Back on the Trail Deep in the ACE Basin

 

Two days before Thanksgiving worked out well for a visit to the ACE Basin, the Lowcountry treasure of vast wilderness and wildlife. 

With the Donnelley and Bear Island state nature preserves closed for seasonal hunting I made the 50-mile drive to the Ernest F. Hollings National Wildlife Refuge, which prohibits hunting.

This refuge near Hollywood and Meggett was established in 1990. It consists of 11,815 acres. The ACE in ACE Basin stands for three rivers- the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto that run and drain through a protected system of 350,000 acres representing one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems remaining on America’s East Coast. Ernest Hollings (1922-2019) of Charleston was a longtime and colorful political figure as a South Carolina governor and U.S. senator. 

Among the features is the Grove Plantation house that was built in 1828 by George Washington Morris (1799-1834), grandson of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The late Federal-style structure is one of the few antebellum mansions in the region to survive the Civil War. Today it serves as offices for U.S. Fish and Wildlife staffers who maintain the vast property. 

The front of the house faces toward the Edisto River. Back then the river was a key mode of transportation and transport so when friends, family, or business associates arrived by boat they would see the front of the home. 

ACE Basin- No Bears but Many Birds and Gators at Bear Island

 

It was good to get out of the house Sunday and make the lengthy drive south to the ACE Basin. The vast protected preserve is worth the drive time because it’s always a great commune with nature. And it’s so quiet out there except for the calls of birds and the grunts of alligators. And we did see lots of both. 

To follow are my photographs that show some of what can be seen at the precious preserve called the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area.

This long road dissects the 12,000-acre undeveloped property. It extends from the entrance straight to the outer limits of Bear Island.