The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Heritage Trust Program is excited to share the acquisition of Coosaw Sea Island Cotton Heritage Preserve. This 122.6-acre tract of land located on Coosaw Island in Beaufort County was dedicated in a ceremony on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, 2025.This land will now be protected forever.
Coosaw Sea Island Cotton Heritage Preserve is the agency’s 19th Cultural Heritage Preserve. The land was purchased thanks to its partners at the Open Land Trust (OLT).
The Heritage Trust Program was honored to have Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and Kate Schaefer with OLT speak at the property dedication ceremony with nearly 100 people in attendance.
Gullah Geechee people cultivated and harvested Sea Island Cotton in South Carolina from the late 1700s until the American Civil War, with very few sites still visible on the landscape. This property contains visible remnant beds and drainage ditches of those fields.
During Reconstruction, Gullah Geechee people acquired the land and operated truck farms and other businesses into the turn of the 20th century. The cotton field ridges, furrows, surrounding edges and road shoulders will provide important places to reestablish culturally significant sweetgrass within the preserve.
While designated a Cultural Heritage Preserve, the property also protects abundant plant and animal species. On the wetland portions of the property, there are extant ridges, furrows and water control earthworks from sea island cotton production that provide habitat for many terrestrial and aquatic species.
The Heritage Trust Program was also honored to have the families of Beekman “Beek” Lee Webb, Jr. and Allison Battey Marshall attend the property dedication ceremony. Two memorial benches were placed on the property in honor of Beek and Allison. Beek was instrumental in the preservation of Coosaw Sea Island Cotton Heritage Preserve. He was a Beaufort native, life-long birder, and served as a long-time board member and former president of the Open Land Trust. Allison was also a Beaufort native who dedicated her life to children with autism, often using the natural environment as a setting for many of her programs.
We’re very pleased to see that this land on Coosaw Island will now be protected.
Also Read: 4,400 acres of Lowcountry wetlands now protected from future development
