Where are Murrells Inlet’s famous goats now? Real reason they were placed on the island

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At first glance, one can be fooled into thinking that the goats have returned to Goat Island located behind Drunken Jack’s restaurant in Murrells Inlet.

But the goatly-shapes are fake - metal statues that are a symbolic gesture of what once was a popular site for locals and visitors to the MarshWalk.

The goats - often numbering between six and seven - have lived on the island from April through November since about 1982.

One of the big events for onlookers was the rounding up of the goats around Thanksgiving each year to move the goats to their winter home. It was during that time that restaurant owner Al Hitchcock and volunteers would make “fools” out of themselves, chasing the goats around the island and through the marsh, Hitchcock said.

He doesn’t know how people found out about the date and time of the roundup, but he suspects it was a restaurant employee who would leak the information. About 150 to 200 people would come to watch.

However, in October 2022, things changed drastically for the goats when they were removed ahead of Hurricane Ian.

During Hurricane Ian, the water was chest high on the MarshWalk, Hitchcock said. A photo on Hitchcock’s phone shows only a tiny part of the island with the rest surrounded by water. If volunteers hadn’t removed the animals ahead of the storm, “We would’ve lost the goats,” he said.

“They would’ve hung me, run me out of town or put me on social media,” Hitchcock said of the goats’ fans. “I didn’t want any of the three.”

In February, Hitchcock made the decision to not return the goats after the island suffered extreme erosion from the king tides and hurricanes over the years, limiting space for the goats to roam safely, Hitchcock said.

In addition, Hitchcock said that relocating the goats on and off the island was stressful for the animals. Since the goats are pets, he was concerned for their safety and well-being.

“Us chasing the goats is not safe for us or the goats,” Hitchcock said.

Where are they now?

On a sunny, but chilly Thursday, the Murrells Inlet goats are roaming a large patch of land, eating grass and soaking up the sun.

It’s their winter-now permanent location at Osprey Marina in the Socastee area. Hitchcock said the owners of the marina have been wonderful over the years to allow the goats to live there.

After their permanent removal, the marina’s owners took on the responsibility of caring for the goats. They seem happy in their location, but Hitchcock said they were also happy to get to the island.

When it came time to load up the goats to bring them to the island, Hitchcock said the ones who had been there before would line up at the gate. That’s because they would dine on leftovers from the restaurant, including items from the salad bar such as carrots and lettuce ends and hushpuppies.

At one time the island also had about six to eight peacocks. However, a hurricane one year came and blew them away, killing three, Hitchcock said.

The rest were rounded up and brought back to the island, but they flew away again. They are now living behind a boat landing in Murrells Inlet. There are about a dozen peacocks there.

Hitchcock has numerous stories about the goats, including a time when a goat got loose and roamed Murrells Inlet for two months. Another goat got loose and crossed the roadway into a woman’s garden and ate some of her vegetables. “I had to buy that lady two cases of collard greens,” Hitchcock said.

Why were they placed on the island?

The goats were placed on the island to help keep the grass and underbrush down, according to Drunken Jack’s website.

But the truth is that it was another kind of grass that prompted Hitchcock and another man to bring the animals to the island.

Hitchcock said the goats were a prevention solution after some men began growing marijuana plants on the island. He said Murrells Inlet was a small town in the early ‘80s, and no one wanted it there. The goats took care of the problem, eating the plants.

When asked if the goats were affected by the marijuana, Hitchcock wasn’t sure, replying, “I don’t know what a high goat looks like.”

Hitchcock understands that people miss the goats. He said there’s not a day that he doesn’t get asked, “Where are the goats?”

While the metal goats are just a stand in, Hitchcock wanted people to know that the goats were OK. So he placed a sign with a photo of the goats on the farm on the side of his restaurant that says, “We miss y’all too.”