To get a feel for nature and wildlife you can visit historic house sites - Boone Hall Plantation, Magnolia Plantation House and Gardens which also incorporates the Audubon Swamp Garden, Drayton Hall and the spectacular Middleton Place. Or there are areas especially dedicated to wildlife preservation.
Pinckney Island NWR
The reserve was once included in the plantation of Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a prominent lawyer active in South Carolina politics from 1801 to 1815. The 4,053 acre refuge includes Pinckney Island, Corn Island, Big Harry and Little Harry Islands, Buzzard Island and numerous small hammocks. Pinckney is the largest of the islands and the only one open to public use. Nearly 67% of the refuge consists of salt marsh and tidal creeks. A wide variety of land types are found on Pinckney Island alone, salt marsh, forestland, brushland, fallow field and freshwater ponds. In combination, these habitats support a diversity of bird and plant life.
South Carolina Aquarium - Calhoun Street
A regional resource inspiring conservation by excelling in education, and in the care, display, and study of aquatic life.
Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests
Cape Romain NWR is part of the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve. It consists of 64,229 acres, 28,000 of which are preserved with the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Francis Beidler National Forest - Off of I26 Harleyville
Walk through this swamp via the boardwalk, or canoe or kayak.
Isle of Palms
A barrier island on the South Carolina coast, less than 20 minutes from Charleston.
Cypress Gardens - off Highway 52 between Goose Creek and Moncks Corner
A nature park with trails, a butterfly house, aquarium and reptile center, flat bottom boats where you can take a free guided tour through the swamp.
Sandy Island
A unique land form, a complex of wetland and upland communities located between the Waccamaw and Great Pee Dee Rivers and representing the largest undeveloped tract remaining in the Waccamaw Neck. 1,100 acres of wetlands along the Waccamaw River, on the east side of Sandy Island, were converted to rice plantations during the 1800s. A few remnant impoundments and water control structures used for rice culture are still intact.
