PHOTO ESSAY: Botany Bay is a Lowcountry treasure

Special to Charleston Currents· 01/04/2021 8:38 am·1 comment

Part of the Boneyard Beach at Botany Bay on Edisto Island. Photos by English Purcell. Used by permission.

By English Purcell, special to Charleston Currents | Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area is a Lowcountry treasure, and its “boneyard beach” is one of my favorite places to photograph.

Opened to the public in 2008, the 3,363-acre Botany Bay tract (map)is a significant wildlife habitat with several equally significant historic assets. The Wildlife Management Area is also an active archaeological site where the remains of two prehistoric Native American shell rings are being threatened by erosion.

The brown piece in the middle apparently is from a Native American pot. Purcell says artifacts like this are not to be removed from the protected Botany Bay area.

Part of a shell ring in the area.

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