South Carolina Smiles and Places 2008 Official Vacation Guide - (Page 54) By Joquita Burka The children peer over the edge of the boat, breathless. Did you see something move? Or was it your imagination? To the uninformed, the blackwaters appear dark and mysterious — a great setting for a horror movie. You don’t have to tell them that the waters are, in reality, clean, merely dyed to the color of tea or coffee by the leaching of the tannins in the leaves of the trees that give the swamp its name — Cypress Gardens. It’s the perfect place — a mysterious, exotic locale, just 25 miles north of Charleston. Best of all, you and the kids just might learn something while exploring this fascinating place where, in fact, the “log” might be watching you, and is actually an alligator. This part of Berkeley County was once home to Dean Hall, one of the most important rice-producing plantations along the Cooper River. The blackwaters of the swamp were used to flood the prosperous rice fields. However, the Civil War forever changed farming in the area, and Benjamin R. Kittredge purchased the land in the late 1920s as a hunting preserve. Tradition has it that when Kittredge saw how beautiful the reflection of the leaves appeared in the blackwaters, he began to speculate on how the waters would look if surrounded by flowers. With that he began to plant azaleas, dogwoods, daffodils and hundreds of other plants. His daughter formalized and vastly expanded the gardens. In 1989, when Hurricane Hugo struck the gardens viciously, a huge community effort was undertaken to save the gardens as a unique habitat for wildlife and an educational center for both children and adults. Fortunately the community’s efforts paid off, and in 2007 Cypress Gardens celebrated its 75th anniversary as a public garden. Today, Cypress Gardens offers guests 163 acres of beauty including 80 acres of swamp and 4.5 miles of walking trails. Visitors can choose from guided tours or explore on their own. One of the most popular ways to explore the garden is in the traditional flat bottom boat. However, some choose to paddle their own canoes or kayaks across the waters to explore at their own pace. The woods and waters abound with wildlife such as pileated woodpeckers, wood ducks, otter, barred owls and alligators. Underneath, the blackwater holds its secrets close, and the easiest way to see what lurks in these waters is to visit the Cypress Gardens Aquarium, Reptile Center and Crocodile Isle. In the Aquarium you’ll find 30 species of freshwater fish and 54
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