Lowcountry Unfiltered / Widgeon Point, Beaufort County’s tonic of wildness
We need the tonic of wildness — to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground…We can never have enough of nature.
- Henry David Thoreau
You can truly never get enough of nature, especially if you live in the Lowcountry. There is a place in Beaufort County where the marsh touches the land and where sea, sky and island come together to produce a place as near to wilderness as you can experience and still be home for dinner.
Widgeon Point Preserve is on S.C. 170 between the Broad River and the Chechessee River, and is one of the most easily accessible natural areas in the region. This park is co-owned by Beaufort County and the Beaufort County Open Land Trust. It opened to the public in January and is well worth a visit.
Widgeon Point Preserve is a relatively small, 162-acre island, an ideal example of the thousands of island hammocks that are spread like emeralds across the marshlands of Beaufort County. These islands are home to the unique and hardy wildlife of the Lowcountry: Otter, raccoon, snakes and lizards rustle about in the stiff palmetto leaves of the undergrowth, while above, songbirds sing, the osprey hunts and the bald eagle surveys her kingdom.
Widgeon Point Preserve is a haven for wading birds and an excellent place to spot egret, heron and even the elusive marsh hen. During the hot summer months, strikingly pink spoonbills and other out-of-towners can be spotted fishing in the shallow ponds, including a large brackish impoundment that swirls with redfish, mullet and other saltwater fish until the encroaching waters of the seasonal king tides offer a temporary gateway back to the sea.
When you visit Widgeon Point Preserve, you can experience all of this in relative comfort and with the companionship of a four-legged family member. Widgeon Point Preserve is dog-friendly, with a 0.7 mile hiking trail that is in sections paved, graveled and bare sand — but all well-maintained and offering astoundingly beautiful, scenic views.
Once used as farmland, Widgeon Point Preserve retains signs of its old life in the scars of the land and a barn that is now available for events. A covered wildlife-viewing area is a great place to observe the bird and fish activity in the brackish pond, where an early-morning visit will reveal the quiet traffic of wildlife beginning or ending the day, just feet from the busy traffic of the highway.
The trails will take you on a circuit of the small island, where you will walk beneath a canopy of live oak, palmetto and pine — many showing the scars of land management by fire. The trail’s apex is the remains of an ancient shell mound, the evidence of Native American life from over 1,000 years ago. Widgeon Point Preserve has been a home and a haven for many, and now it is a place of refuge from the business of the modern world.
I recently visited Widgeon Point Preserve and spent several hours walking the trail and exploring the offerings of the park. A marsh hen preened herself behind a screen of grass, while a flock of spoonbills fished quietly in a cove of the pond before exploding in a pink storm of feathers at my approach. As they settled on the far side of the pond to continue fishing, I took to the woods to explore.
It was high tide and, as I stood on the bank of the eroding shell mound, the pops and clicks of crab and other creatures thriving in the flooding marshland were the only sounds. Across the tidal flats the sky seemed to blend with the water. The only disturbance was the swirl and splash of huge redfish hunting in the shallows. As I returned to my car, I could only marvel that all of this was nearly within sight of one of the busiest highways in the county —and yet seemed as remote as when time began. I plan to visit Widgeon Point Preserve often, and I hope you will, too.
Getting there
Widgeon Point Preserve is close to the foot of the Broad River bridge on S.C. 170. A paved entryway and ample parking mark the improved access to the park, and a paved trail will take you to the overlook, event barn and start of the nature trail. Widgeon Point Preserve is open year-round with a gate that is open from dawn to dusk daily. There are no facilities other than a portable restroom and well-sited water fountain – that also provides for dogs. The preserve is an excellent place to visit for a picnic, nature hike or simply to kill a few hours between the hustle and bustle of life. For more information, call the Open Land Trust at (843) 521-2175.