Plenty’s Island
Plenty’s Island is a 3.42-acre hummock island located in the 374-acre Horseshoe Creek Marsh near Landfall Way off Seabrook Beach Road, about 100 yards from the dry land behind the Tidal Creek Pharmacy. The marsh is covered with pluff mud and typical marsh vegetation, including Spartina grass, Salt Wort, Broom Sedge, Marsh Elder and Sea Ox Eye. Signs of wildlife include both deer and raccoon tracks. There are also abundant shells of mussels and periwinkle.
Though the island is only a foot or two higher than the surrounding marsh, its vegetation is that of a mature maritime forest with abundant live oak, loblolly pine, yaupon holly, bonsai cedar and wax myrtle. Other vegetation on the island includes sweet grass, yucca, broom sedge, coral bean, nut sedge, prickly pear, smilax and palmetto. The oaks are surprisingly old and well developed, with some up to two feet in diameter.
The island also harbors a variety of bird life. These include the typical marsh birds: Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Cormorants and Hooded Mergansers. But the most interesting is the abundance of woodpeckers, including the usual Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers and Flickers, and the less common (on Kiawah Island) Red Headed Woodpecker. In addition to these birds, the island also provides habitat for Towhee, Carolina Wren, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, White-Throated Sparrow, Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse and several hawks, including Osprey and Northern Harriers. The island is used as a secluded nesting site for many of these species.
Wildlife on the island includes deer and raccoon, as well as opossum and other small animals. The island is used by a variety of species as a sanctuary where animals can live undisturbed by humankind.
1994 SC DNR Orthophotograph Mosaic
Bohicket Marina
Plenty's Island
