The property that comprises Woodbury Wildlife Management Area and Heritage Preserve is newly preserved, but the hallowed ground goes way back.
Woodbury is located in the southern part of the Brittons Neck section of Marion County. The Neck connation is in reference to the strip of forestland bordered to the east by the Little Pee Dee River, the west by the Great Pee Dee River and closed off to the south by the confluence of the two rivers.
"Everything southeast of Hwy. 378 down to the confluence of the two rivers is Woodbury," said Greg Lynch, a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist and manager of the property.
Previously owned by International Paper, the purchase of the 25,668-tract was completed through the combined efforts of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, The Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy in July 2007. Now, the diverse property is owned by the State of South Carolina and preserved for future generations to enjoy with fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, camping and bird and nature-watching among the recreational activities available.
No wonder a celebration of the tract's preservation was held last Friday on the property featuring dignitaries such as Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. Lindsey Graham, President and CEO Larry Selzer of The Conservation Fund and Mark Robertson, The Nature Conservancy's South Carolina Executive Director.
The Pee Dee rivers that enclose Woodbury are its defining features, and despite their close proximity, are very different in geography, biology and botany.
"It's an incredible piece of property, just the different habitats that are there," Lynch said. "The Little Pee Dee is a blackwater river - it's black because of the tannic acid. Then you've got a red river, the Great Pee Dee, which is red from the clay of the piedmont. You've got these two different river systems, there's a sharp difference in vegetation. These two different, very diverse habitats are slammed together there."
The purchase of the property preserves 27.5 miles of river frontage along the Great Pee Dee and 11.5 miles of frontage along the Little Pee Dee.
Woodbury also features oxbow lakes that flow off both rivers, bottomland hardwoods, Carolina bays and other isolated freshwater wetlands, longleaf pine forests and loblolly pine plantations.
The forests protect large areas of habitat for several important wildlife and aquatic species, including birds such as the Kentucky warbler, Louisiana waterthrush, rusty blackbird, swallow-tailed kite and Swainson's warbler.
Woodbury features an extensive road system - Lynch estimates over 200 miles of roads - that provides access throughout the tract, and there are numerous boat landings on both rivers.
Lynch recalls the reaction a little over two years ago when the property was made available for public recreation as a WMA.
"We got an outpouring of thanks, people saying 'Thanks, now I can get out and explore this piece of property,' " Lynch said.
Natural attractions aside, the property has a long history highlighted by the escapades of Marion County's namesake, American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion.
In the northwest corner of the property is one of the landings, Dunham's Bluff. At the Dunham's Bluff site - according to the University of South Carolina College of Arts and Sciences' Institute For Southern Studies - Marion ordered the Brittons Neck Regiment in the spring of 1781 to build a redoubt to guard against approaching British and Tory enemies.
Dunham's Bluff is directly across the Great Pee Dee River (or Pedee River as it was spelled in bygone times) from Marion's headquarters and hideout in 1780-81, Snow's Island.
"You can imagine the people that crossed that landing," Lynch said. "Those areas have been walked by humans for a long time.
"Francis Marion's travels are well-documented on this piece of property and there have been thousands of years [it was inhabited by] native Americans. This place is very culturally and historically, significant. It kind of gives me chill bumps."
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