As correspondent to the South Carolina 7 Wonders expedition we spent a month exploring the state, our last week of July in the Edisto River area and ACE Basin, the 6th Wonder of South Carolina. Want to know more about this ecologically unique area that checks all the boxes for a fantastic weekend in the Lowcountry? Keep reading to find out what the ACE Basin is, and how best to see it!
ACE Basin? What’s that?
Three rivers – the Ashepoo, the Combahee and the Edisto
(ACE) – come together at St. Helena Sound in South Carolina’s Lowcountry to
form a rich estuary. This 350,000-acre ACE Basin watershed contains one of the
largest areas of undeveloped wetlands/uplands ecosystems remaining on the
Atlantic Coast, and features a remarkable interlocking web of ecosystems including
forested uplands, wetlands, tidal marshes, barrier islands, and peatlands. According
to The Nature Conservancy, it supports 33 types of natural plant communities
and provides critical habitat for waterfowl, migratory birds and endangered
species. In 2014, National Geographic featured the ACE Basin as its cover
story, and The Nature Conservancy has declared the area “one of the last great
places.”
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| Egret and roseate spoonbill |
From the early 1700s to mid-1800s, much of the ACE Basin was home to large plantations that primarily grew rice. In the late 1800s many of these plantations were purchased by wealthy sportsmen as hunting retreats, who managed the former rice fields and adjacent upland estates for a wide range of wildlife – ensuring that the region remained relatively undeveloped.
Sounds cool! But how can we see it?
The principal road through the ACE Basin is U.S. Highway 17,
the ACE Basin Parkway, which skirts the north end of the protected areas
connecting Charleston to Yemassee. Small communities within ACE Basin include
Bennetts Point, Green Pond, Jacksonboro, Wiggins and Willtown Bluff. There are
numerous access points to the public lands of the ACE Basin including 23 boat
landings, allowing visitors opportunities to experience it by land and by
water!
Edisto Learning Center & Edisto Beach State Park
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| Edisto Spanish Mount Shell Midden |
A good place to start is at Edisto Beach State Park. The park’s environmental education center is a “green” building with exhibits that highlight the natural history of Edisto Island and the surrounding ACE Basin. One of four oceanfront state parks in South Carolina, it features trails for hiking and biking in addition to the 1.5 miles of beach renowned for its shelling.
Edisto Beach State Park is also an excellent home base for
additional ACE Basin explorations; if camping or staying at a cabin there, you are
within an easy drive of the Edisto River side of the region including ACE Basin
National Wildlife Refuge and Botany Bay!
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| View from Dawhoo Bridge boat ramp |
ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge
Driving north from Edisto Beach there is a boat ramp at the
Dawhoo Bridge that offers westerly views (great for sunset viewing!) over the
salt marsh and towards Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge.
At just under 12,000 acres, the Refuge is key in protecting the Edisto portion
of the estuary. In addition, the Refuge office is a former rice plantation
house that was built in 1828, one of only a few antebellum mansions that
survived the civil war in the area; today it is protected on the National
Register of Historical Places.
While the Grove Plantation House is temporarily closed to
visitors, all Refuge grounds remain open to a variety of recreational
activities such as hunting (in season), picnicking, hiking, fresh and saltwater
fishing, canoeing, wildlife watching, photography and environmental education.
Special events and programs are held throughout the year for visitors to learn
more about the ACE Basin and National Wildlife Refuges; see the Fish & Wildlife
Service website.
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| ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge |
Botany Bay
The 3,363 acre Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management
Area (WMA) is located in the northeast corner of Edisto Island, and is
important to numerous wildlife species including the federally-threatened
loggerhead sea turtle and the state-threatened least tern. Cultural sites
including the Fig Island Shell Rings, outbuildings from Bleak Hall Plantation
and elements of the Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line – all listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The causeway to the beach is wheel chair
accessible, and the designated driving tour provides excellent viewing
opportunities for the mobility impaired; for more information, please visit the
SC DNR website.
Edisto River & State Parks
A great way to see the Edisto River is from kayak or canoe.
For more on the Edisto River Canoe and Kayak Trail, Edisto River Adventures
tubing, and the two SC State Parks that provide access to the Edisto (Givhans
Ferry and Colleton), see my article on the Edisto River and Givhans Ferry here. The blackwater
river is the longest of its kind in North America, and is a favorite for
cooling down on hot summer days.
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| Audubon's Beidler Forest |
A portion of the headwaters of the Edisto River and ACE Basin is Four Holes Swamp, which visitors can experience through Audubon’s Beidler Forest. This 18,000-acre bird and wildlife sanctuary in the South Carolina Lowcountry is the world’s largest virgin cypress-tupelo swamp forest, home to thousand-year-old trees and a wide range of wildlife. It is a great place to visit for families, as the entire 1.75-mile trail is a boardwalk: easy to follow, and provides safe viewing of wildlife without getting muddy or wet.
Ravenel Caw Caw Interpretive Center
This nature center has over six miles of walking trails that
wind through its diverse habitats, with interpretive exhibits, displays, and an
assortment of programs. Boardwalks take visitors through the wetlands and rice
fields dating to the eighteenth century. Caw Caw is a birding hotspot for
coastal SC, but is also important historically: it’s one of the important sites
of the Stono Rebellion, a Member of the National Park Service’s National
Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, and features thousands of
naturalized tea plants from a 20th century tea farm.
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| Caw Caw Interpretive Center |
On your visit you can expect to see American alligators, swallow-tailed kites, and bald eagles! Admission is $2/person, for more information see the Charleston County Parks website.
Bear Island Game Management Area
It was a hot day in July when we found ourselves turning off
Highway 17 towards Bennetts Point a few weeks ago. Much like many of the
destinations on this side of Charleston – Edisto Beach, Hunting Island, Hilton
Head – there is a significant drive from the main highway to reach the ocean.
Over the next 15 miles we wound our way along live oak-shaded lanes, the giants
draped in Spanish moss functioning almost as curtains to the lands beyond.
After crossing the Ashepoo River we entered Bear Island Game Management Area,
home to countless waterfowl and protected species such as wood storks and bald
eagles. The miles of dikes on Bear Island provide plenty of wildlife-viewing, hiking,
biking and hunting opportunities.
ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve
Soon after passing Bear Island we arrived at the Michael D.
McKenzie Field Station. Headquarters for the ACE Basin National Estuarine
Research Reserve (NERR), the field station serves as a community hub for
coastal science, education and collaboration. The NERR encompasses nearly 100,000
acres of ACE Basin, and is managed in a joint effort by the South Carolina
Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR) and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Association (NOAA). Adjacent Mosquito Creek was living up to its
name, but luckily we were able to escape the insects by boarding a boat and heading
out on the Ashepoo River as part of the South Carolina 7 expedition.
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| NERR, photo credit Charlie Whitney |
Viewing the ACE Basin from the water is an excellent way to not only get away from the bugs, but also to get a feel for the enormity of coastline and estuary protected by the NERR and other entities. There are numerous science, education and training programs operated by the SC DNR out of the field station including ones off and on the water; the facility contains offices, wet/dry labs, a conference room and an outdoor classroom, while science related school groups and naturalists visit the field station for a variety of educational outdoor activities. For more on the programs and workshops offered, please visit the ACE Basin NERR website. Our boat tour with the SC7 team included an orientation to the ACE Basin watershed, and contained a look at the oyster reefs, plenty of wildlife-viewing, and discussions of salt marsh and estuarine diversity. For those wishing to tour the ACE Basin by boat, but looking for an option other than the NERR, a number of outfitters in Charleston, Beaufort and Colleton counties offer guided kayaking trips on the three rivers, as well as tours for those who prefer to enjoy the scenery from the comfort of a motorboat.
Islands only accessible by boat!
If traveling by water in the area, you more than likely will
pass through or near the St. Helena Sound Heritage Preserve, a collection of
coastal and barrier islands only accessible by boat. Otter Island is part of this Heritage
Preserve, and receives special protection because of its significance for rare
plants, threatened and endangered species, and as an historic site. With developed
islands to the north (Edisto) and to the south (Harbor, Fripp and Hunting),
Otter Island is the only spot where wildlife species can rest, feed and
reproduce without development pressures for a long stretch of coastline.
Another barrier island only accessible by boat but providing ample wildlife
viewing is South Fenwick Island.
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| Loggerhead sea turtle nesting area |
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area
Heading back out from Bennetts Point you’ ll pass the
8,000-acre Donnelley Wildlife Management Area just as you reach ACE Basin
Parkway (Highway 17). The nature trails here offer birdwatching, hiking,
biking, riding and hunting opportunities; check the website for seasonal
closure information, as the WMA is closed during certain hunt periods.
When should we visit?
As anyone who has spent time in the Lowcountry knows, each
season down near the coast comes with advantages and hindrances. Summer days
can be hot and buggy, especially in the marsh, however a hot August day might
just be perfect for tubing the Edisto or enjoying the ocean surf. Spring and
fall offer excellent birdwatching, cooler temperatures and fewer bugs, but some
areas might see closures for hunt seasons. And while winter might mean you have
the trail/boardwalk to yourself, it also brings cold & unpredictable
weather… As with any trip, planning ahead can really pay off in terms of
knowing what to expect and what adjustments might have to be made. Our
year-round basics include protection against the weather & insects, water
and snacks, and comfortable clothes & footwear.
But snakes, alligators and spiders?!
Before we took our boys tubing on the Edisto, I asked how
often they see alligators on that stretch of the river – the answer was never.
However if you are kayaking the Four Holes Swamp, chances are you might see one
or two. In any case, the key is to follow the basic guidelines as you would
with all animals - keep your distance, and don’t feed or harass the wildlife.
For our family, the fear of encountering the animals that get all the bad press
has slowly turned to hopes of catching a glimpse of one of them: a gator from a
causeway as we head out to one of the barrier islands, a snake from the safety
of the boardwalk at Francis Beidler Forest, or a shark feeding out beyond the
break as we sit safely on the shore of Edisto Beach. Know what to do in case
you come across a venomous snake, and know how to tell the difference between
the ones that can hurt you and the harmless ones that help keep the rodent
population in check. And finally, stay on the trail, be mindful of where you
are stepping, and exercise caution when out in the wilderness; animals are a
part of the outdoor experience, and will add so much to your ACE Basin adventure!
Something for everyone!
More than 130,000 acres of land have been protected through
public/private partnerships in the heart of the ACE Basin, qualifying it as one
of the most acclaimed freshwater natural areas found on the East Coast. It is
open to hiking, biking, boating, driving, riding, diving, viewing, tasting (we
enjoy stopping at local stands for fresh produce and seafood – but that’s a
whole other post!)… Each time we visit, we discover another thing we love about
the area, and I hope this article has inspired you to visit the ACE Basin and
find something of your own to love. Happy adventuring!
Four Holes Swamp, Beidler Forest
For more on the ACE Basin, check out The Nature Conservancy page.
This article first appeared on Kidding Around
Greenville in conjunction with the South Carolina 7 Expedition as Here’s How to See Amazing Wildlife and Plants in South Carolina’s ACE Basin.
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