Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge

Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Location	Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States
Nearest city	Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Coordinates	32°14′38″N 80°45′55″W / 32.243768°N 80.765305°W / 32.243768; -80.765305Coordinates: 32°14′38″N 80°45′55″W / 32.243768°N 80.765305°W / 32.243768; -80.765305
Area	4,053 acres (16.40 km2)
Established	1975
Visitors	400,000 (in 2004)
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge

The Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 4,053-acre (16 km²) National Wildlife Refuge located in Beaufort County, South Carolina between the mainland and Hilton Head Island. Named after Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, it was established to provide a nature and forest preserve for aesthetic and conservation purposes.

The refuge is one of seven refuges administered by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in Savannah, Georgia. The complex has a combined staff of 31 with a fiscal year 2005 budget of $3,582,000.

Pinckney Island NWR is archaeologically rich, with 115 prehistoric and historic sites identified. Analysis of the prehistoric sites indicate human occupation dating from the Archaic Period (8000-1000 BC), with intensive use during the Mississippian Period (1000-1500 AD).

Historic artifacts indicate that small scale, impermanent settlements were made on Pinckney by French and Spanish groups in the 16th and 17th centuries. Permanent settlements did not occur until 1708 when Alexander Mackay, an Indian trader, obtained title to 200 acres (0.81 km²) of present-day Pinckney Island. By 1715, Mackay had acquired the rest of the island, as well as most of the other islands which comprise the present refuge. In 1736, Mackay's widow sold the islands to Charles Pinckney, father of General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

General Pinckney was a commander during the Revolutionary War, a signer of the United States Constitution, and, in 1804 and 1808, a presidential candidate for the Federalist Party. After he inherited the islands from his father, Pinckney was an absentee landowner until 1804, when he moved to the island and began managing the property. The Pinckney family developed the islands into a plantation, removing much of the maritime forest and draining and tilling the fertile soil. By 1818, over 200 slaves labored to produce fine quality long-staple Sea Island Cotton on 297 acres (1.20 km²); 386 slaves lived on the island by 1840.