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14. Spartina grass makes up the marshland of
South Carolina. It was planted to help control
erosion; however, it can become an invasive
plant. It can over run many other plants in the
area.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

15. South Carolina has 2,876 miles of coastal
shoreline. We are ranked the eleventh longest
in the US for coastal shoreline. This benefits
our economy greatly. Tourism plays a major
role in our economy.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

16. The world’s second largest ocean. It border
South Carolina’s eastern coast. The Atlantic
Ocean is home to many different sea creatures
and brings people from all around the world to
our state.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

17. A view of South Carolina’s shoreline. You can
see the many different islands and rivers that
make up the South Carolina Low Country.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

18. Beach erosion is a constant threat to our
coastline. A lot of the sand on our beaches can
be carried away by the pull of the Atlantic or
blown away by the wind.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

19. A watershed is a geographic area from which
water drains toward a common watercourse (such
as a lake, stream, and ocean) in a natural basin.
They are the basic building blocks of the natural
environment. Plants and animals depend on a
healthy watershed to provide their habitat.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

20. South Carolina has two shrimp seasons. The first
runs from May through August, when smaller,
brown shrimp are harvested. The popular white
shrimp season begins in September and lasts
through December.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

21. Barrier Islands, a coastal landform and a type of
barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand
that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur
in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands
to more than a dozen. Excepting the tidal inlets that
separate the islands, a barrier chain may extend
uninterrupted for over a hundred kilometers
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

22. The Hunting Island Lighthouse is located in
Hunting Island State Park on Hunting Island near
Beaufort, South Carolina. Although no longer
utilized as a functioning lighthouse, the tower is a
fixture at the state park and is open to visitors.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

23. The Charleston Harbor is an inlet of the Atlantic
Ocean at Charleston, South Carolina. The inlet is
formed by the junction of Ashley and Cooper rivers.
Sullivan's Island shelters the entrance. Charleston
Harbor is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The
inlet is evidence of a drowned coastline, created by
a rise in sea level in recent geologic time.
Museum Coastal
Entrance Zone

24. A delta is a landform that is formed at the
mouth of a river, where that river flows into an
ocean, sea, estuary, lake, or reservoir. Deltas
are formed from the buildup of the sediment
carried by the river as the flow leaves the
mouth of the river
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

25. A plantation is a large farm or estate
where cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or
the like is cultivated. Most of the plantations
along the coastal plain grew rice, indigo, or Sea
Island cotton.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

26. South Carolina has more marsh acreage than
any other Atlantic coast state (344,500 acres of
salt marsh). Because salt marshes in South
Carolina are influenced by the twice daily rise
and fall of tides, they are subject to rapid
changes in salinity, temperature and water
depth.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

27. American alligators inhabit the southeastern
United States. Once a federally listed
endangered species, American alligators have
recovered . The species is still federally listed as
threatened because it looks like the American
crocodile, which is endangered. In South
Carolina, alligators have been recorded to reach
lengths of more than 13 feet.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

28. Wetlands (swamps, marshes, and bogs) are areas of
land that are wet seasonally or permanently. Believed
to be the most diverse ecosystems in the
world, wetlands are home to various species of
plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. This
includes many threatened and endangered species. In
addition to wildlife habitat, wetlands act as filters to
improve water quality. Wetlands also reduce flooding
and recharge ground water.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

29. You can see the difference between land and
water on this infrared map. Can you see all the
waterways on our coast?
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

30. The Coastal Plain is flat and has a low
elevation. These two factors make it extremely
susceptible to flooding especially during a
hurricane.
Museum Outer
Entrance Coastal Plain

31. As you can see there is little change in the
elevation of the coastal plain. It is basically
flatland.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

32. The coastal plain has a rich history of a diverse
agricultural sector, producing large quantities of
tomatoes, rice, and vegetables. However, with
changing markets, development pressure, and
rising land prices, local farms are disappearing.
The Coastal Conservation League and
Lowcountry Local First are working together to
preserve Lowcountry agriculture.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

33. Millions of years ago the inner
coastal plain was underwater.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

34. Notice all the waterways on top of
the flat layer of bedrock.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

35. The Great Pee Dee is large and wild. Most of the
land bordering the river is floodplain forest.
The corridor is a swath of high quality wildlife
habitat, boasting 120 species of fish, at least 25
rare plant species, several endangered and
threatened species (including the American
alligator and bald eagle), and typical South
Carolina game species, such as white tail deer.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

36. Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

37. Woods Bay State Park offers a close-up look at
one of the last remaining large Carolina Bays
on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. The 1,590-
acre park, located in the coastal plains
region, features a wide range of habitats
including marsh, sandhills, oak-hickory forest
and shrub bog.
Museum Inner
Entrance Coastal Plain

38. The 45,348-acre refuge serves as a demonstration site
for land management practices, which preserve and
enhance the longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem. It is
home to a variety of plants and animals. The refuge
supports approximately 190 species of birds, 42 species
of mammals, 41 species of reptiles, 25 species of
amphibians, and innumerable species of plants. The
refuge supports an estimated 125 clusters of the
endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, the largest
population in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance

39. A large portion of the rocks and sediment in
South Carolina contain fossils. The majority of
these fossils are of marine life from the
Miocene Epoch. The Miocene Epoch was
between 22.7 and 5.3 million years ago. During
this time an ancient shoreline came up to the
sandhills.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance

40. Above the sand deposits of the sandhills lies the
Fall line, where the rocky river beds meet the
sediment covered river bottoms of the Coastal
Plain. This was as far as most boats could sail
safely upriver.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance

41. The broad-headed skink gets its name from the
wide jaws, giving the head a triangular
appearance. Broad-headed skinks are widely
distributed in the south-eastern states of the
U.S. These skinks are sometimes wrongly
thought to be venomous. Broad-headed skinks
are non venomous.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance

42. Anoles are small and common lizards that can be
found throughout the southeastern United States. A
large majority of them sport a green coloration,
including the only species native to North America,
the aptly named Green anole, although the green
anole can change its color based on its mood and
surroundings.
Museum Sandhills
Entrance

43. Lake Juniper is a beautiful 300 acre lake. It is a
favorite of canoers and kayakers seeking
solitude among the cypress and white cedars.
Visitors can walk the boardwalk along the edge
of the lake and see the hand crafted "waterfall"
spillway at the dam. Access to the lake is
through Cheraw State Recreation Area which
also offers camping, cabins, group camps,
trails, and golf.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance

44. Seven of the eight species of pitcherplants are confined
to the south-eastern coastal plain of the U.S. They
inhabit swamps and grassy plains. They are threatened
in the wild by development and drainage of their habitat.
Estimates indicate 97% of their habitat has been
destroyed in the southeastern U.S. Several southeastern
states, such as Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
have conservation laws to protect them.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance

45. The longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem, the characteristic
habitat of Carolina sandhills region, once covered
approximately 90 million acres in the southeastern U. S.
This unique ecosystem, shaped by thousands of years of
natural fires that burned through every two to four years,
has been reduced to fewer than two million acres,
representing a 97 percent decline in this important
ecosystem. Today, only scattered patches of the longleaf
pine/wiregrass ecosystem occur, primarily in the
Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and
Museum Texas.
Sandhills
Entrance

46. White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a
wide variety of habitats. They thrive throughout the
state. One way white-tailed deer communicate is
with their white tail. When a white-tailed deer is
spooked it will raise its tail to warn the other deer in
the area that can see it. The white-tailed deer is the
state animal of South Carolina.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance

47. The Sandhills are hilly, unconnected bands of
sand left from the ocean dunes during the
Miocene Epoch Era. Sand depths in sandhills
can reach as deep as 60 meters (198 feet). The
sandhills are wedged between the Coastal
Plains and Piedmont regions of North and
South Carolina and Georgia.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance

48. The gopher tortoise is native to the southeastern
United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a
keystone species because it digs burrows that
provide shelter for 360 other animal species.
They are threatened by predation and habitat
destruction. On average, each gopher tortoise
needs about 4 acres to live.
Museum
Sandhills
Entrance

49. The U.S. piedmont extends along most of the
southeastern U.S.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

50. The many beautiful waterfalls of South
Carolina include secluded mountain
cascades, thundering 400-foot river drops and
the highest waterfalls in the southeast, Raven
Cliff Falls, located near the striking Blue Ridge
Mountains.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

51. Monadnock is an originally Native American
term for an isolated hill or a lone mountain that
has risen above the surrounding area, typically
by surviving erosion. Monadnock is used to
describe an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or
small mountain that rises abruptly from an area
of relatively flat and/or lower terrain.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

52. Kings Mountain National Military Park is a National
Military Park near Blacksburg, South Carolina,
along the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The
park commemorates the Battle of Kings Mountain, a
pivotal and significant victory by American Patriots
over American Loyalists during the Southern
Campaign of the Revolutionary War.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

53. Piedmont means foot of the mountains. Being
at the foot of the mountains this region contains
many creeks, rivers, and streams running
through it. Many streams begin in the
mountains and run down through the piedmont
region.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

54. Table Rock State Park is a 3,083-acre park at the
edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern
Pickens County. The park includes Pinnacle
Mountain, the tallest mountain totally within the
state. There are two park lakes with seasonal
swimming permitted and hiking trails that lead to the
Pinnacle Mountain Summit, Mill Creek Falls, and
the summit of Table Rock.
Museum Piedmont
Entrance

55. The Blue Ridge Escarpment is the geological phenomenon
where the southern Appalachian Mountains suddenly end
and the piedmont begins. Over a distance of just a few
miles, the elevation drops 2,000 feet. Standing at the
overlook at Caesars Head best illustrates this elevation
drop.
Museum Blue Ridge
Entrance

56. The Blue Ridge Region makes up only 2% of
the land area of South Carolina. Even though it
only takes up a small amount of space it
supports the most extensive upland hardwood
forest complex in the state, and as you can see
most of the land is protected.
Museum Blue Ridge
Entrance

57. Sassafras Mountain is the highest peak at 3,560
feet above sea level, although it straddles the
NC border. Pinnacle Mountain is the tallest
peak totally within SC.
Museum
Entrance Blue Ridge

58. From September through November there is an
active hawk watch at the overlook at Caesar's
Head. On a good day in September, hundreds
even thousands of hawks might be seen passing
through. Its not unusual to see 200 to 300
hawks at one time soaring or circling overhead.
Museum Blue Ridge
Entrance

59. Caesars Head, along with Jones Gap State Park
and other wildlife preserves in upper
Greenville County, create the protected
Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area. It is almost
seven and a half thousand acres in size and
along with Jones Gap State Park.
Museum Blue Ridge
Entrance

60. Mountains are formations which rise high from
the area around them. The Appalachian
Mountains, the oldest mountain chain in the
U.S., were formed about 342 million years ago.
They are folded mountains - when rock layers
are squeezed from opposite sides, and the rock
layers buckle and fold.
Museum Blue Ridge
Entrance

61.  2-1.1 Identify on a map the location of places and
geographic features of the local community (e.g.,
landforms, bodies of water, parks) using the legend
and the cardinal directions.
 2-1.2 Recognize characteristics of the local region,
including its geographic features and natural
resources.
 2-1.3 Recognize the features of urban, suburban,
and rural areas of the local region.
 2-1.4 Summarize changes that have occurred in the
local community over time, including changes in
the use of land and in the way people earn their
living.