John B.
Yelp
This park covers a large area and it tries to do a bit of everything. In some areas it succeeds more than others, but overall I was happy and wished I could have spent more than the 2.5 hours or so I did. It is a pricey ticket (though cheaper than privately owned historical sites in the area) and for SC residents, a state park pass may be worthwhile.
The animal forest was not the greatest part. Some of the animals, like the endangered red wolf, were hiding, which given the daytime heat I do not blame them for doing but realistically means that in a hot place like Charleston for a park only open 10-4, animal visibility is always going to be questionable. A bald eagle with a chronically injured wing did not look thrilled to be there, though I'm guessing it wouldn't last long in the wild. Don't get me wrong, conservation can be a good thing overall, but the visitor experience wasn't the greatest.
More impressive was the visitor center museum, which offered a nuanced perspective. Occasionally I will hear people from the south say something like "they never taught us about all that slavery stuff in school", which sounds preposterous to me, but regardless of that South Carolina's park system has committed to a thorough approach to history that conveys the brutality of labor in this area and its centrality to the state's history, while also touching on complex narratives about all the indigenous people and settlers of the area with some well-designed and interactive exhibits.
Some outdoor trails meander through historical ruins and contemporary gardens, and views of the marsh are of course an essential part of getting the Charleston experience. It seems like a place that easily could have been turned into a wildly expensive residential district, but I am glad it was not. They did have what looked like a nice event space.
Every time I visit Charleston, a place I discovered only because I was looking for somewhere with fresh air during the peak COVID period, I wonder if it will be my last. This probably won't be my last time in the city, but if it is for a while, it offered a picture of what makes the area so captivating.