This might not catch on in suburbia though.
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Tag Archives: South Carolina
Soaking Up The Sun, Alligator
This is one of the gators I swear hardly moves at all.
It had been a week since I was near him, and yet here he is. In fairness not the exact same spot, pretty close though.
We are in the time of year Alligators hardly eat. Their metabolism is very slow. In colder weather they can’t even digest anything, which is not good for their health so they don’t eat.
However, when it gets warmer this guy will swim off and swallow a small Volkswagen. It’s a long winter.
Fishing On The Surface, Great Egret
The marsh pond here is almost completely covered in thick algae. Even so both Herons and Egrets (and Alligators) look for food.
This bird flew over the surface multiple times. He did manage to pluck a few things from the algae.
With all the places to hunt some seem to pick the hard way.
Like an Eating Machine, White Pelicans
When these birds start out to eat they move, and consume, like a well oiled machine.
To start they form a line (of sorts) and plod along reaching down to scoop up whatever they find.
Grasses and water are spit back out and down under they go again.
If you get a good size flock, maybe 100, everything in the area can be cleaned out pretty quick.
Blue Heron Rookery
The boys are back in town.
Male Great Blue Herons are in the rookery claiming the best nesting spots.
There’s lots of changing places, some fighting, and even early repairs to last years old branches.
One of the islands has plenty of red leaves and big trees. The Herons were flying around, over, and through making great shots, if you were in the right spot.
I missed more than a few, I’m rusty, and need to get more practice.
Colors are now a combination of a few fall reds, browns, and the greens of Palmettos.
Activity will pickup and continue on through summer. There will always be quiet times, but I even saw the first female tormenting / fighting a male at a nest.
Charleston, South Carolina.
Exploring The Swamps, Heron
I walked past this Great Blue while in a local swamp last week.
A Heron rookery is down the trail so I expect to bump into more now.
This one was actually in an abandon small Heron rookery. It would be nice if some setup house here too.
Give Us A Smile, Alligator
With that smile I had to take the shot.
Inside Hampton Plantation
There have been a few photographs and short articles here about the Hampton Plantation in the Santee Delta of South Carolina. Up until these images I had never been able to look inside the building, a ranger is not always on the property.
Building the initial structure first started in 1735. Final additions were the front porch and columns around 1790. During that time this was a rice and indigo plantation.
Note; Indigo was an important dye and crop to the world in the early 1700's, even long before Levi's jeans ! At first the dye plant was grown in the far east, then South America. Finally Eliza Lucas, the 16-year-old daughter of a wealthy planter, successfully cultivated indigo for the first time in the American colonies. It took years to find a suitable method for South Carolina, then the plant exhausted the ground quickly. New land was constantly taken from Native American tribes.
Below is from the entrance to main building. The house evolved over the years, the first part was a small central hall two story structure. Over time a two story ball room and a master suite were added. False shuttered windows were added for a symmetrical look outside.
The house is preserved as it was in 1971 when South Carolina received the property. Some walls and ceilings (below) were opened for expected repairs. None were needed based on the original solid construction. Black Cypress trees were used which are strong, do not burn well, and even swamp insects don’t cause damage.
The blue wall colors are similar to the original indigo blue that was used. Some of the walls still had the first indigo paint, my images didn’t catch the it though.
Being wealthy planters the wood work on the main floor was probably very expensive for the time. But why not, the plantation was in the middle of nowhere so what else do you have.
Above is an example of an early fireplace flue. Few houses had anything like this method to preserve the heat.
Last, I could only get a quick view of the ballroom.
Having taken a flat bottom marsh boat to get here we ran out of time and did not see the upstairs.
There are probably too many images in this article, I couldn’t help myself. This plantation is not just around the corner and the history here is amazing.
Hampton Plantation, Santee Delta, South Carolina.