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14. Spartina grass makes up the marshland of
South Carolina. It was planted to help control
erosion; however, it can become an invasive
plant. It can over run many other plants in the
area.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
15. South Carolina has 2,876 miles of coastal
shoreline. We are ranked the eleventh longest
in the US for coastal shoreline. This benefits
our economy greatly. Tourism plays a major
role in our economy.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
16. The world’s second largest ocean. It border
South Carolina’s eastern coast. The Atlantic
Ocean is home to many different sea creatures
and brings people from all around the world to
our state.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
17. A view of South Carolina’s shoreline. You can
see the many different islands and rivers that
make up the South Carolina Low Country.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
18. Beach erosion is a constant threat to our
coastline. A lot of the sand on our beaches can
be carried away by the pull of the Atlantic or
blown away by the wind.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
19. A watershed is a geographic area from which
water drains toward a common watercourse (such
as a lake, stream, and ocean) in a natural basin.
They are the basic building blocks of the natural
environment. Plants and animals depend on a
healthy watershed to provide their habitat.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
20. South Carolina has two shrimp seasons. The first
runs from May through August, when
smaller, brown shrimp are harvested. The
popular white shrimp season begins in
September and lasts through December.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
21. Barrier Islands, a coastal landform and a type of
barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand
that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur
in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands
to more than a dozen. Excepting the tidal inlets that
separate the islands, a barrier chain may extend
uninterrupted for over a hundred kilometers
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
22. The Hunting Island Lighthouse is located in
Hunting Island State Park on Hunting Island near
Beaufort, South Carolina. Although no longer
utilized as a functioning lighthouse, the tower is a
fixture at the state park and is open to visitors.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
23. The Charleston Harbor is an inlet of the Atlantic
Ocean at Charleston, South Carolina. The inlet is
formed by the junction of Ashley and Cooper rivers.
Sullivan's Island shelters the entrance. Charleston
Harbor is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The
inlet is evidence of a drowned coastline, created by
a rise in sea level in recent geologic time.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone
24. A delta is a landform that is formed at the
mouth of a river, where that river flows into an
ocean, sea, estuary, lake, or reservoir. Deltas
are formed from the buildup of the sediment
carried by the river as the flow leaves the
mouth of the river
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
25. A plantation is a large farm or estate
where cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or
the like is cultivated. Most of the plantations
along the coastal plain grew rice, indigo, or Sea
Island cotton.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
26. South Carolina has more marsh acreage than
any other Atlantic coast state (344,500 acres of
salt marsh). Because salt marshes in South
Carolina are influenced by the twice daily rise
and fall of tides, they are subject to rapid
changes in salinity, temperature and water
depth.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
27. American alligators inhabit the southeastern
United States. Once a federally listed
endangered species, American alligators have
recovered . The species is still federally listed as
threatened because it looks like the American
crocodile, which is endangered. In South
Carolina, alligators have been recorded to reach
lengths of more than 13 feet.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
28. Wetlands (swamps, marshes, and bogs) are areas of
land that are saturated with moisture seasonally or
permanently. Believed to be the most diverse
ecosystems in the world, wetlands are home to various
species of plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and
mammals. This includes many threatened and
endangered species. In addition to wildlife habitat,
wetlands act as filters to improve water quality.
Wetlands also reduce flooding and recharge ground
water.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
29. You can see the difference between land and
water on this infrared map.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
30. The Coastal Plain is flat and has a low
elevation. These two factors make it extremely
susceptible to flooding especially during a
hurricane.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain
31. As you can see there is little change in the
elevation of the coastal plain. It is basically
flatland.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain
32. The coastal plain has a rich history of a diverse
agricultural sector, producing large quantities of
tomatoes, rice, and vegetables. However, with
changing markets, development pressure, and
rising land prices, local farms are disappearing.
The Coastal Conservation League and
Lowcountry Local First are working together to
preserve Lowcountry agriculture.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain
33. Millions of years ago the inner
coastal plain was underwater.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain
34. Notice all the waterways on top of
the flat layer of bedrock.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain
35. The Great Pee Dee is large and wild. Most of the
land bordering the river is floodplain forest.
The corridor is a swath of high quality wildlife
habitat, boasting 120 species of fish, at least 25
rare plant species, several endangered and
threatened species (including the American
alligator and bald eagle), and typical South
Carolina game species, such as white tail deer
and turkey.
Museum Inner
Entrance Costal Plain
38. The 45,348-acre refuge serves as a demonstration site
for land management practices, which preserve and
enhance the longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem. It is
home to a variety of plants and animals. The refuge
supports approximately 190 species of birds, 42 species
of mammals, 41 species of reptiles, 25 species of
amphibians, and innumerable species of plants. The
refuge supports an estimated 125 clusters of the
endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, the largest
population in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance
39. A large portion of the rocks and sediment in
South Carolina contain fossils. The majority of
these fossils are of marine life from the
Miocene Epoch. The Miocene Epoch was
between 22.7 and 5.3 million years ago. During
this time an ancient shoreline came up to the
sandhills.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance
40. Above the sand deposits of the sandhills lies the
Fall line, where the rocky river beds meet the
sediment covered river bottoms of the Coastal
Plain. This was as far as most boats could sail
safely upriver.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance
41. The broad-headed skink gets its name from the
wide jaws, giving the head a triangular
appearance. Broad-headed skinks are widely
distributed in the south-eastern states of the
U.S. These skinks are sometimes wrongly
thought to be venomous. Broad-headed skinks
are non venomous.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance
42. Anoles are small and common lizards that can be
found throughout the southeastern United States. A
large majority of them sport a green coloration,
including the only species native to North America,
the aptly named Green anole, although the green
anole can change its color based on its mood and
surroundings.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance
44. Seven of the eight species of pitcherplants are confined
to the south-eastern coastal plain of the U.S. They
inhabit swamps and grassy plains. They are threatened
in the wild by development and drainage of their habitat.
Estimates indicate 97% of their habitat has been
destroyed in the southeastern U.S. Several southeastern
states, such as Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
have conservation laws to protect them.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance
46. White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a
wide variety of habitats. They thrive throughout the
state. One way white-tailed deer communicate is
with their white tail. When a white-tailed deer is
spooked it will raise its tail to warn the other deer in
the area that can see it. The white-tailed deer is the
state animal of South Carolina.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance
47. The Sandhills are hilly, unconnected bands of
sand left from the ocean dunes during the
Miocene Epoch Era. Sand depths in sandhills
can reach as deep as 60 meters (198 feet). The
sandhills are wedged between the Coastal
Plains and Piedmont regions of North and
South Carolina and Georgia.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance
48. The gopher tortoise is native to the southeastern
United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a
keystone species because it digs burrows that
provide shelter for 360 other animal species.
They are threatened by predation and habitat
destruction. On average, each gopher tortoise
needs about 4 acres to live.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance
49. The U.S. piedmont extends along most of the
southeastern U.S.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance
50. The many beautiful waterfalls of South
Carolina include secluded mountain cascades,
thundering 400-foot river drops and the highest
waterfalls in the southeast, Raven Cliff Falls,
located near the striking Blue Ridge
Mountains.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance
51. Monadnock is an originally Native American
term for an isolated hill or a lone mountain that
has risen above the surrounding area, typically
by surviving erosion. Monadnock is used to
describe an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or
small mountain that rises abruptly from an area
of relatively flat and/or lower terrain.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance
52. Kings Mountain National Military Park is a National
Military Park near Blacksburg, South
Carolina, along the North Carolina/South Carolina
border. The park commemorates the Battle of Kings
Mountain, a pivotal and significant victory by
American Patriots over American Loyalists during
the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance
54. Table Rock State Park is a 3,083-acre park at the
edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern
Pickens County. The park includes Pinnacle
Mountain, the tallest mountain totally within the
state. There are two park lakes with seasonal
swimming permitted and hiking trails that lead to the
Pinnacle Mountain Summit, Mill Creek Falls, and
the summit of Table Rock.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance