February 23, 2015
Edisto Island is a small sea island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Formerly the site of two cotton plantations, Bleak Hall and Sea Cloud Plantations, the 3,363 acres of land are now home to the Botany Bay wildlife preserve.
Although the main house was destroyed by fire, the former Bleak Hall property has three outbuildings that are still standing: the white “ice house,” “gardener’s shed” and a smaller building thought to be a smoke house. All three were built in the 1840s in the Gothic Revivalist style. The “gardener’s shed” and the smoke house are made from a material called “tabby,” which is a composite of burned oyster shells, lime, sand and water.
The property’s 2,500 acres of waterfront are home to loggerhead sea turtles, crabs, least terns and dolphins, all observable from the shore. The property contains sunflower fields, several freshwater ponds and a salt marsh where animals, from deer to alligators, roam free.
