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Saving Place

Photographs courtesy of Edisto Island Open Land Trust; Alice Keeney; Vanessa Kaufmann; (Brailsford) David Edwards; (Sand Creek Farm) Vanessa Kaufmann; (Paradise Shrimp Farm) Abi Locatis-Prochaska, (Spoonbills) Tom Austin; (Newton Frogmore) Charleston County Greenbelt Programs; (Wright & House now) Alice Keeney; courtesy of (house circa 1900) Hutchinson Family Private Collection

Photography Image credits belowPhotos 34Issue October 2024
The Steamboat Landing Buffer, 28 acres along Steamboat Landing Road, was the trust’s first conservation easement.Marsh Aire Preserve, 52 acres that protect habitats for wildlife and provide scenic views.Edisto Island Open Land Trust executive director John Girault on the site of the organization’s latest endeavor, preserving the circa-1885 Hutchinson House.A conservation easement at King’s Farm Market provides a large swath of contiguous open space along Milton Creek.A current map of Edisto Island and surrounding areas, designating properties that are public, privately protected, and the 4,218 acres protected by Edisto Island Open Land TrustConservation easements on private land, such as Mosquito Point, make up the majority of the acreage protected by EIOLT.Sand Creek Farm, a conservation easement with habitats that include salt marsh, maritime forest, and bottomland hardwood forest, plays host to EIOLT’s annual oyster roast fundraiser, held every November.Former EIOLT director Marian Brailsford.Grand live oaks on the Wescott Road Scenic Buffer.EIOLT protects the environment and a way of life through a combination of conservation easements and fee-simple properties, the latter of which are owned and maintained by the organization and are mostly open to the public; Russell Creek Road.San-Russ Point.Governor’s Bluff.Middletons Plantation.Paradise Shrimp Farm.Conserved lands bolster wildlife, such as these roseate spoonbills.Thompson Sunnyside.Newton Frogmore.Indigo Farm.Beyond conservation easements, EIOLT protects the natural environment through ongoing educational programs for both children and adults; an expert-led butterfly walk in the Francis Marion National ForestBack to Nature learning series for adults engages residents with the habitats, wildlife, and heritage of Edisto, including building an oyster reef at Roxbury Park in partnership with the SC Department of Natural Resources.Saving PlaceThe Young Naturalists program teaches fourth-through-eighth-grade students about environmental stewardship through hands-on activities, such as crabbing......and beachcombing.Outreach coordinator and Hutchinson House photographer Denzel Wright, who is documenting the ongoing restoration for the new museum, says his work with EIOLT “has urged him to explore how the preservation of land can closely benefit the preservation of African American heritage and culture.”On a mission to preserve the Recontruction-era Hutchinson House and tell its story; The son of a freedman, Henry Hutchison built the house, pictured circa 1900, for his bride, Rosa. The place was passed from generation to generation until the last Hutchinson moved out in the 1980s.Working with Hutchinson family descendants and the Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund, EIOLT purchased the house and adjacent acreage in 2016 and began raising the money to prevent its collapse and restore it.The house this summer; the last phase of the restoration is estimated to be complete by the end of the year with an opening date anticipated in spring 2026.Labor of Love EIOLT hired architects Simons Young + Associates and Artis Construction to restore the structure to its original appearance, as much as possible, inside and out. The house and the grounds will serve as a museum, which Hutchinson descendent Greg Estevez says will fulfill his late grandmother’s greatest wish. “It’s time people knew the struggle, victory, depression, oppression, and everything in between.”Saving PlaceSaving PlaceSaving PlaceSaving PlaceEIOLT land protection specialist Tom Austin leads a nature walk.Sarah Stroud Clarke, the former director of museum affairs for Drayton Hall, leads the interpretation of the site as Hutchinson House director.

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Saving Place: Edisto Island Open Land Trust Marks 30 Years of Transformative Conservation
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