Begin
this driving tour by turning off Hwy. 17 onto Hwy. 303 about 10 miles
south of Jacksonboro. After about 2.5 miles the road passes through
the tiny town of Green Pond. Along the roadsides
just beyond Green Pond look for
a variety of Lowcountry wildflowers blooming in season such as leopard's
bane, brown-eyed susan, partridge pea, goldenrod and many others.
The highway then crosses the upper Ashepoo,
just a tiny trickle of water through bottomland hardwoods. In the open
areas on both sides of road grow blackberries, elderberries, arrow weed,
and across the old bridge on left, native wisteria blooms in spring.
After about another mile turn left onto
state road 15-41, also known as Ritter Road.
This road soon crosses the upper Ashepoo
again. At the bridge and in the cypress/tupelo swamp just beyond look
for red-shouldered hawks, yellow-crowned night herons, and in the spring
listen for the ringing songs of prothonotary and hooded warblers. At
dawn and dusk the raucous calls of barred owls echo from the dark swamp.
Continue a mile and a half to the little
settlement of Catholic Hill, dominated by the quaint St. James Catholic
Church. The historical marker in the church yard tells of settlers from
Ireland that emigrated to the area and built the first church here in
1832.
Two miles beyond Catholic Hill turn left
onto White Hall Road. On the right, a cattle pasture dotted with isolated
live oaks provides good habitat for blue birds, loggerhead shrikes,
cattle egrets, and Mississippi kites. Well off the road on the right,
a wood stork rookery has developed in recent years and these large wading
birds regularly soar overhead during the spring and early summer.
Farther along the road a white fence on
the right leads eventually to the entrance to White Hall, a former rice
plantation. The historic house with it avenue of live oaks can be observed
from the road but is private property.
After crossing the railroad tracks, turn
right onto Combahee Road (state road 15-119) at the sign for Cuckhold's
(locally pronounced "Ker-kel's") Creek landing. To reach the
landing, turn left onto the dirt road at a country church. The landing
lies just a few yards beyond at a languid eddy on a bend of the creek
which eventually empties into the Combahee River. A large beech tree
grows on the right of the landing, and on the left a red cedar embraces
a water locust. A dense stand of arrowhead lines the far side of the
narrow creek.
On leaving the landing take the dirt fork
to the left back to the paved road and turn left, crossing the creek.
Broken-bank rice fields, dominated by cattails, wild rice and plume
grass crowd against the roadway on both sides. In late summer look for
the tall pink blooms of seaside mallow, a type of wild hibiscus.
Perpendicular to the road, a canal which
probably once served to flood the upper field (on the right) runs straight
off the creek through a cypress covered break in the original dike along
the creek. The canal passes under the road bed, originally a cross dike
during the rice planting days.
The remainder of this driving trail now
skirts first the east side and then the west side of the upper Combahee
River, once the major rice growing area of the present ACE Basin. Most
of this area consists of private plantations, many formerly owned by
Nathaniel Heyward, who conducted the state's largest rice growing operation.
Just past the entrance to Combahee Plantation
the road passes through a stand of spruce pine mixed with hardwoods
and then crosses a managed wetland growing in giant foxtail grass, smart
weed and other waterfowl food plants. This area will be kept dry in
spring and summer to encourage growth of these plants, then burned in
the fall and flooded to attract waterfowl during the winter. Well off
to the right and just visible from the road sits the live oak made famous
in the movie "Forrest Gump."
The route then passes the entrance to
Bluff Plantation with a spectacular avenue of live oaks behind an ancient
brick fence. Continue to the entrance of Cherokee Plantation, a huge
private holding, and notice the other old canals used to move water
from the tidal river inland to the old rice fields. Eventually hardwoods
give way to planted pine as Combahee Road approaches Hwy. 17A. here
turn left and after crossing the Combahee, proceed to the little town
of Yemassee, a distance of about 7 miles.
At the flashing light in Yemassee, turn
left and drive about three-tenths of a mile, then left again just before
the double railroad tracks. After less than half a mile, turn right
onto River Road and cross the tracks. River Road traces the west side
of the Combahee, passing several old rice plantations and eventually
ending at Hwy. 17.
Soon after crossing the tracks look for
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signs on the left. These mark the boundaries
of the Combahee Unit of the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge. This
area of mostly hardwoods offers good birding almost year round, with
possible glimpses of deer and wild turkeys as they cross the road. Gated
access roads to the refuge can be walked at any time but are closed
to vehicle traffic.
After about four miles, the road passes
the entrance to Auld Brass Plantation which includes a house designed
by Frank Lloyd Wright. The unusual fence suggests Wright's modern architectural
style. About 3 miles farther, turn left onto the dirt entrance to the
public landing on Sugar Hill Creek.
The open parking area at the landing includes
good habitat for painted and indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks and other
tropical species in the spring and summer, and along the edges white-throated,
song and swamp sparrows in the winter. Among the thick stands of arrowhead
along the creek, look for a delicate vine called leather-flower, blooming
in mid-spring.
Return to River Road and continue to the
left, passing the entrance to Bonny Hall, another private plantation
with a large white house and a pecan orchard behind a tall hedge of
holly. Less than a mile beyond, also on the left, note the sign that
marks the entrance to the Bonny Hall portion of the refuge. Visitors
can walk the entrance road which may yield a variety of songbirds, depending
on the season.
A mile or so after the entrance to the
refuge, River Road returns to Hwy. 17, about 8 miles south of Hwy. 303,
where this driving trail started. This trail (about 50 miles total)
can be traversed in as little as an hour and a half, or in a half-day
or more depending on the number of stops you make.
Walterboro-Colleton Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 426 (109-C Benson Street)
Walterboro, SC 29488
Phone: (843) 549-9595
Fax: (843) 549-5775
E-mail: info@walterboro.org