Charleston is
surrounded by vast expanses of pristine coastal plain that has lured
people for centuries. Abundant with fertile soil, fresh water,
old-growth forest and a warm sub-tropical climate, this "Lowcountry"
area continues to offer outstanding opportunities in investment
property. Countless historic plantations line unspoiled stretches of
the many rivers and tributaries that flow through natural habitat
teeming with ducks, wild turkeys, deer, and birds of prey, and in
many cases still feature original homes dating to colonial and
antebellum periods. In a number of locations, such as the heralded
140,000-acre ACE Basin just South of Charleston, private landowners
and government agencies have worked together to promote protective
stewardship and traditional use of lands in which timber, livestock,
cultivation, and wildlife have all played an historic role. In this
capacity, the verdant lands along the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto
river estuaries retain the purest environmental integrity while
property owners enjoy such pursuits as equestrian farms, hunting
preserves, as well as swan, wood stork and bald eagle sanctuary.
Properties on Johns Island, Edisto Island and in Walterboro and
Ravenel are among those blessed with a protected paradise of pure
land, water, air and soil that has changed little since ancient
times.
Just North of
Charleston, the quality of plantations and land benefits
tremendously from proximity near and within the 250,000-acre Francis
Marion National Forest, the 66,000-acre Cape Romain National
Wildlife Refuge, and the 24,000-acre Santee Coastal Reserve. Here
the confluence of lush inland and unspoiled ocean front offers
seemingly endless tracts of tidal marsh vistas, shimmering creeks,
colorful meadows and towering forest canopy. Communities such as
Awendaw and McClellanville reap the aesthetic benefits of the East
Coast's longest stretch of pristine coast line, extending more than
60 miles to the dramatic beauty of the Santee River Delta, where
dozens of historic rice plantations stand gracefully along sparkling
rivers.
To Charleston's
West, inviting land and plantation areas extend inland along the
Cooper and Ashley Rivers as far as lakes Moultrie and Marion, which
provide some of the best fish and wildlife habitat in the Southeast.
Areas throughout Colleton, Dorchester and Berkeley counties are
renowned for their natural beauty, such as the magnificent colors of
famed Cypress Gardens and the dazzling landscape of the Francis
Beidler Forest, home to the world's largest stand of virgin bald
cypress.
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