Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve

Green’s Shell Enclosure is a ring of piled oyster shells.  It is old, maybe nearly a thousand years old.

It is easy to find, right off Squire Pope Road.

The entrance to the Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve Trail - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The entrance to the Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve Trail

There is a board with information about the history of the shell ring and nature at the shell enclosure.

Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve

Welcome! This South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Cultural Heritage Preserve consists of a semi-circular ridge of shell approximately 20–30 feet wide at the base and four feet tall. The ridge was constructed mostly of oyster shell during the Mississippian period (AD 1000-1500). It is one of few undisturbed shell structures in coastal South Carolina, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There is a boardwalk so you won’t walk on the shell ring.

The shells are under this mound - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The shells are under this mound

Boardwalk so you won't walk on the shells - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Boardwalk so you won’t walk on the shells

The shell ring under the boardwalk - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The shell ring under the boardwalk

Shell ring - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Shell ring

Marker so you find the right trail - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Marker so you find the right trail

The trail is a little confusing. People seem to have wandered all over the place. There are markers to find the real trail.

Artifact Collection Prohibited Surveillance in progress - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Artifact Collection Prohibited
Surveillance in progress

A sign says Artifact Collection Prohibited, Surveillance in progress. I looked around. I didn’t see anything. I wonder how we were being surveilled. We didn’t take anything.

Metal Detecting and Probing Prohibited - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Metal Detecting and Probing Prohibited

No metal detecting either. Surveillance in progress.

You can see the pile of shells - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

You can see the pile of shells

See across to Pinckney Island from the overlook - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

See across to Pinckney Island from the overlook

You can walk down below the overlook - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

You can walk down below the overlook

There is an overlook.  If you take one of the other paths you come out below the overlook. Then you can see that the overlook is on a tall pile of shells.

The trail along the water to below the overlook - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The trail along the water to below the overlook

You can walk down below the overlook.

The shells under the overlook - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The shells under the overlook

The path across the shell ring - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

The path across the shell ring

Greens Shell Enclosure Natural Environment

Greens Shell Enclosure Natural Environment - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Greens Shell Enclosure Natural Environment

Banana Spider - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Banana Spider

Chanterelle Mushroom - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Chanterelle Mushroom

Yaupon Holly - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

Yaupon Holly

American Oyster - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

American Oyster

USGS Benchmark

US Coastal Geodetic Survey Reverence Mark - Green’s Shell Enclosure Heritage Preserve – Hilton Head Island

US Coastal Geodetic Survey Reverence Mark

On the way out, as we walked over the boardwalk, we noticed a US Coastal Geodetic Survey Reverence Mark.

You might have seen these before. This is a USGS Benchmark. The National Geodetic Survey (they used to be called the U.S. Geological Survey) marks precise points with these metal pins to create the National Spatial Reference System.

There are two main kinds. This is a vertical control points. Vertical control points mark a very precise elevation above the “standard datum plane” or above sea level.

The other kind is horizontal control points. They precisely establish latitude and longitude.