EDISTO ISLAND — A recent purchase of 176 acres on this sea island will ensure the entrance to Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve remains in its natural state and free from development for years to come.Â
The Open Space Institute purchased the property, Bayview Farms, earlier this month for $3.2 million. The purchase price was covered with a loan from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. A donation from former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford covered other costs of the purchase.
The property includes a mile-long oak allée which leads to the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve and borders more than a mile of S.C. Highway 174 and Botany Bay Road. This area features salt marsh creeks and tidal mud flats, farm fields, stands of maritime forest and historic African American settlements.
Live Oaks stretch across Botany Bay Road, with Spanish moss hanging from their branches on April 25, 2022, on Edisto Island. Trees on the left side are in the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve, while those on the right side of the road are in Bayview Farms, a tract of land recently purchased by the Open Space Institute to preserve the entrance to Botany Bay. Henry Taylor/Staff
Over the last two centuries the area's landscape has changed very little, partly because of the community's efforts to protect it. OSI's acquisition will prevent future development plus ensure the public can enjoy the available ecological and cultural resources for generations to come, said Nate Berry, OSI's senior vice president.
Next door is Botany Bay preserve, a 4,400-acre property comprised of a beach, freshwater ponds, a series of Indian shell rings and an abundance of wildlife and live oaks.Â
The property could have been subdivided into dozens of residential lots, OSI said.Â
A sign beside Botany Bay Road advises visitors of the land's protected status, at the edge of the newly purchased Bayview Farms property, on April 25, 2022, on Edisto Island. Henry Taylor/Staff
"And now, it's going to go to the public, and it will be included within Botany Bay Preserve," said Michelle Sinkler, OSI's South Carolina development and special projects manager.
OSI plans to ultimately transfer the property to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources to be included as part of Botany Bay. It is unclear how long the process will take, but Sinkler said the institute will seek funds from the state Conservation Bank and the Charleston County Greenbelt Program to cover the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation loan.Â
Sanford's donation covered transaction costs to secure the property, OSI said in a release. The former governor said he has fond memories of hunting with his parents and siblings on the land that is now the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve. He later took his sons to the area for dove hunts, too.Â
Sanford said he thought it was important to protect the passageway to the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve. He did not disclose how large his donation was.Â
Duckweed floats on the surface of wetlands off the side of the road in Bayview Farms on April 25, 2022, in Edisto Island. The Open Space Institute purchased Bayview Farms as a means to further protect the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve by acquiring the land next to the preserve. Henry Taylor/Staff
"Wouldn't it be a travesty to have that protected land with a very, very different entranceway?" Sanford said. "So that's some of why I participated, with a host of others recognizing the importance of that tract of land."
OSI's acquisition not only protects the viewshed leading to one of the agency's most popular properties, but also about 40 acres of forested wetlands that support reptile and amphibian conservation and water quality for a nearby stream, said DNR Director Robert Boyles.Â
“We are delighted to see that OSI has taken ownership of such a vital conservation asset to the continued protection of these wetlands and the surrounding maritime forest that play a vital role for migratory songbirds as well," Boyles said in a statement.
