The Waccamaw Neck is the name given to the coastal area of Georgetown County, SC, from the port city of Georgetown to the shrimping village of McClellanville.  George Washington visited here 200 years ago, riding in a carriage pulled by four horses.  Following the Old King’s Highway, he traveled along the coast all the way to Savannah, GA.  His journals from this trip spoke about the impressive rice plantations along the river banks of the Waccamaw, Black, Pee Dee, Sampit, Santee, and Winyah Bay.  Washington was so impressed looking at one planter’s rice fields sparkling in the sun, he called them a “fairyland.”  The fairyland is no more, but there’s still plenty to see and do along this narrow strip of land.

Georgetown is the county seat and its historic district is over 250 years old.  We started our “tour” here by spending the night near the Georgetown Marina, across Winyah Bay from Bernard Baruch’s winter home, Hobcaw Barony.   A peaceful scene and a good night’s rest ….

 

First order of business – Santee Plantations.  In the early 1800s, there were over 150 plantations in Georgetown County.  Those in the rich wetlands near the coast were the most productive, bringing great wealth to the planters, who created great homes for their families.  The old South Island Road runs parallel to Winyah Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the North Santee River – along the way there are at least 15 old rice plantations, with and without a still-standing big house:  Belle Isle, Dover, Oakton, Retreat, Estherville, Annandale, Millbrook, Daisy Bank, Wicklow Hall, Mildam, Kinloch, Newland, Woodside, Rice Hope, and Hopsewee.  Pictured are the live oak lane leading into Kinloch Plantation and the plantation houses at Millbrook and Hopsewee.

 

Hopsewee Plantation is located on the South Santee River, on land originally granted to Thomas Lynch by King George II.  Lynch constructed his home of black cypress between 1735 and 1740, it is one of the oldest and best-maintained dwellings in the region.  Lynch was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; his home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The live oak lane leading into Kinloch Plantation is one of the finest along this stretch of road.  In 1911, Eugene E DuPont and some of his friends – including John Philip Sousa – purchased Kinloch and nearby properties totaling 9000 acres.  They combined their holdings into the Kinloch Gun Club, which was reserved for hunting wildlife conservation.  After DuPont’s death, the property was bought by Ted Turner, who maintains the property for hunting and wildlife preservation.  Members of his family spend time here each year.

Most of the old plantations are privately owned and not open to the public except for special occasions, but there is lots of history hiding around these parts.  For example, Belle Isle Plantation, which was owned by Elias Horry, was also the home of the parents of Francis Marion.  The Swamp Fox spent his boyhood exploring these forests and fishing these waters – experience that no doubt influenced his ideas about guerilla warfare. 

The 2300-acre Annandale Plantation was once owned by George Alfred Trenholm, the secretary of the Confederate treasury.  It continues today as a working plantation, with corn and soybeans grown on the uplands and shrimp and crabs cultivated in the wetlands.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Also listed is Wicklow Hall, built around 1835; here some 540,000 pounds of rice were produced here in 1850. 

South Island Road ends at the Intracoastal Waterway.  Across the water are three island – North, South and Cat Islands – featuring marshland and hardwood forests.  For more than 50 years, these islands and their 20,000 acres were the property of Tom Yawkey, the owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.  In his 1976 will, Yawkey left the islands and a $10-Million trust fund to the SC Wildlife and Marine Resources Department.  It is possible to tour the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Preserve, but reservations must be made months in advance – we’ll be back!

A few miles after US 17 crosses the South Santee River, we ventured onto the Old King’s Highway, now known as Old Georgetown Road.  Locals insist that this is the oldest road in the state; it ran the length of the coastline, but this segment between Charleston and Georgetown was the first part to be constructed.  It’s a dirt road, and it doesn’t look like it’s had any maintenance since George Washington passed this way.
 

We came to visit the St. James Santee Church, built in 1768.  This little church, also known as the Wambaw Brick Church, has a unique history.  It was designed to accommodate a combined congregation of Huguenots and Anglicans.  There were two distinct areas on the Santee in the eighteenth century.  The region called the French Santee was inhabited by the Huguenots, while further north, the region called the English Santee was populated by British settlers.  Each group was close-knit, but relations between the two were always cordial.  When the Anglicanism was decreed the official religion of the colony, the two congregations decided to merge.  To keep everyone happy, the church was built with two porticos – one facing the French Santee area and one facing the English Santee area.  Services were conducted at the church every Sunday until 1865.  Today, an annual service is held the Sunday after Easter, followed by a covered dish picnic.  

 

By 1877 the majority of the congregation (only 13 families at that time) had relocated to the village of McClellanville and in 1891, the St. James Episcopal Church was as a chapel-of-ease for the original parish church.  This beautiful old wooden church with is stained glass windows has stood firm despite Hugo’s wrath. 

Nearby is Little Hampton, the town home of the Rutledge family.  The original log structure on this site was built by Henry Rutledge, the father of the late Archibald Rutledge, poet laureate of South Carolina.  The location was convenient – less than a day’s carriage ride from the Rutledge family’s main home at Hampton Plantation.  The family would leave the plantation in early spring, spend a month in McClellanville, and then spend the rest of the summer in Flat Rock, North Carolina – another haven for people trying to escape the heat and mosquitos of the Low Country.    The original Little Hampton was largely destroyed by Hurricane Hugo; the current version features unpainted wood, a tin roof, and a screened-in porch. 

The SC Center for Birds of Prey is located near Awendaw.  The Center was founded by Jim Elliott, who saw the need for a professional level of care for injured birds of prey in South Carolina, equipped to sufficiently manage the direct threats to the birds of prey population.  He established the Charleston Raptor Center in 1991. As the Center grew, Elliott recognized the need to increase public understanding of avian species and the crucial role they play in the environment. In 2004, the Avian Conservation Center opened, incorporating The Center for Birds of Prey and the Avian Medical and Oiled Bird Treatment Facility.

The Center’s mission includes providing medical care to injured birds of prey and shorebirds, as well as education, research, and conservation.  The Avian Medical Clinic currently treats more than 600 injured birds each year, releasing the majority back to their natural habitat. Although the causes of injuries vary widely, nearly all are human-related – ranging from gunshot wounds to collisions, electric shock from power lines, and poisoning.  The medical functions of the Center operate on a 365-day / 24-hour basis, and the Center’s network of staff and volunteers will pick up injured birds anywhere in the state. 

The medical clinic is not open to visitors, but the rest of the facility is a great place to visit.  Guided tours are offered and are led by enthusiastic, knowledgeable guides, as well as the opportunity to wander around the cages of birds.  Some of the caged birds were injured too seriously for release in the wild (e.g., blind or broken wings), and some were obtained from other centers for educational purposes.  There are birds from six continents (no penguins!); we were happy to see our old friend from South America – the crested caracara. 

In the area known as Owl Wood, we got to meet a couple of new arrivals – Eurasian eagle-owl chicks.  Fuzzy little critters who would have rather been eating than visiting.  Here is a borrowed picture of the proud parents, so you can see how they will look when they’re all grown up.  Rather fierce.

 

While we were wandering around Owl Wood, the staff brought out this beautiful British Barn Owl to perch and pose for pictures.  Maybe my new favorite bird …

There were a couple of volunteers walking around with a birds for close-up viewing, questions, and pictures, of course.  Today’s avian ambassadors were a red-tailed hawk and an Asian brown wood owl. 

 

The highlight of our visit was the flight demonstration – a chance to see four different birds of prey in action.  Each has distinctive behavior and flight pattern.  First up was a pair of Harris hawks, one of several species that hunt cooperatively.  They had no trouble grabbing the decoy from their handlers – once one of them caught the beast, s/he huddled over it to keep it hidden and safe.  The handler had to retrieve the decoy by offering the bird a real piece of meat in exchange.

 

Next was a Ural owl, who wowed us by flying low and then inches over our heads, never making a sound.  It’s easy to understand how these guys can sneak up on their prey!

 

The Lanner falcon is a handsome fellow – small, but powerful.  It feeds mainly on small to medium size birds, so the flight demo had the handler twirling a feathered decoy on a long string.  He had to work hard to keep it away from this determined bird; he had to work even harder to get it back!

 

Last was the yellow-billed kite, an amazing insect-eating bird that never landed during the entire demonstration.  He makes you believe that flying must be loads of fun, but truth is that he needs to stay in the air to catch his favorite food – locusts and grasshoppers. 

 

All in all, a nice day in the Low Country of South Carolina.  We were happy to visit some places that we have passed a million times, but had never taken the time to stop and visit.  Now we’re ready to head back to check out some more hidden treasures along the coast.