THE FIRST SHOT

Here's a great question for you next trivia challenge: where did the first bombardment of Fort Sumter that began the Civil War originate? No points lost if you incorrectly answered The Battery along downtown's sea wall or Fort Moultrie in Mount Pleasant, but the first shot on Sumter actually came from James Island's Fort Johnson, on the southern shore of the harbor's mouth and almost directly opposite Fort Sumter in mid-harbor (that's Sumter in the distance in the above photo).

Once called Windmill Point. there have been at least four military fortifications on the site, starting with a colonial-era British one erected in 1708 and named for the Proprietary Governor of the Carolinas at the time, Nathaniel Johnson. While any traces of this original fort have long disappeared, segments of the tabby walls of a second, pre-Revolutionary War fort built in 1759 can still be seen at the site. By 1775, an enlarged and better defended fort rose on the Point, at first occupied by colonial rebels but seized by the British during their occupation of Charleston and later destroyed by a hurricane. Yet another fort rose on the site as a second British invasion of Charleston seemed possible during the War of 1812. All that remains of this third structure are the stone base of a wooden observation tower, and a free-standing brick magazine which remains intact.

The c.1830 magazine remains intact.

Fort Johnson during the Civil War

By 1861, South Carolina troops had placed two 10-inch mortars on the point. On April 12, 1861 one of the mortars fired on Fort Sumter in the opening salvo of the war that split the nation. During the war, Confederate forces drove off two Union regiments that attempted an approach from nearby Morris Island, keeping the Fort in Confederate hands until the winter of 1865, when it was abandoned in the general withdrawal from Charleston as Union forces approached the city.

A post-war, federally operated quarantine station next occupied the site until the 1950's when the College of Charleston and MUSC took title to the 40-acre property, but by the 1970's most of the land had been transferred to the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, which continues to operate a marine research station there. The College's Grice Marine Laboratory serves as a research and teaching facility at the site, while MUSC sold its waterfront portion to the South Carolina Battlefield Preservation Trust, which has created a 20-acre park and historic site for the public.

On the point, with its sweeping view down the harbor toward Charleston, you can still walk where guns once roared and a war began.

The Mating Game

If you start noticing soon an unusual booming or bellowing around the island, then you'll know spring mating season for alligators has begun as air temperatures warm and these impressive animals emerge from winter semi-hibernation. To attract females, males produce a low-frequency bellow that can make the water around them ripple, or loudly slap their tails on the water.

Our most ancient neighbors are a conservation success story, once endangered but recently rebounded with habitat restoration, breeding programs and a reduced demand from the fashion industry for their skins, among other factors.

Alligator mississippiensis grows throughout its lifetime, with males reaching over ten feet in length, females - the most devoted of reptilian mothers - somewhat smaller. Alligators have even been observed tool-making, balancing sticks and leaves on their heads to attract nesting birds. You may be seeing these impressive creatures basking on the banks of the lake at Lake House or at many of the lagoons scattered around our island. Alligators can move surprisingly quickly on land, with a sprinting "high walk" over short distances, so admire and respect from a distance!

Brown Study

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We may hardly notice them because they're always present, including on the town of Seabrook Island's official seal, but brown pelicans, with their seven-foot wingspans and silent gliding formations, are a key indicator species of the health of our surrounding waters. Feeding on sardines, anchovies, herring, mullets, minnows and small crustaceans, a thriving colony means a sustainable marine ecology.

Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis) are one of three species of pelicans found in the Americas (the Peruvian and American White are the other two), and are common from southern New England as far south as the mouth of the Amazon River. Listed as endangered until 2009 due to low birth rates caused by exposure to DDT and other toxic pesticides, populations of "brownies" have stabilized, as a visit to the Deveaux Bank, a major breeding ground at the mouth of the North Edisto River, will confirm.

Breeding takes place during March and April, when you'll see a yellow patch on the birds' white heads while in breeding plumage. Males and females alternately tend to a clutch of three or four eggs, keeping them warm under their webbed feet until they hatch in about thirty days. Pelicans are among the longer-lived marine species with a lifespan of up to thirty years.

Soaring as high as seventy feet above the water while searching for fish, brown pelicans are one of only two of the world's eight species to feed by diving, plunging headfirst into the water to scoop up their prey before surfacing and straining the water from their signature pouch to swallow their catch.

Brownies are non-migratory, so we're able to enjoy these magnificent birds all year round as they soar gracefully overhead or skim offshore waters.