style of the Boardwalk Inn. All rooms feature flat screen TVs, private, digital safes, sliding French doors to the balcony (some are walk-on) and views that include either the ocean, the waterway or the upscale pastel colored Victorian beach homes scattered among the lush vegetation. Iron lamps are provided for the two-sided wooden desks.
On the lobby level, there is a Billiard Room and a Club Room for cards, watching wide screen television or using it as a 19th hole to have drinks after golf.
Special features: Taking your golf bags upon check-in and storing until your tee time, Aveda bathroom amenities, the illuminated pool at night that gives the entire area a romantic glow, complimentary local phone calls, Japanese robes, valet parking, complimentary shoeshine, complimentary weekday newspaper, triple-sheeted bed, two-speaker telephones, in-room coffee maker and mini-bar.(Updated April 2008)
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