Green’s Shell Enclosure is a ring of piled oyster shells. It is old, maybe nearly a thousand years old.
It is easy to find, right off Squire Pope Road.
The entrance to the Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve Trail
There is a board with information about the history of the shell ring and nature at the shell enclosure.
Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve
Welcome! This South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Cultural Heritage Preserve consists of a semi-circular ridge of shell approximately 20–30 feet wide at the base and four feet tall. The ridge was constructed mostly of oyster shell during the Mississippian period (AD 1000-1500). It is one of few undisturbed shell structures in coastal South Carolina, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
There is a boardwalk so you won’t walk on the shell ring.
The shells are under this mound
Boardwalk so you won’t walk on the shells
The shell ring under the boardwalk
Shell ring
Marker so you find the right trail
The trail is a little confusing. People seem to have wandered all over the place. There are markers to find the real trail.
Artifact Collection Prohibited
Surveillance in progress
A sign says Artifact Collection Prohibited, Surveillance in progress. I looked around. I didn’t see anything. I wonder how we were being surveilled. We didn’t take anything.
Metal Detecting and Probing Prohibited
No metal detecting either. Surveillance in progress.
You can see the pile of shells
See across to Pinckney Island from the overlook
You can walk down below the overlook
There is an overlook. If you take one of the other paths you come out below the overlook. Then you can see that the overlook is on a tall pile of shells.
The trail along the water to below the overlook
You can walk down below the overlook.
The shells under the overlook
The path across the shell ring
Greens Shell Enclosure Natural Environment
Greens Shell Enclosure Natural Environment
Banana Spider
Chanterelle Mushroom
Yaupon Holly
American Oyster
USGS Benchmark
US Coastal Geodetic Survey Reverence Mark
On the way out, as we walked over the boardwalk, we noticed a US Coastal Geodetic Survey Reverence Mark.
You might have seen these before. This is a USGS Benchmark. The National Geodetic Survey (they used to be called the U.S. Geological Survey) marks precise points with these metal pins to create the National Spatial Reference System.
There are two main kinds. This is a vertical control points. Vertical control points mark a very precise elevation above the “standard datum plane” or above sea level.
The other kind is horizontal control points. They precisely establish latitude and longitude.
