The Lush Lowlands of South Carolina

We’ve spent the last ~2 weeks in the Lowlands of South Carolina. They actually stretch from the Georgia border to just north of Charleston. When we say lush, we mean lush. Did you know that South Carolina is the sixth most forested state in the US? 68% of the land in South Carolina is forested. Just driving along the freeway, you don’t see many signs or buildings. It’s all forests which then open up to marshes and back to forest. Green, leafy, just plain LUSH!

Beautiful Beaufort

By now, everyone knows that we like small towns much more than larger cities. We spent a lovely afternoon just walking around Beautiful Beaufort, SC. (If I say the beautiful first, I get the “U” pronunciation right in Beaufort. Not something I came up with, one of the shopkeepers told me that one and of course, now it’s stuck in my head.) The town is filled with small shops, art galleries, green spaces and any number of national historic registered homes.

This small town is the second oldest in the state of South Carolina and has an amazing history. Good and bad, it owns its history and we appreciated hearing about all of it. The city itself dates back over 500 years and some of the homes that we saw as we walked the streets, date back to the 1700’s. If you like pre-civil war history, civil war history and up to today, you will love this town. As interesting as the history of the area is, we fell in love with the walk along the river. It’s filled with beautiful views and when you need a break, you simply park your seat in one of the many swings that overlook the small harbor. No matter where we went on this coastal island, we felt like we were absolutely surrounded by lush beauty.

Water everywhere and the animals that use it

It seems as you drive around the state, you move from forest to water constantly. There are rivers that are large, small and all the sizes in-between. We’ve seen tidal marshes that ebb and flow as the tides on the Atlantic change; freshwater marshes and lakes all around us that are your normal water depth all the time. We did go to the Atlantic coast one afternoon, however, we have found it is hard to get to the actual Atlantic in this area. Most of the access has been taken over by developers and is gated for their residents and private clubs. There are a few county parks with beach access but we haven’t found that many. It really depends on which island you choose to visit as to what type of access you get. Our advice is to do your homework first before you think about a beach day and discover after driving, you can’t actually access it if you’re not a member.

With all this water, the mix of animals, birds and flowers we have seen, is amazing. Is that a freshwater duck? Brackish water? Salt water?

Flora and Fauna

The live oaks

Besides Beautiful Beaufort, this was our absolute favorite site in the lowlands. This is the angel oak out on St. Johns island. It’s considered the largest live oak east of the Mississippi and is estimated to be between 300 and 400 years old. My pictures do not even come close to capturing how large this tree actually is no matter where you look at it. As you walk around the tree and experience the massive branches, Dave says it looks like it just got tired of holding them up and decided to rest them on the ground. If you come to the lowlands of South Carolina, check this beauty out for yourselves. It’s free to experience this absolute giant of a gem.

Fun fact: Did you know old Ironsides was made from planks of live oak and is still maintained with it to this day? Navy, live oak. Probably why we both have such a fascination with these magnificent trees.

Angel Oak® | Charleston, SC – Official Website (charleston-sc.gov)

To wrap up our last couple of weeks, we are focusing the rest of our time on the Charleston area. We are planning a trip to Patriots Point and Fort Sumter. For a couple of navy vets, how could we not?

See ya on the road,

Dave and Theresa