6th Grade Trip to the Lowcountry

"How does natural history influence human culture in the South Carolina lowcountry?"

Sixth Grade students sought the answer to this question on a 3-day, event-filled trip to the Charleston area during the first week in November. The trip began at Patriot's Point in Mt. Pleasant where students followed South Carolina natural history and American history from the American Revolution through today and toured the USS Yorktown.  Students then boarded the ferry for a wonderful visit to Fort Sumter. At nighttime, Lee Brockington, a fabulous story-teller and the historian from Hobcaw Barony in Pawley's Island, shared stories of lowcountry settlers and their ghosts and the culture developed at that time as a result of the lowcountry's natural history.  Thursday was one exciting adventure after another on Edisto Island from sun-up to sundown.  Students hiked through Botany Bay, had a private tour of the Serpentarium and got to handle some of the residents, took a boat tour through the ACE Basin on a very successful dolphin and eagle watch, dissected a squid (which they loved), and learned how to identify a variety of coastal organisms.  Everyone enjoyed s'mores around the campfire after dinner that night and went to bed early at Camp Ho Non Wah on Wadmalaw Island.  The trip concluded Friday after a beautiful visit to historical Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston.