The Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge is a
National Wildlife Refuge located in
Beaufort County, South Carolina
Beaufort County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 187,117. Its county seat is Beaufort.
Beaufort County is part of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Stati ...
between the mainland and
Hilton Head Island. Named after Major General
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, it was established to provide a nature and forest preserve for aesthetic and conservation purposes.
The refuge is one of seven refuges administered by the
Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
. The complex has a combined staff of 31 with a fiscal year 2005 budget of $3,582,000.
History
Pinckney Island NWR is
archaeologically
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
rich, with 115
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
and historic sites identified. Analysis of the prehistoric sites indicate human occupation dating from the
Archaic Period (8000-1000 BC), with intensive use during the
Mississippian Period (1000-1500 AD).
Historic artifacts indicate that small scale, impermanent settlements were made on Pinckney by French and Spanish groups in the 16th and 17th centuries. Permanent settlements did not occur until 1708 when Alexander Mackay, an Indian trader, obtained title to of present-day Pinckney Island. By 1715, Mackay had acquired the rest of the island, as well as most of the other islands which comprise the present refuge. In 1736, Mackay's widow sold the islands to
Charles Pinckney Charles Pinckney may refer to:
* Charles Pinckney (South Carolina chief justice) (died 1758), father of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
* Colonel Charles Pinckney (1731–1782), South Carolina politician, loyal to British during Revolutionary War, fa ...
, father of General
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
General Pinckney was a commander during the
Revolutionary War, a signer of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
, and, in 1804 and 1808, a presidential candidate for the
Federalist Party
The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801.
De ...
. After he inherited the islands from his father, Pinckney was an absentee landowner until 1804, when he moved to the island and began managing the property. The Pinckney family developed the islands into a
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
, removing much of the maritime forest and draining and tilling the fertile soil. By 1818, the Pinkneys owned over 200
enslaved people
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
who produced long-staple
Sea Island Cotton
''Gossypium barbadense'' (''gos-SIP-pee-um bar-ba-DEN-see'') is one of several species of cotton. It is in the mallow family. It has been cultivated since antiquity, but has been especially prized since a form with particularly long fibers was ...
on ; by 1840, that number had increased to 300.
The plantation flourished until the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, when it was occupied by
Union troops and the enslaved people were liberated. Small skirmishes took place on Pinckney Island. The most significant incident occurred on August 21, 1862, when the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
Beaufort Light Artillery/11th Infantry attacked the camp of
Company H, Third Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, killing four Union soldiers and wounding ten men (eight Confederate, two Union).
US Army records reflect that black troops were recruited for the Union Army from the area. Five military (
U.S. Colored Troops) headstones are located in a cemetery on the northwest side of Pinckney Island. It is possible that the U.S. Army had recruited slaves from those owned by the Pinckneys.
After the war and late century agricultural recession, the plantation did not prosper. By the 1930s, it was virtually abandoned. In 1937, after more than 200 years of Pinckney family ownership, the plantation was sold to Ellen Bruce, wife of James Bruce, a New York banker who used the property as a
hunting preserve. The Bruces planted hardwoods and pine, built ponds to attract
waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...
and provide for irrigation, and placed 70 percent of the farm fields back into cultivation.
In 1954 Edward Starr and
James Madison Barker, a distinguished MIT alumnus and early leader in the field of international business, purchased the islands. They continued to manage them as a game preserve. In 1975, they donated the islands to the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
to be managed exclusively as a
National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and as a nature and forest preserve for aesthetic and conservation purposes. The Pinckney Island NWR was established on December 4, 1975.
Topography
The refuge includes Pinckney Island, Corn Island, Big Harry and Little Harry Islands, Buzzard Island and numerous small
hammock
A hammock (from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno and Arawak ) is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swing (seat), swinging, sleeping, or Human relaxation, resting. It normally consists of one ...
s. Pinckney is the largest of the islands and the only one open to public use. Nearly 67% of the refuge consists of
salt marsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...
and tidal creeks. A wide variety of land types are found on Pinckney Island alone:
saltmarsh
A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
, forestland, brushland,
fallow field and freshwater
pond
A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...
s. In combination, these habitats support a diversity of bird and plant life.
Wildlife
Wildlife commonly observed on Pinckney Island include waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, neo-tropical migrants, and
white-tailed deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
, with large concentrations of
white ibis,
heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...
s, and
egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...
s. Other species include the
American alligator
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the gen ...
,
flatwoods salamander,
nine-banded armadillo
The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also known as the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a mammal found in North, Central, and South America, making it the most widespread of the armadillos. ...
,
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
, and the
wood stork
The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the "wood ibis", though it is not an ibis. It is found ...
.
Facilities
There is no visitor center at the refuge. However, there are opportunities for hiking, cycling, photography and wildlife observation.
Each year the refuge holds a one-day quota deer hunt to ensure that population numbers remain in balance with the surrounding habitat. However, fishing is prohibited from the land portions of the refuge.
Trails
There are of hiking trails on the refuge and nine recommended hikes:
* Ibis Pond - , round trip; one and a half hours walking at a leisurely pace
* Shell Point - , round trip; four hours and 15 minutes
* Wood Stork Pond - , round trip; two and a half hours
* Osprey Pond - , round trip; three hours
* Nini Chapin Pond - , round trip; three and a half hours
* Bull Point - , round trip; five hours
* Dick Point - , round trip; six and a half hours
* Clubhouse Pond - , round trip; five and a half hours
* White Point - , round trip; seven hours
See also
*
List of National Wildlife Refuges
As of 2022, there are 588 National Wildlife Refuges in the United States, with the addition of the Green River National Wildlife Refuge. Refuges that have boundaries in multiple states are listed only in the state where the main visitor entrance i ...
External links
Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge homepageFWS profile of Pinckney Island NWR
{{authority control
Protected areas of Beaufort County, South Carolina
Islands of South Carolina
National Wildlife Refuges in South Carolina
Pinckney family
Wetlands of South Carolina
Islands of Beaufort County, South Carolina
1975 establishments in South Carolina