Missing Cherry Grove angel statue reappears before Idalia. Will it survive the storm?

Adam Benson
·2 min read

It was a few days later than her traditional pilgrimage, but Susan Bare was able to honor her son on Wednesday at the foot of a statue nestled among the sand dunes in North Myrtle Beach’s Cherry Grove community.

“I don’t know the words. But I just felt like ... like Wesley was with me,” Bare, 69, said.

A random act of kindness by a mysterious benefactor returned to the area some time over the last several days a beloved landmark that last year was swiped twice from its long time post overlooking the beach.

Statue locally known as the ‘Angel of Hope’ in the dunes of the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach. Photo courtesy Marissa Cooper Winstead. April 12, 2022.
Statue locally known as the ‘Angel of Hope’ in the dunes of the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach. Photo courtesy Marissa Cooper Winstead. April 12, 2022.

The Sun News is not disclosing the so-called “Angel of Hope’s” new location to dissuade would be vandals from striking again, but its return has brought solace and comfort to many who began discussing its appearance on social media earlier this week and just ahead of a possible tropical storm.

Bare’s son Wesley was 25 when he was killed in an Aug. 6, 2002, car wreck. He loved the beach and for years she would walk to the statue with a sand dollar in his memory.

When it disappeared last year, she was robbed of a deeply personal moment that left her in tears.

“It’s very disturbing, how anyone could do something like this,” Bare said. “So yes, I did. I did cry.”

Nobody seems to know exactly when the concrete marker was placed atop a Cherry Grove Point sand dune, but locals say she made it through at least three hurricanes unscathed — most recently Ian in 2022.

In 2020, Hurricane Isaias destroyed more than 430 structures and caused $2.4 million damages in North Myrtle Beach near where the statue is situated.

But protected from the storm’s beating winds was that angel, who came to symbolize resilience and for many people of faith a reminder that miracles exist.

Once Bare started seeing notifications on Facebook about a replacement statue, she tucked a sand dollar into her pack and headed down the shoreline.

“I kept walking, and I could see it from a distance,” she said. “I just kept walking until I got to it. I’m a very sentimental mom, you know? And it’s part of my healing.”