Santee National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge · Summerton, South Carolina
Four separate units strung along the north shore of Lake Marion, established in May 1942 as compensation for the wetlands the lake itself drowned. On the Bluff Unit stands the Santee Indian Mound, a Mississippian platform mound raised between roughly 1200 and 1400, which British troops fortified as Fort Watson in 1781 and which Francis Marion took that April. A thousand-year-old earthwork with a Revolutionary War siege on top of it is an unusual thing to find on a bird refuge.
2125 Fort Watson Road, Summerton, South Carolina, 29148, United States
FREE. Visitor Center Tuesday to Friday 8 AM to 4 PM. Pine Island and Dingle Pond open dawn to dusk daily. The gated Bluff and Cuddo units open 7 AM to 5 PM from 1 October to 28 February and 6 AM to 8 PM from 1 March to 30 September. THE CUDDO UNIT IS CLOSED ON MONDAYS, which closes the 7.5-mile Wildlife Drive with it. A waterfowl sanctuary closure runs 1 November to 1 March, and trails also close during deer hunting season.
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