Botany Bay is a State Preserve on Edisto Island South Carolina and is a nature lover’s paradise. It also provides endless opportunities for photographers to capture jaw dropping photos.

Flickr/Alistair Nicol The story behind Botany Bay is a long one, dating all the way back to 1695 when Christopher Hinkley received a land grant for 170 acres on what is now Edisto Island.

Flickr/adifferentbrian As the centuries passed, the land was combined with other parcels, sold, swapped, broken apart, merged back in to one, named and renamed.

Flickr/Gary Scott 1968 marked the last private purchase of Botany Bay. Hotel and real estate magnate John Meyer, who was an avid outdoor enthusiast, purchased the property from Dr. James Greenway.

Flickr/Tom Austin Meyer loved the outdoors and wildlife so much that in his will he gifted the entire property to the State of South Carolina to form a wildlife preserve.

Flickr/Alistair Nicol His only stipulation was that if he died before his wife, then she would retain rights to stay there until her death. John Meyer passed away in 1977.

Flickr/Gary Scott

Flickr/David Carnes His wife remarried and remained on the plantation for another 30 years, active in its conservation, until her death in 2007.

Flickr/Jim Crotty

Facebook/Botany Bay Ecotours In 2008, South Carolina formed the Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area. Today, it’s commonly referred to as the Botany Bay WMA and Heritage Preserve. You may encounter other variations of the same.

Flickr/Josh Carlisle Thanks to the centuries of careful stewardship, Botany Bay Plantation WMA Heritage Preserve now has 21 registered historic sites and more than 4500 acres that include beaches, marshlands, ruins and tons of wildlife.

Flickr/Brandon Hixson South Carolina has so much natural beauty, but this place is a an awe-inspiring, jaw dropping South Carolina treasure.

Have you visited Botany Bay? What other jaw-dropping places have you found in South Carolina? We’d love to know. Tell us in the comments.

Flickr/Alistair Nicol

The story behind Botany Bay is a long one, dating all the way back to 1695 when Christopher Hinkley received a land grant for 170 acres on what is now Edisto Island.

Flickr/adifferentbrian

As the centuries passed, the land was combined with other parcels, sold, swapped, broken apart, merged back in to one, named and renamed.

Flickr/Gary Scott

1968 marked the last private purchase of Botany Bay. Hotel and real estate magnate John Meyer, who was an avid outdoor enthusiast, purchased the property from Dr. James Greenway.

Flickr/Tom Austin

Meyer loved the outdoors and wildlife so much that in his will he gifted the entire property to the State of South Carolina to form a wildlife preserve.

His only stipulation was that if he died before his wife, then she would retain rights to stay there until her death. John Meyer passed away in 1977.

Flickr/David Carnes

His wife remarried and remained on the plantation for another 30 years, active in its conservation, until her death in 2007.

Flickr/Jim Crotty

Facebook/Botany Bay Ecotours

In 2008, South Carolina formed the Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area. Today, it’s commonly referred to as the Botany Bay WMA and Heritage Preserve. You may encounter other variations of the same.

Flickr/Josh Carlisle

Thanks to the centuries of careful stewardship, Botany Bay Plantation WMA Heritage Preserve now has 21 registered historic sites and more than 4500 acres that include beaches, marshlands, ruins and tons of wildlife.

Flickr/Brandon Hixson

South Carolina has so much natural beauty, but this place is a an awe-inspiring, jaw dropping South Carolina treasure.

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Address: Botany Bay Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area, Botany Bay Rd, Edisto Island, SC 29438, USA