Alligator nest is a reminder of Lowcountry rice plantations
Lowcountry life: Alligators and rice plantations
If you look closely at the photo to the left, you will see baby alligators in their “nest” by a dike in an old Lowcountry rice field. The field, pictured later in this article, is located on a farm that was owned 200 years ago by the Heyward family, the patriarch of which, Thomas Heyward, signed the Declaration of Independence.
Female alligators make a dense thatch of grass and lay their eggs in this brackish area, putting mud on the eggs to use as an incubator. The alligator mothers stay near their nests with the eggs usually hatching in June or July. The ones shown above hatched late, about a week and a half ago.
Rice fields were in partitions, blocked off by dikes, run by trunks. The reason the grass is so green is that it is growing in fresh water. When the rice farmers wanted to kill the grass to harvest the rice, they opened the dikes to let salt water flow in.
Rice formed the basis of Lowcountry agriculture and the economy in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The way of life on the rice plantations is documented in a famous book, now out of print, titled Seeds from Madagascar by Duncan Clinch Heyward, a descendant of Thomas Heyward. You can sometimes find a copy of the book at McIntosh Book Shoppe, 919 Bay Street.
Photos and story by Kelly McGowan.
- Local signer of Declaration of Independence, Thomas Heyward, remembered on July 4
- Biography of Thomas Heyward
Related posts:
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- Lowcountry author carries forward family tradition
- Local signer of Declaration of Independence remembered on July 4
- Beaufort County sheriff’s deputy fired for firing at alligator
- Rotary of the Lowcountry installs new officers
