The Sea Pines Preserve has a long and colorful history. Its landscape of sand ridges and long wetlands was sculpted by changing sea levels over the past 15,000 years. The first inhabitants, 4000 years ago, were nomadic Indians who hunted and gathered shells in salt marshes that are freshwater wetlands today. They left a trace of their lives in the Sea Pines Indian Shell Ring, a circular mound of shells that were placed outside of their huts. Since 1700, the area has been used for growing rice, indigo and cotton, for hunting and for harvesting timber. In 1959, the Fraser family, founders and developers of Sea Pines, established a tract of 572 acres for the Preserve. The Frasers filed legal covenants in 1970, dedicating a total area of 605 acres for wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation.
