Please check the individual websites for up-to-date information as to closures and visiting information before you travel.
Fish Haul Creek Park (also known as Mitchelville Freedom Park)
The gorgeous Mitchelville Freedom Park, also known as the Fish Haul Creek Park, is a unique little property that is undergoing a transformation designed to properly honor the site’s significant, historic roots. As the original location of one of the first freed slave communities in the country, and currently serving as a haven for migrating and permanent shorebirds, the site will appeal to a wide range of interests. Take a stroll along the long wooded boardwalk through the woods, or head to the rocky beach that changes its entire landscape every few hours, and see why this stunning up-and-coming attraction is one of Hilton Head Island’s current best kept secrets.
Some of the wildlife you can see during the year are: Spring: Horseshoe crab spawning on nights of full and new moons. Winter: shorebirds. Year round: songbirds and waders, Eagles, Osprey, Pelicans. Good for American Oystercatchers and Black Skimmers.
Address: 226 Beach City Rd, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
Sea Pines Forest Preserve
Since 1970, the Sea Pines Forest Preserve has been a protected area for wildlife habitat and outdoor exploration. Following the construction of the first trails in the early 1970s, the preserve has grown to include bridle paths, wetland boardwalks, bridges and fishing docks, creating even more ways for visitors to explore and enjoy this stunning and pristine part of Hilton Head Island.
Today, there are many ways to explore the natural wonders of Hilton Head Island. Choose from guided boat tours, horseback rides, fishing expeditions, or wagon tours, or simply pick up a map and stroll the trails at your own pace.
Some of the wildlife and nature you enjoy are: Spring: migrating warblers, rookery, wildflowers and butterflies. Year round: song birds and waders.
Directions
Entry fee required (per car load). To visit the Preserve, take the Cross Island Parkway to the Sea Pines Circle (traffic circle). Take Greenwood Drive from the traffic circle to The Sea Pines Resort Welcome Center (32 Greenwood Drive), about a quarter mile on your right.
Hunting Island State Park
Admission: $8/adult; $5/SC seniors; $4/ child age 6-15; Free for children 5 and younger. Lighthouse admission: $2/person
Hunting Island is South Carolina’s single most popular state park, attracting more than a million visitors a year, as well as a vast array of land and marine wildlife. Five miles of pristine South Carolina beaches, thousands of acres of marsh and maritime forest, a saltwater lagoon and ocean inlet are all part of the park’s natural allure.
Of all the lighthouses in South Carolina, the Hunting Island Lighthouse is the only one in the state that is publicly accessible. From the top of one of the most distinctive lighthouses in South Carolina, guests can stand 130 feet above the ground to take in the breathtaking, panoramic view of the Atlantic Coast and surrounding maritime forest.
Hunting Island State Park camping is available at 100 campsites with water and electrical hookups, shower and restroom facilities, beach walkways and a playground. Hunting Island State Park camping reservations must be made for a minimum of two nights.
Top 5 Things to do at Hunting State Park:
- Visit the historic Hunting Island lighthouse and climb your way to the top.
- Enjoy a sunrise, walk along the beach and look for sharks’ teeth and other shells that have washed ashore.
- Visit the nature center at Hunting Island State Park and see the alligators!
- Visit the Marsh Boardwalk, the best place in the Lowcountry to watch the sunset.
- Take a ferry from Hunting Island for a naturalist-led tour of St. Phillips Island where you can explore trails, enjoy the beach and see wildlife of this pristine barrier island.
Park and trail map – click here.
Skidaway Island State Park
Located near historic Savannah, this park borders Skidaway narrows, a part of Georgia’s Intracoastal Waterway. Trails wind through maritime forest and past salt marsh, leading to a boardwalk and observation tower. Visitors can watch for deer, fiddler crabs, raccoon, egrets and other wildlife.
A scenic campground is nestled under live oaks and Spanish moss, and some RV sites have sewer hookups. Leashed pets are allowed. Groups can enjoy privacy in their own pioneer campgrounds. Open-air picnic shelters and an enclosed group shelter are popular spots for parties, reunions and other celebrations. For cooling off during summer, Tybee Island’s beaches are less than an hour away.
Address: 52 Diamond Causeway
Savannah, GA 31411
Chatham County
GPS Coordinates
N 31.9493100 | W -81.053710
Georgia’s Coastal Birding Trail
James W. Webb Wildlife Center
Explore a black water wonderland through a double-feature Field Trip to the Webb Wildlife Center’s canoe and nature trails, both within shouting distance of the Savannah River in Hampton County. The Webb Center, one of the sites featured in the South Carolina Nature Viewing Guide, is a facility owned and managed by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources to provide wildlife habitat and opportunities for public recreation.
The entrance road lies 2.7 miles from Garnett, and a left turn leads visitors down an oak-shaded passage to the Webb Center’s complex of buildings. Named for the late James W. Webb, former director of the state’s wildlife agency, the 5,866 acres encompass upland pine stands that host endangered species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers, as well as wildlife openings, bottomland hardwood forests and cypress-tupelo swamps. The drive into the center passes through part of the upland pine woods, and white rings encircling some of the trees denote woodpecker nest-cavity sites. With 40 miles of roads and trails offering access for observing wildlife, the choices are diverse, but this Field Trip will travel generally south, toward the Savannah River.
The road leads past the Webb Center office, the lodge, which served as the plantation house for a race-horse training farm before the state acquired the property in 1941, and several outbuildings. If you visit during the week, (Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:30), drop in at the office for a map and rest room stop. A map isn’t necessary, but if your visit falls on the weekend and you want one, they can be found at the kiosk where you sign in. Take the gravel road and follow the brown-and-white Bluff Lake directional signs. This road passes between wildlife openings where you may spot wild turkeys and white-tailed deer in early mornings and late evenings. Deer stands along the road get use from October through December, when access to the Webb Center is restricted on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays because of scheduled hunts.
Address: 1282 Webb Ave
Garnett, SC 29922