Landscapes Shaped by Fire
Blueways Bring Berkeley to Life
The Wonders of Mulberry Plantation
vol. 4
berkeley journal
A Day on the Cooper It’s all here: natural beauty and recreational opportunities, amidst the deep resonance of more than three centuries of history. pg. 05
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WELCOME
Over the years, I’ve heard so many personal stories about life on the Cooper River. Some of them were related to “duck hunting back in the day” while others were true “fish tales”. Still others were recollections of home-places and scenes of a bygone era. Regardless of the perspective, I can relate in many ways. The Cooper River and its surrounding lands have for centuries been an integral part of life in our region. I hope you enjoy this issue of the Berkeley Journal with its focus on the Cooper River basin including a lookback on the Trust’s very first conservation easement–Mulberry, 1996. At the Trust, we often talk about our “sense of place” and how important it is to preserve. This phrase always reminds me of a video the Trust produced a few years ago in which Jim Rozier, former board chair, narrated video footage of the Cooper River. I quote Jim’s words here precisely as spoken simply because it represents the most powerful and personal message I’ve heard about our beloved Cooper River. “The Santee and Cooper Rivers have always been the life blood of our community. It’s our history, it’s our economy, it’s our environment and keeping these rivers and lands around them pristine and available to our community is necessary to preserving our roots. Our home, where we come from, our sense of place–these lands and waters are more than shades on a map. They’re what makes our home, our home. Saving them is tantamount to saving the heart and soul of our community.” I remain thankful to follow in the footsteps of our members, supporters, landowners and volunteers who have been such great stewards of our mission–saving the heart and soul of our community. Thank you for your loyal support! Please know that your annual gift matters this year more than ever! I humbly ask that you consider a donation today. Best regards,
Chris
Chris Vaughn Executive Director
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The South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council, comprised of individuals representing public agencies, conservation organizations and private landowners, sees a need to promote prescribed burning, particularly through landowner outreach. “Many landowners complete the Certified Prescribed Fire Manager training but need additional hands-on training to increase their comfort level,” commented Lisa Lord, Conservation Programs Director, Longleaf Alliance and Chair of the South Carolina Prescribed Fire Council. “‘Learn to Burn’ field days are a successful tool that helps landowners get more experience.” In addition to addressing a number of common landowner questions, the one-day Learn to Burn field days include a prescribed fire demonstration.
Feel the Burn For centuries, the southern landscape has been shaped by fire, first by lightning then by Native Americans. Forests that would otherwise have been impassable with thick vegetation were burned to improve hunting and accessibility. What was simply a way of life for Native Americans and early pioneers is one of the most valuable tools for landowners looking to achieve their objectives, such as: • reducing hazardous understory fuels, • improving wildlife habitat, • managing competing vegetation, • controlling insects and disease, • enhancing appearance, • providing an ideal environment for firedependent plants. While most landowners recognize the value of prescribed fire as a part of their forest management, some remain reluctant to light up out of concerns of liability, inexperience, and lack of labor or equipment. Over the last 10 years, the number of acres burned in South Carolina has continued to decline, with last year reporting the fewest acres burned in nearly 20 years.
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For landowners who’d prefer someone else tote the drip torch, a number of resources are available in our area. Consulting foresters and the South Carolina Forestry Commission offer prescribed burning services. Additionally, the Commission offers an hourly rate to support landowners with a tractor on standby. In some cases, cost share assistance may be available through Longleaf Alliance, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), or the US Fish and Wildlife Partners program to offset a portion of the fees.
The SC Prescribed Fire Act, passed in 1994, provides limited liability protection for persons who have been certified as prescribed fire managers. To become a Certified Prescribed Fire Manager you must: 1. Successfully complete a training program which includes home study, an 8-hour classroom session, and a written exam. The course is geared toward persons with considerable fire management experience. 2. Provide documentation of practical experience in prescribed burning. 3. Agree to conduct all burning in compliance with all applicable laws and ordinances. The Certified Prescribed Fire Manager Program is administered by the SC Forestry Commission. Several training sessions are provided each year. For more information, call 803-896- 8837. The SC Prescribed Fire Act does not require certification in order to conduct prescribed burning, but non-certified burners are not afforded liability protection under the act.
Blueways Bring Berkeley to Life Probably the most well-known of Hollywood woodpeckers is the zany “Woody” with his distinctive laugh that offered a healthy dose of the funnies and a sprinkling of mocking. While it seems like his time on the big screen was relatively short lived, the distinctive call of his cousins lives on in the waterways that cross Berkeley County. Paddle any one of the 25 Berkeley Blueways’ trails and you’re likely to hear Woody’s cousins, cackling or boring a hollow cypress, pecking to the beat of its own drum. He may be joined by the nervous chatter of chickadees or the splash of a large-mouth bass taking on some topwater bugs. Berkeley County is home to the expansive waterways of the Santee and Cooper Rivers, tidal creeks, and massive freshwater lakes. These areas serve as a stop-over for migrating birds, provide undisturbed estuaries for robust fisheries, and support a vibrant outdoor recreation economy. The Berkeley Blueways program leverages these stunning natural
resources, inspiring an appreciation and igniting a passion for protection. The program, coordinated by the Berkeley Soil and Water Conservation District, is the cooperative vision of a local organizations and governmental entities. In its recently updated guidebook, Blueways provides detailed maps with put-in and take-out tips, as well as safety pointers to keep families safe. “Through its online resources and onsite trail markings, Berkeley County Blueways and our expansive network of volunteers work to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for anyone looking to escape the daily hustle,” commented Beezie Fleming, Director of Operations, Berkeley County Soil and Water. “Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust’s land protection work directly and very positively contributes to our visitors’ experiences.” Learn more at berkeleyblueways.com
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A DAY O N THE
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COOPER
It’s all here: natural beauty and recreational opportunities, amidst the deep resonance of more than three centuries of history. by K atherine P emb erton
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n 1842, Dr. John Irving, who made his home at Kensington Plantation on the East Branch, asserted that “there is no more agreeable mode of passing a day...than spending it on the Cooper River.” He took advantage of a steamboat that departed Charleston before dawn, that would travel as far north as Fairlawn on the West Branch and amazingly, “returns to town the same evening.” Along the way, he took note of the many plantations, colonial chapels, the diverse abundance of wildlife, the dynamic wetlands, and the productive rice fields that still dot this largely unspoiled landscape. Today, the Cooper continues to define a sense of place through the heart of Berkeley County. Whether you’re waiting for the sun to rise from a wellcamouflaged duck blind or dropping a cricket in a lazy back water, catching the first Fall breeze from a kayak, or exploring historic sites and gardens, the River remains, as Dr. Irving noted an agreeable mode of passing a day. (Thanks to the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and other stewards, 52,811 acres of land and river front are conserved for the use and enjoyment of future generations. ) As Trust Director Chris Vaughn says, “The more we experience and engage directly with the Cooper River and the adjacent rural lands, the more we can all appreciate why conservation stewardship is so important.” Understanding the River and those who have come before us can connect us to its conservation in meaningful ways. Approximately twenty miles north of where it empties into Charleston Harbor, the Cooper River separates at a point historically known as the T into its East and West Branches. The headwaters of the East Branch are formed by creeks near Huger, while the West Branch begins some seventeen miles north of the T near Moncks Corner. These two branches, along with other tributaries and creeks, form an extremely fertile region consisting of tidal marshes and uplands. These 70,000 acres once generated incredible profits from rice cultivation, making Charleston the wealthiest per capita colonial city in British North America. Below the T, closer to Charleston, the early plantation settlements of English Barbadians became known as St. James Parish and above this were giant land grants called signiories and baronies. It’s hard these days to get a sense of their size, but just one twelve-thousand acre barony would encompass more than 18 square miles and it would take more than six hours to walk its perimeter. These types of land allocations were part of a plan to create a hereditary nobility which was laid out in a document by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina
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called the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. That document was authored by Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper for whom the river was named. Each barony was to be ruled by a “cassique” while the proprietors themselves or their designees could take a larger signiory and become “landgraves.” On the West Branch of the Cooper River were located the Colleton Family’s Fairlawn Signiory and Wadboo Barony while on the East Branch were Quenby and Cypress Baronies. On the first branch of the Back River, Medway plantation, home to Landgrave Thomas Smith, was among the earliest to be established. Above it on the West Branch, the stunning Mulberry Plantation was established in the early 18th century by Thomas Broughton. The important land at the T, now part of Bonneau Ferry WMA, was settled by John Coming and his wife Affra Harleston. This became known as Comingtee and passed into the Ball family. From this base on the river, a complicated and overlapping network of families spread out along both branches. The area along the south bank of the eastern branch of the river, which now encompass BP Chemical, Nucor and the plantations to their north, became known as the French Quarter. Here, French Huguenots initially received grants in a parish known as St. Denis. Middleburg, considered to be the oldest among all South Carolina plantation houses, was constructed under the ownership of Huguenot planter Benjamin Simons just north of the French Quarter. In 1706, the colonial assembly passed the Church Act which established the Anglican Church as the official church and created parishes that divided the region geographically and politically. Portions of St. John’s (Berkeley), St. James, (Goose Creek), and St. Thomas and St. Denis parishes bordered the Cooper River. Within each, a parish church was built, as well as chapels of ease that were designated for the convenience of those residents living far away from the main parish church. A surprising number of these churches and chapels survive: St. James Goose Creek church built in 1719, the ruins of Biggin Church built in 1761, Strawberry Chapel, built in 1725, the church for St. Thomas and St. Denis built in 1819, and Pompion Hill Chapel built in 1763. The physical landscape of the area evolved throughout the 18th century, with initial industries such as naval store production (tar and pitch) and brick making. These industries were then replaced by an almost unified district of rice plantations, with rice reserves and miles of earthen dikes created by the knowledge and labor of tens of thousands of enslaved people. Because of the labor-intensive nature of rice production, slaves in the Cooper River area far outnumbered white residents. St. James Parish in 1745 had a population of nearly 3,000 enslaved people and 400 white residents. With a shift in rice
growing technology toward the end of the 18th century, the emphasis on production increased. That landscape of rice fields, creeks and marshy areas provided shelter and cover and became a key element of the many Revolutionary War skirmishes in this area in the early 1780s as British forces tried to gain and retain control over the strategic port city of Charleston. Once the British took Charleston, volunteers under the command of the “Swamp Fox,” Francis Marion, became the only effective American force in the area. Marion, who was born at what is now part of North Chachan Plantation on the western branch, was known for his knowledge of the nearby swampy terrain from which he and his men would emerge in highly effective raids against the British. Just as the landscape evolved and changed, so too did the regional architecture with styles and dates ranging from the colonial period through the modern era. From the simple early design of Middleburg Plantation House to a more formal Georgian house like Lewisfield c.1774, plantation houses along the river include Medway c.1705, Mulberry c.1714, Halidon Hill c.1792, The Blessing c.1834, South Mulberry c.1835, Rice Hope 1929, and Richmond Plantation 1927, among many others. Numerous other houses and buildings throughout the area articulate the vernacular building traditions of the South Carolina Lowcountry. With the end of the rice culture by 1911, some of the large plantation tracts were subdivided for housing or used for industrial sites. Many more of these former brick and rice plantation lands and buildings were purchased as winter residences and hunting preserves by wealthy northerners. Sometimes referred to as the “second Yankee invasion” these purchases were key to the preservation of the structures and they also brought a new emphasis to the area, as former rice fields and woods were retained and reused to provide habitats for ducks, fish and other wildlife. This tradition of land conservation and stewardship is now deeply ingrained and has become a way of life. So—what are you waiting for? Take your own day on the Cooper River. Take a canoe through Cypress Gardens, explore the meditative gardens and high bluffs of the West branch at Mepkin Abbey, wrestle a catfish in the Tail Race Canal, walk the trails and explore the late 19th century canal system at Old Santee Canal Park. Join friends for a duck hunt amidst the remnants of 19th century rice fields, take a boat ride, or kayak past the limestone cliff at Wadboo and discover this and other swampy hideouts of Revolutionary War heroes. It’s all here: natural beauty and recreational opportunities, amidst the deep resonance of more than three centuries of history.
“Conservation stewardship is the only way forward,” remarks long-time Medway Plantation manager, Bob Hortman. He has lived a lifetime on the Cooper River. Growing up in Summerville, his teen years were spent duck hunting on the River and learning to preserve his own harvest through taxidermy. “Back in the 1960s, there were no big industries or housing developments along the riverjust black water and old rice fields and the quiet sounds of nature.” After graduating from Presbyterian College, he began working at DuPont. That soon changed after a call from conservationist, Coy Johnston and a meeting with Medway’s owner Gertrude Legendre, an eccentric outdoorswoman in search of a plantation manager. He remembers Coy advising, “this is a way of life, not a job.” Forty-three years later, Bob agrees. His tenure has spanned changes in ownership and the permanent protection of Medway through a conservation easement. He credits Ms. Legendre for her conservation ethic. After enduring the devastation of Hurricane Hugo, she told Bob fiercely, “You must never let anything bad happen to Medway. This should be a place for the beasts to grow old and die.” Protection of special places comes easy for a man who loves the Cooper River, especially the intersection of nature and history in places like the Stoke Rice Mill ruins near Comingtee and the dark reflective waters around the old rice fields. Above all, he appreciates the connection to people who have called Medway home. While plowing a field several years ago, he unearthed an unusual rock and later learned that it was part of a weight for a spearthrowing weapon called an “atlat” used by hunters between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. Bob immediately felt a connection to the last person who had touched it. “This guy was probably hunting, doing exactly what I have done in this same place. Will someone, 500 years from now, find an aluminum or carbon arrow that I once lost?” While we know we are all temporary stewards of these lands, the ongoing protection of special places is dependent upon people like Bob.
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PROJECTS
From the windows of the house on this plantation, miles of riceland lie in view, which are in soft shades of brown and black when ploughed in Spring, bordered by the green banks curving with the course of the river, to be followed in June by the tender-yellow green of the growing rice and in Scotswood Plantation September by a waving expanse of golden grain. - Charleston News and Courier, April 6, 1895
The Wonders of Mulberry Plantation by Katherine Pemberton
Mulberry Plantation is one of the undisputed jewels in a crown of incredible sites that have been conserved along the Cooper River. Originally a part of the Fairlawn Barony lands owned by the Colleton Family, a 4,423 parcel was sold to Thomas Broughton in 1708. In what may be charitably called a “happy accident” for Broughton, it was discovered after initial development of the site that he was building on lands still owned by Colleton. The parties soon came to an agreement through a land swap and additional payment. When one visits Mulberry today, and stands on the incredible 35-foot-high bluff overlooking the former rice fields on the West Branch of the Cooper River, it is not hard to understand why someone might risk a such a “mistake” for the sake of establishing a house with such a stunning prospect. Built between 1711 and 1714, Mulberry is one of the oldest masonry plantation houses to survive in the southeast. An unusual feature of the floorplan of the house is the presence of four corner pavilions topped with bell-cast roofs, wooden finials, and elaborate iron weathervanes which extend from each. Its fort-like shape and early date have caused speculation over the years as to whether the house was built to provide defense during the Yemassee Wars. While it was certainly built on what was then the frontier of the colony, its wide original windows with plenty of glass suggest it was built for light, air, and style. Mulberry Plantation is believed to have received its name
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because of an early interest in raising silk as worms that spin silk generally feed on Mulberry leaves. However, it was much more successful as a rice plantation. The back-breaking, and often dangerous work of rice cultivation took place at Mulberry Plantation from colonial days until the early 20th century. While a well-known painting by Thomas Coram c.1800 shows a bucolic view of the slave street and main house, photographs of the last rice harvest here in 1916, illustrate the immense physical labor required for rice cultivation and harvesting. Used as a rice plantation until the late 19th century, Mulberry was abandoned in 1909, and then purchased in 1915 and utilized as a hunting retreat by Clarence Chapman of New Jersey. The formal garden was designed by noted landscape architect Loutrel Briggs in 1930. South Mulberry was created out of the larger Mulberry Plantation in 1809 when Philip S. Broughton inherited the tract from his father. Broughton’s son-in-law, botanist Dr. Sanford W. Barker, constructed the house at South Mulberry around 1835 and likely laid out the formal garden which remains to the west of the house. Mulberry and South Mulberry were reunited under one ownership in 1991. Today, both tracts are conserved with easements held by both the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and Historic Charleston Foundation.
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GIVING
40,000 ACRES PROTECTED 16,500 Wetland Acres Protected
52 Easements 7 Counties
28 Years of Conservation Partnership in the Community 2 Fee Properties
DONATE TODAY WAYS TO GIVE by mail
136 E. RAILROAD AVENUE MONCKS CORNER, SC 29461
online
LORDBERKELEY.ORG/GIVE
DONor spotlight
WILL & ALICE HELMLY Will and Alice Helmly have known Cooper River since their earliest memories. Recently, we visited with them on the banks of the West Branch just behind Will’s childhood home on Cedar Island. Alice actually grew up just on the other side of the West Branch. Today, they look back on the years of raising their own family in the same special place that has given them so many rich and enduring memories. They’ve been through good times as well as terrifying moments on the Cooper – a tornado ripped through their home just this year. “The [Cooper] river is a part of who we are. We grew up on these waters. We swam, dived, boated all over this river as kids. Our kids have done the same and still call this place home. The wildlife is incredible – every year we see manatees (six this year) and dolphins as well. After the tornado, we knew the house could be rebuilt, but all of the trash in the river broke our hearts.” Will and Alice continue to be steadfast supporters of the Trust’s mission. They contribute financially, and Alice serves as a volunteer on our board of directors. When asked why the Trust’s efforts matter, they had this to say. “We have a growing community, which is good, but there are special places that need to be preserved. The work the Trust does to preserve these special places is important to us and for our community.” We offer a heartfelt thank you to the Helmlys for their support! Our hope is that you will be inspired to help us accomplish our mission – preserving the heart and soul of our community.
CONTACT US CHRIS VAUGHN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHRIS@LORDBERKELEY.ORG 843.209.2290
ADAIR ROARK FINANCE DIRECTOR ADAIR@LORDBERKELEY.ORG 864.630.8689
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DONORS
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PARTNERS
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SOCIAL
Oyster Roast Oyster Roast: Hosted at the beautiful Pineland Place in Pinopolis, guests enjoyed local oysters,
craft beer, live music, and great friends—all for a great cause.
SOCIAL
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The Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust works to protect special places in The Lord Berkeley Conservation works to protect special places in perpetuperpetuity - that's forever! Trust These lands and waters are more than ity—that’s forever! These lands and water are more than shades on a map. They shades on a map. They are family farms, native forests, historicare family farms, native forests, historic battlefields and miles of uninterrupted scenic river battlefields and miles of uninterrupted scenic river corridors. corridors.
We youtoto join us “Explore” and "Explore" of these special places first Weinvite invite you join us and some of some these special places first hand. By visiting these places, we hope you are reminded of what makes our home so special and have hand. By visiting these places, we hope you are reminded of what a renewed hope for the makes our home sofuture. special and have a renewed hope for the future. Learn more at www.lordberkeley.org/explore or use the QR code!
Learn more at www.lordberkeley.org/explore or use the QR code!