There is an Indian Shell Ring in Sea Pines Forest Preserve. It is a ring of shells, several feet high. There is some doubt about what it is, but they think it was probably just a refuse heap. Signs suggest that, as the earliest inhabitants of Hilton Head Island picnicked, they threw the shells over their shoulder, creating a ring around them. No more complicated than that.

Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring

There are really only traces left. It is believed that the Indian Shell Ring is 4,000 years old. That is the same time the Pyramids in Egypt were built. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Video I took at Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring (too fast, too jerky…)

The Shell Ring is several feet high in places. There are shells from oysters, clams and mussels. There are also deer, raccoon, bear and fish bones. There are only twenty Shell Rings known and two of them are on Hilton Head Island.

There were other shell rings on Hilton Head, with walls up to ten feet high and 30 feet wide, but the shells were used to make tabby, a sort of concrete made from shells. Shells were burned to create lime. The lime was mixed with water, sand and broken stones and shells. You can see ruins on Hilton Head Island made of tabby.

Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring is easy to find. You walk out a clearly marked trail.

Live Oak at the Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring

Shells at the Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring