The Lunz Group Representing Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester Counties in South Carolina

Outings Report and Photos Santee Delta Hike Feb 26, 2005

Coming On Spring in Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Wild Iris sprouting amidst young cypress. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Early leaf emergence. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Red Maple Lane. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Red Maple Samara and flowers. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Red Maple flowers on the tree. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Crossing the middle rice dikes. Lots of shovellers, two deer, one racoon, possible otter,two bald eagles, a pair of glossy ibis and much much more. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

Bill explains why we are not lost. Santee Delta Hike. Feb 26, 2005 . Photo Starr Hazard.

At this point I had shot all my film but the trip was not yet halfway over and the rain had not started.

We sought out El Dorado next. And we found it. El Dorado was a Santee Delta plantation owned by Thomas Pinckney and family. Pinckney had been the US Ambassador to Spain and named his plantation for the golden color of the pitcher plants in the area. The main housesurvived about a century but was ruined, not by the Civil war or storm but by a chimney fire in the 1880s. We drove to within about a mile of the site and hiked in. Even at 50 yards in the winter-woods with no understory leaves, the remaining chimney was still invisible.

The remains of the house consist of the north chimney, the Grand entrance stair foundation and piles of bricks. The quality of the masonry is evident and the design elegant, the arches symmetric and numerous. Upon the brick remains have sprouted several trees and I was reminded of the Mayan temples in Central American jungles. My reactions were a mix of intense curiosity, admiration, sorrow, and nostalgia. I could easily imagine the pride of the owners and the builders. I could see how the masons worked and Bill pointed out that the decoration of an arch in the chimney wall was also a structural element. Lucy explained the extra slots in the chimney as hearth timber. We talked about the fire and in a few minutes could see the symmetry of the old house with and speculated that the fire might have begun in the south chimney. Lucy located numerous vine trunks and we decided that these vines had not yet encountered trees to twine around. Those moments on the ruined bricks left me with an intense desire to know more about a people who could name a home on the river El Dorado. I understand there are photos of the house. I would like to know more about the slaves who labored to build El Dorado with such skill and no recognition for their work.

Later Bill Turner and I walked further into the woods along fire break lanes and in places where the lanes had been recently plowed we spotted numerous broken shards of china. Later on we stopped in the rain for some reason and Bill spotted another chimney all by itself. Again the masonry was remarkable. History was around us and literally beneath our feet as we walked.

It was yet another of Bill Turner's fabuous trips. We had begun with an exposure to the emerging spring on the rice dikes of the delta. We had seen blooming red maples, hundreds of coots and Northern Shovellers, ancient cypress logs, two deer, a couple of showy glossy ibis and a pair of adult bald eagles. In the second half of our trip we stood entranced before a brick ruin and felt a flood of curiosity about the human past.

You missed a great one!

Here are some places where you can read a bit more

http://www.dnr.state.sc.us/magazine/magazinend00/html/santeecoastalnd00.htm

http://www.scencyclopedia.com/pinckney.htm

Suzanne Cameron Linder and Marta Leslie Thacker (with preliminary research by Agnes Leland Baldwin), Historical Atlas of the Rice Plantations of Georgetown County and the Santee River (Columbia: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 2001 or 2002), pp. 755-760.