Sanctuary with a past

A wildlife sanctuary in Aiken County is looking to expand its acreage -- a plan that officials say will help preserve some historical land and protect wildlife, all while making the area available for tours.

"What's really significant about it is there's so much historical value there," said Dan Connelly of the Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary, referring to a 98-acre tract the group hopes to acquire in about a month with about $50,000 in county sales tax money for green space and some additional funds.

The Audubon sanctuary, located off Silver Bluff Road in Jackson, has more than 3,100 acres, including a visitors center complete with a butterfly garden, Mr. Connelly said. The land to be acquired has been privately owned. Running through the property is a Savannah River tributary called Hollow Creek.

Mr. Connelly said the area is important for its Colonial-era history. According to the Audubon center's records, the land being acquired is along what was known as Crackerneck Road, a main thoroughfare along the Savannah River used from Colonial and Antebellum periods up until the 1930s. The earliest record of the land was noted in 1776 by William Bartram, who witnessed Indian mounds being "plowed down," the sanctuary's records state.

A 1700s millpond dam also is adjacent to the land in question.

"Along that boundary is where Gov. James Henry Hammond had his slave quarters and his plantation cabin (during the 1800s)," Mr. Connelly said.

Previously, "we couldn't really do much interpretation there, and so now with the consolidation of this tract we can have some tours or whatever of that area and discuss the history of it," Mr. Connelly said.

There also is an old cemetery for blacks in the area with about 235 potential grave sites dating from 1886 to 1922, Audubon records state.

Mr. Connelly said the purchase of the land would also ensure its undisturbed state for a wide range of wildlife in the area, which has 60-year-old hardwoods and fish such as American shad and striped bass.

The site is home to reptiles, amphibians, hawks, owls and many songbirds, and it is less than a mile south of a bald eagle nesting territory.

Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.